Ponhold was born in Vienna. He became interested in photography at the age of 16 and has been active ever since in the genres of nude, fashion and reportage photography. Some years ago, he discovered the pinhole camera and fell in love with its simple and pure kind of photography where time passes slowly while taking the picture. Without conrolling the frame and the angle exactly, Ponhold is fascinated by the combination of light, aperture, exposure, types of conventional film and the box itself. With mechanical parts derived from the very earliest means of capturing images, his ÒMagic Box" gives a wide field of view showing both the scenes and the movement of life itself. He often takes pinhole images during journeys, creating a different kind of view to that delivered by more conventional cameras. And his camera has also served as a bridge with people he has met.
Ponhold currently lives and works in Vienna.