WEBVTT

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"I have always been an amateur,
a lover of photography".

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in conversation

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Hansgert, how would you introduce yourself
to an audience that doesn't know you yet?

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That's difficult.

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I was an engineer first,

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working in data processing.

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But I have been a photographer
since I was 14.

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In the last years, I have
mainly been a photographer

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and a photobook publisher.

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So you’ve had three professions.

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One year I had a gallery,

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a photo gallery of course.

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Where? - In Worpswede.

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How did you get into that?

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My partner lived there at the time

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and I didn't want to just sit around
idly all day.

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So I set up a photo gallery there.

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But it was a stupid idea.

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They only want ceramics and oil paintings
in Worpswede  nothing else.

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I sold just one picture in a year.
So I closed the gallery.

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What was it that shaped you 
as a photographer?

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What was the initiation,
or was there such a thing?

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Well, not really. I always 
watched my mother taking pictures.

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She was an amateur and she gave me 
my first camera when I was 14.

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That's when I started. 
When I was 19, I got my first Leica.

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I was always interested in photography.

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I bought the magazines and tried to get books.

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Why did your mother take photographs?

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As I said, she was actually an amateur.

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But she had a high-quality camera 
and, above all, a friend

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who had a laboratory. And photo paper too,
which was rare in those days.

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My mother made life considerably better for us 
in the years 194349

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thanks to her photography.

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She had a good feeling for people
and especially for groups.

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She photographed the family 
of the butcher and the baker.

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They sent the pictures to their men at the front,
and we got bread and meat in return.

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Unfortunately, these negatives 
were all lost in a stupid incident.

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They would have been
a tremendous testimony to the times.

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And then I also took photographs.

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What kind of camera did you get
when you were 14?

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It was a 6x6 Zeiss Ikon Nettar.

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It had the incredible lens speed of 1:6.3

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as the largest aperture.

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But I soon begged my mother 
to buy me a Kodak Retina.

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She did, because she liked it herself.

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What were you photographing back then?

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I don't have much anymore. 
Some negatives are gone.

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Landscapes and cars, if they interested me.

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Also people and the stuff you photograph
as a child, which I still was.

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Did you ever have the desire
to become a professional photographer?

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No, not really.

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When I had choosen a career
when graduating high school and afterwards,

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I knew of photojournalists.
But I realized I couldn't do that kind of work.

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The alternative would have been 
to have a photo studio on the corner,

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taking passport photos.
I didn't want that either, of course.

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I didn’t know back then that you could study photography 
in Munich and at the Lette-Verein in Berlin.

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So, as a boy with a middle-class upbringing
and a high school diploma,

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I studied and became an engineer.

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After that, photography was always
something I did on the side.

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That’s the way it remained,
and I’m quite happy about that.

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I really remained a kind of amateur 
in the literal sense of a lover.

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I love just taking photographs, 
taking my pictures,

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and not having to fulfil any orders 
or something.

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I could have done that if I had to,
but I never liked doing that.

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That's why photography as a profession 
was almost unthinkable for me in the beginning.

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You studied in Berlin?

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Yes, at the Technical University.

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When?

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1957 until 1963.

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Did you photograph a lot
here in West Berlin at that time?

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Yes, I still did a fair amount, 
but not that much.

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I was in a photo club, 
and I sometimes went out with a friend.

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But that was only two or three times.

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I didn't take that many pictures, 
but there are a few really nice ones.

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As a student,
you lived on Albertstrasse in Schöneberg.

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At the beginning,
the first four or five semesters.

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That's when you took these pictures
with the gasometer.

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Yes, that was before 1961.

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You finished your engineering studies in 1963

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and started working.

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Yes, I went seamlessly from studying
to having a profession.

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At that time, the working world
was still very pleasant.

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I was immediately hired by IBM

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as an assistant for data processing.

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And I stayed with IBM until 1993.

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Your whole professional life. - Yes.

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That’s rare nowadays. - Yes, that's right.

