Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

Photography

 

  Hatto Fischer "Gäste im Vorübergehen / guests passing by"  December 2014

 

A little introduction

Photographers in the digital age is another way to translate images perceived into perceivable forms of presentations. They appear in all sorts of contexts from magazines to billboards. Flashpoints. That is why 'urban screens' belongs to this new artistic language in the city. Still, the main theme of the 21st century shall be how to go beyond the mere image.

Josef Karsh  Churchill

There is the photographer Josef Karsh who lived in Ottawa, Canada. He took photos in black and white and became famous, for instance, with his photo of Churchill. The story goes that Churchill was irritated. He did not wish to pose or sit still. Josef Karsh was in dispair. Suddenly he had a thought. He asked Churchill if he did not wish to take a break and smoke one of his favorite cigars. Immediately Churchill smiled and most likely said: 'now you are talking'. He went to his desk and took out of that special box one of his favorite cigars. He lit it with delight but just as Churchill wanted to take the first puff, Josef Karsh came up quickly and grapped the cigar by pulling it practically out of the mouth of Churchill. The victim became furious. 'Click'. Karsh had his famous photo of Churchill in his bulldog look. Later on many wanted their photo to be taken by him. It included John F. Kennedy. During the time 1960-65 when attending Lisgar Collegiate, every morning the walk to school with George Large meant also talking about Karsh as his mother was his secretary. Later on, when his photos were displayed in the gallery of the Canadian Pavillion at EXPO '67 in Montreal, it was an experience to explain his photos. It was like giving an interpretation not to photos but works of art. The more they were seen by visitors, the more they revealed things about human beings and this despite being just in 'black & white'.

Photography involved before the digital age as well the chemical process. For instance, Hellmut Frieser at the Technical University in Munich wouldl work on improving the chemical process involved when a negative imagine is transformed into a positive one. This was something entailed in the process of developing a film.

There are many photographers at work. When they started, they frightened painters as now there was a competition as to who could make a better portrait: the painter or the photographer.

This photographer started already around 1850

By contrast modern photographers are puzzled more by walls than windows. Anyone wondering why, he shall be answered best by light itself. And that can include in analogy to Cezanne 'life and death' within the prism of still life.

Maya Fischer                             Still Life 2006

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