Dedicated to becoming a photographer, Gieseke went back to Germany to bid her goodbyes to her family and friends; her next destination was England. She started her bachelor’s in England at Wimbledon College, but later transferred to Goldsmith College in London. However, she didn't stay for long, as she continued her studies in Fine Arts and Photography at California Institute of Arts.

After graduation, she was invited to take pictures for Tim Burton’s film, “Batmen” (1989). While working on the set, she met the man whom would become her future husband: Tim Burton.

The relationship between the two took off fast, as the couple quickly got married on February 24, 1989. Burton, who is a master of dark art, featured strange characters inspired by horror movies. With his weird characters and dark art style, Burton graduated from the California Institute of Arts, majoring in animation, and and eventually landing a job at Walt Disney Studios as an animation apprentice, before ultimately being rejected by the studio. He later became a world-renowned animator, with such works as "Vincent" (1982), "Frankenweenie" (1984), "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" (1985), and Emmy-award winning "Beetlejuice" (1988) under his belt in his early years.

As the relationship between Gieseke and Burton forged on, Burton kept Gieseke by his side during the next couple of films he worked on; "Batman" and "Edward Scissorhands" (1990), which achieved critical acclaim and cemented a relationship between Burton and Johnny Depp that would last into the future.

Alas, the marriage between Gieseke and Burton would not last very long, as they divorced on New Year's Eve (December 31, 1991). It was purported that a combination of Buron's complicated and strong personality played a large role in the inevitable divorce, as did Burton's subsequent affair with his future muse, model and actress, Lisa Marie. Lena Gieseke would be Tim Burton's first and only wife.

Following the divorce between her and Burton, Lena Gieseke would serve in the film industry starting in 2008, with the movie "1 ½ Knights – In Search of the Ravishing Princess Herzelinde". This kicked off a roughly 3 year career in visual effects. Also in 2008, she did work on the TV movie, "Die Jahrhundertlawine".

In 2009, she did work on 3 different films. The first of these, was "Vicky the Viking", working as an animation artist, and in research and development. After that, she did work on "Berlin '36", again as an animation artist and research and development (Scanline VFX). Finally, she worked on the most notable movie in her career, the American epic science fiction disaster film, "2012", this time as a modeler for the Scanline VFX visual effects.