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At the beginning,
the profession was in great demand

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and was also very demanding.

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Which is why I did very little photography
in those first years.

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I was absorbed in my bread-and-butter job,
as they say,

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and photography wasn't part of it at all.

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Where was your office, 
was it already on Ernst-Reuter-Platz?

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It was right on Ernst-Reuter-Platz. 
In the IBM high-rise building? - Yes.

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There are pictures
you took from your office.

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Yes, I took a few with the Minox 
that I always have with me.

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If there was something strange 
or peculiar out there,

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for example tanks driving around,
I took pictures of them.

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Your profession led you to travel a lot.

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Yes, I left Berlin for Vienna,
still working for IBM.

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It was from Vienna that business was done
with the Eastern Bloc countries.

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Which few people knew about.

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It had to be done in the neutral city of Vienna
and not from West Berlin.

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Even the business we did with the GDR
was done through Vienna.

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We had a small office in West Berlin,
but that was illegal.

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The official version was, 
Vienna is the official headquarters.

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From there we took care of our work
here in the capital of the GDR.

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I first went to the GDR to install machines.

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Not physically, but to install the software

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and the operating system.

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Then I was in Poland for half a year.
Then Hungary and Romania,

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and the last time I was in the CSSR.

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That’s where I also came back to photography.

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As I said, that had somehow come to a standstill.

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The Czechs have a high regard for photography.

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A photographer is an artist there.
No question about it.

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Just photographer?
No. he's an artist!

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How were you received at that time?
It was still the Cold War.

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In the GDR it was very hostile,

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I hardly ever took photographs there,
or not at all.

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Warsaw was similar.
In Gdansk, people were very reserved.

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Romania was a bit different, Hungary too,
but I was there only briefly.

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In the CSSR it was completely different.

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They were so relaxed and didn't care about rules,

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and everything was very open for me.

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Were you never suspected
of being some kind of spy.

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No, that's quite funny.

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We were told by IBM not to attract attention.

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That was considered a reason for dismissal.

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And yet, strangely enough,
looking through my negatives,

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I saw that I even photographed railroad installations, 
factory chimneys etc. Which was forbidden.

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After I had finished this IBM phase in the Eastern Bloc,
I came back to Berlin.

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To West Berlin. - Yes, West Berlin.

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I was a lecturer, as it was called at IBM, 
so I taught what I could.

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And then, as I had developed such strong friendships
in the CSSR, I still went there privately.

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Even while the Iron Curtain was still up.

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I photographed all sorts of things, 
and always felt pretty free there.

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What are your great role models in photography?

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That's very difficult to answer.

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In retrospect, all I can say is 
that I feel connected to some photographers.

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The great Sylvia Plachy, for example.

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Of course, at that time... like others...

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I saw Henri Cartier-Bresson as a role model.

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But really only in the sense of: 
yes, I take pictures on the street as well.

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But I never imitated him.

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The question of role models is a difficult one.

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I consumed everything.

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I discovered Bill Brandt early on, 
for example, whom I hold in very high esteem.

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Or Americans like Garry Winogrand.

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But they were never role models in that sense.

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I once tried to imitate Ralph Gibson.

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And to my amazement, I realized I couldn't do it.

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He had a certain way of photographing,
and I realized I couldn't do it.

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I'm not Ralph Gibson. And then I thought,
I'm Hansgert Lambers and I have to photograph my things.

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You might see similarities to well-known photographers
here and there in my pictures.

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But I have never had role models
in the narrower sense.

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In your work
that we're going through for the book

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your uncanny interest in people,
and especially in women, stands out.

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Yes, I still have that interest.

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You do urban photography, street photography,
and you still do that today.

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Yes and no.
In old age you are less agile.

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Street photography is a peculiar thing.

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You can't just go out and shoot photographs
if you want to do it seriously.

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You have to really build yourself up beforehand.
You have to prepare and go out there

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with the deliberate intention: 
I want to take a picture here now.

00:16:23.560 --> 00:16:24.080


00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:29.640
You have to be prepared to respond
if someone attacks you.

00:16:29.640 --> 00:16:29.840


00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:33.720
Not with hands, but with words.

00:16:33.720 --> 00:16:34.440


00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:38.200
So that you can give an answer.

00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:44.000


00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:50.840
You have to steel yourself inwardly
to do street photography.

00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:52.200


00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:58.480
Has the way people see photography
in the public space changed?

00:16:58.480 --> 00:16:58.760


00:16:58.760 --> 00:17:03.240
Yes, considerably.
You know, when you photograph a child today,

00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:03.800


00:17:03.800 --> 00:17:08.400
the mother comes running out of the bushes
screaming “Not my child!”

00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:09.360


00:17:09.360 --> 00:17:12.800
However, that’s only in some countries.

00:17:12.800 --> 00:17:13.240


00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:20.360
I haven't travelled for a long time,
but two years ago I was in Poland and the Czech Republic.

00:17:20.360 --> 00:17:20.840


00:17:20.840 --> 00:17:27.840
There, people still react cheerfully when you take a photo.
They just smile at you,

00:17:27.840 --> 00:17:28.120


00:17:28.120 --> 00:17:33.720
notice something and move on.
That has become unthinkable here.

00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:34.160


00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:36.280
You can't do that here anymore.

00:17:36.280 --> 00:17:36.960


00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:41.960
I've been told
that in many countries you can't.

00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:42.120


00:17:42.120 --> 00:17:46.880
Four years ago, I was in England,
and it was still okay over there.

00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:47.400


00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:53.960
On these trips, did you really get in touch
with the photographer communities?

00:17:53.960 --> 00:17:54.520


00:17:54.520 --> 00:17:57.960
Yes and no.
Funnily enough, only with the Czechs.

00:17:57.960 --> 00:17:58.200


00:17:58.200 --> 00:18:02.040
I still have friendships there
that date back to my time at IBM.

00:18:02.040 --> 00:18:02.240


00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:07.040
Some of them have been lost, of course.

00:18:07.040 --> 00:18:07.360


00:18:07.360 --> 00:18:14.120
I was more active in taking care of my friendships
with the Czechs. But that’s another story.

00:18:14.120 --> 00:18:15.080


00:18:15.080 --> 00:18:21.320
I still have friendships with photographers there 
and even some new ones.

00:18:21.320 --> 00:18:23.240


00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:32.640
Is that the reason you had the idea
to make their work better known in the West?

00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:32.800


00:18:32.800 --> 00:18:37.160
Is that why you set up a publishing house?

00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:37.600


00:18:37.600 --> 00:18:42.680
Actually, the publishing house came about

00:18:42.680 --> 00:18:43.000


00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:48.360
because I wanted to print a catalogue for my work.

00:18:48.360 --> 00:18:48.720


00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:51.920


00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:55.040
I had a partner, Sigurd Wendland,

00:18:55.040 --> 00:18:55.440


00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:57.920
a painter, who had a repro camera.

00:18:57.920 --> 00:18:58.120


00:18:58.120 --> 00:19:01.440
At that time there were no scans
and nothing digital.

00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:01.760


00:19:01.760 --> 00:19:05.480
The repro camera was almost
a cabinet-sized thing.

00:19:05.480 --> 00:19:05.680


00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:10.440
He made the repros,
and the first books were printed from them.

00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:10.960


00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:16.880
But when it came to the publishing house,
I asked myself, what am I doing here?

00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:17.080


00:19:17.080 --> 00:19:25.160
I not only had friends among the Czechs.
Friendships had also developed in the GDR,

00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:25.360


00:19:25.360 --> 00:19:30.760
but only privately, after I had left IBM.

00:19:30.760 --> 00:19:31.160


00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:33.960
I was interested in East Berlin.

00:19:33.960 --> 00:19:34.200


00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:39.800
I went there from time to time,
and I met the photographer Christian Borchert.

00:19:39.800 --> 00:19:41.600


00:19:41.600 --> 00:19:47.840
I already had my catalogue,
as did Sigurd Wendland.

00:19:47.840 --> 00:19:49.040


00:19:49.040 --> 00:19:56.480
That's when the idea came up of opening a window
to the West for my friends in the Eastern Bloc.

00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:57.040


00:19:57.040 --> 00:19:58.800
I just want to show a few.

00:19:58.800 --> 00:19:59.000


00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:04.080
It started with the first ones,
which were all in the same design.

00:20:04.080 --> 00:20:04.280


00:20:04.280 --> 00:20:06.800
But I gave that up afterwards.

00:20:06.800 --> 00:20:08.080


00:20:08.080 --> 00:20:12.480
This is my own catalogue for the exhibition
in the Haus am Lützowplatz.

00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:12.680


00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:18.080
This one’s from my partner Sigurd Wendland
about Moabit.

00:20:18.080 --> 00:20:18.280


00:20:18.280 --> 00:20:23.120
It’s still the only book about that part of town.

00:20:23.120 --> 00:20:23.320


00:20:23.320 --> 00:20:29.760
This here is Christian Borchert with the Berliners.

00:20:29.760 --> 00:20:29.960


00:20:29.960 --> 00:20:33.920
And Baník Ostrava by Viktor Kolář.

00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:34.120


00:20:34.120 --> 00:21:47.960


00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:52.480
Baník Ostrava means ‘Buddy Ostrava’
and is the name of the soccer team there.

00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:52.840


00:21:52.840 --> 00:21:55.760
Those were some of the early highlights.

00:21:55.760 --> 00:21:56.240


00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:01.600
I should also mention this one,
to show the range as well.

00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:01.880


00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:05.840
These were all street photography, if you will.

00:22:05.840 --> 00:22:08.200


00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:13.720
And, as you can see from the title,
this is a Czech surrealist.

00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:18.040


00:22:18.040 --> 00:22:25.320
He did quite peculiar macro shots,
which were then interpreted surrealistically.

00:22:25.320 --> 00:22:25.520


00:22:25.520 --> 00:22:29.960
And he gave them Paul Klee-like titles.

00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:31.520


00:22:31.520 --> 00:22:33.760
He called this Fanal, for example.

00:22:33.760 --> 00:22:36.720


00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:39.040
Those were the beginnings.

00:22:39.040 --> 00:22:39.240


00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:44.040
Then, at the end of the whole Eastern Bloc era,

00:22:44.040 --> 00:22:45.080


00:22:45.080 --> 00:22:48.560
came my most important book in publishing.

00:22:48.560 --> 00:22:48.760


00:22:48.760 --> 00:22:50.080
The mega-seller.

00:22:50.080 --> 00:22:50.280


00:22:50.280 --> 00:22:53.160
Yes, really, there was a 2nd edition.

00:22:53.160 --> 00:22:53.360


00:22:53.360 --> 00:22:55.720
"Photographing GDR Women."

00:22:55.720 --> 00:22:56.480


00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:03.880
This is still one of two representations
of GDR photography in total,

00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:05.240


00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:08.160
although related to women.

00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:08.360


00:23:08.360 --> 00:23:09.080


00:23:09.080 --> 00:23:15.200
Funnily enough, there are only two,
one by an American and this one by me,

00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:15.400


00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:18.640
edited by Gabriele Muschter.

00:23:18.640 --> 00:23:18.840


00:23:18.840 --> 00:23:22.640
Of course, I had to do that,
I couldn't do it from West Berlin.

00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:22.960


00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:27.240
The Berlin Wall was still up?
- Yes, it was also done during the Wall era.

00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:27.440


00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:30.520
It was published four weeks before
the Wall came down.

00:23:30.520 --> 00:23:31.320


00:23:31.320 --> 00:23:39.000
The exhibition was already on display in 1990
at the Haus am Lützowplatz

00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:39.200


00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:43.160
under the same title.

00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:43.360


00:23:43.360 --> 00:23:44.920


00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:50.640
Should I show any other books?
- Perhaps from the 365 series.

00:23:50.640 --> 00:23:53.760


00:23:53.760 --> 00:24:01.760
This series had a cardboard cover
with a booklet on the inside.

00:24:01.760 --> 00:24:02.160


00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:05.880
This is one printed sheet.

00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:06.200
This is one printed sheet.

00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:09.040
This book,

00:24:09.040 --> 00:24:09.760


00:24:09.760 --> 00:24:18.240
for example, was devoted to a trip to Egypt
by a half-Egyptian photographer, Amin El Dib.

00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:18.440


00:24:18.440 --> 00:24:24.280
These exterior cardboards always remained the same,
but the booklets were different.

00:24:24.280 --> 00:24:24.480


00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:27.840
We glued them in ourselves.

00:24:27.840 --> 00:24:28.040


00:24:28.040 --> 00:24:31.800
It was a semi-self-made affair.

00:24:31.800 --> 00:24:33.400


00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:39.440
Did this standardization help you
to reduce the costs of production?

00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:39.640


00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:42.400


00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:44.720
That's right.

00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:47.480


00:24:47.480 --> 00:24:52.640
From the later books...

00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:57.120


00:24:57.120 --> 00:25:00.400
This one didn't sell well at all,
despite the terrific cover.

00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:00.600


00:25:00.600 --> 00:25:03.760
‘Bosnia’, about the war in Bosnia.

00:25:03.760 --> 00:25:05.520


00:25:05.520 --> 00:25:08.800
Later, I produced books for a good friend.

00:25:08.800 --> 00:25:09.000


00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:13.280
Actually, we became good friends
through the books.

00:25:13.280 --> 00:25:13.440


00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:17.200
Joachim Richau,
whose work I published in many books,

00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:17.480


00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:21.000
including this trilogy.

00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:21.400


00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:25.920
Design has always been
very important for me.

00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:26.120


00:25:26.120 --> 00:25:32.720
These are very conceptual photographs,

00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:37.520


00:25:37.520 --> 00:25:40.040
landscapes in detail.

00:25:40.040 --> 00:25:40.520


00:25:40.520 --> 00:25:45.320
It's nothing you can please the masses with.

00:25:45.320 --> 00:25:49.960


00:25:49.960 --> 00:25:56.280
Do you always do the design yourself?
- No. I did do it myself in the beginning.

00:25:56.280 --> 00:25:56.480


00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:56.560


00:25:56.560 --> 00:26:00.640


00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:04.240
One of my most important designers
was Kai-Olaf Hesse.

00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:04.440


00:26:04.440 --> 00:26:10.120
He also developed this series with me

00:26:10.120 --> 00:26:10.520


00:26:10.520 --> 00:26:14.600
and designed all the books in it.

00:26:14.600 --> 00:26:16.200


00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:19.400
That has somehow changed today.

00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:19.600


00:26:19.600 --> 00:26:24.360
Back then you glued layouts,

00:26:24.360 --> 00:26:27.520


00:26:27.520 --> 00:26:31.680
and today it's all done on the computer
with InDesign.

00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:32.320


00:26:32.320 --> 00:26:33.440


00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:34.440


00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:38.640
Which is a category of its own.

00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:38.840


00:26:38.840 --> 00:26:43.280
Also, design has become more important
than it used to be.

00:26:43.280 --> 00:26:44.920


00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:46.760
How would you define

00:26:46.760 --> 00:26:46.960


00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:48.720
your publishing program?

00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:49.680


00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:51.320
Is there a line there?

00:26:51.320 --> 00:26:51.600


00:26:51.600 --> 00:26:55.480
Not really.
I've published all kinds of things,

00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:55.680


00:26:55.680 --> 00:27:01.400
from reportage to landscapes to conceptual work,

00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:01.600


00:27:01.600 --> 00:27:05.600
even cameraless photography.

00:27:05.600 --> 00:27:06.000


00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:11.120
In fact, anything I came across that I liked,

00:27:11.120 --> 00:27:11.280


00:27:11.280 --> 00:27:14.080
not just the work, but the people.

00:27:14.080 --> 00:27:14.280


00:27:14.280 --> 00:27:21.160
This combination was decisive
for my publishing profile.

00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:22.120


00:27:22.120 --> 00:27:29.080
You cooperated on many projects
with a poet you published.

00:27:29.080 --> 00:27:30.360


00:27:30.360 --> 00:27:36.960
Yes. We were acquainted,
but we didn’t know each other personally at first.

00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:37.680


00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:40.640
Michael Arenz was his name.

00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:40.840


00:27:40.840 --> 00:27:44.000
A native of Berlin, but he lived in Bochum.

00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:45.000


00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:48.920
Our acquaintance came about
through unusual channels, but it remained.

00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:50.880


00:27:50.880 --> 00:27:54.440
At that time, he published a kind of yearbook,

00:27:54.440 --> 00:27:55.360


00:27:55.360 --> 00:28:01.120
and he asked me if he could use my photos

00:28:01.120 --> 00:28:01.680


00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:08.160
to illustrate or to accompany his poems,
as he called them.

00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:09.960


00:28:09.960 --> 00:28:18.160
The project became more intense,
and the result was our first large book.

00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:19.800


00:28:19.800 --> 00:28:23.360
Poems Michael Arenz,
photographs Hansgert Lambers.

00:28:23.360 --> 00:28:23.640


00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:28.600
And this is what it looks like.
Here is the poem, and here is my photo.

00:28:28.600 --> 00:28:30.960


00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:38.640
The funny thing is that they aren’t illustrations
in that sense at all,

00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:39.120


00:28:39.120 --> 00:28:43.520
because we picked each of them out individually.

00:28:43.520 --> 00:28:43.800


00:28:43.800 --> 00:28:50.360
For each poem, we looked for a picture,
a very specific picture, from my archive.

00:28:50.360 --> 00:28:50.840


00:28:50.840 --> 00:28:54.680
It could be a really old one, or a brand-new one,
and then we matched it to the respective poem.

00:28:54.680 --> 00:28:55.280
It could be a really old one, or a brand-new one,
and then we matched it to the respective poem.

00:28:55.280 --> 00:29:01.920
We didn’t just put photos in the book
because they looked better that way.

00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:02.400


00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:08.000
We always had pairs  although
each of them remained autonomous.

00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:08.200


00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:13.200
The poem works without the photo,
and the photo works without the poem.

00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:13.400


00:29:13.400 --> 00:29:16.000
But we brought them together back then.

00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:16.600


00:29:16.600 --> 00:29:20.240
I think it’s unique.

00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:21.840


00:29:21.840 --> 00:29:24.640
You also write regularly 
in the Kassel photobook blog.

00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:25.160


00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:27.960


00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:28.280


00:29:28.280 --> 00:29:37.840
For example, I wrote the first report 
on the Kreuzberg "Workshop for Photography"

00:29:37.840 --> 00:29:38.280


00:29:38.280 --> 00:29:46.400
by Michael Schmidt
for the Berlin city newspaper "Hobo".

00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.200


00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:55.240
I also wrote for the Spandauer Volksblatt.

00:29:55.240 --> 00:29:58.520


00:29:58.520 --> 00:30:01.240
Photography from all sides.

00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:01.720


00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:07.040
Your photography has a strong humanistic touch.

00:30:07.040 --> 00:30:07.440


00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:09.080
Would you agree?

00:30:09.080 --> 00:30:09.320


00:30:09.320 --> 00:30:12.360
Yes, no.
Actually, that’s just me.

00:30:12.360 --> 00:30:15.400


00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:21.040
While you were a student, 
you worked as a model.  Yes.

00:30:21.040 --> 00:30:21.480


00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:22.960
How did that come about?

00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:23.120


00:30:23.120 --> 00:30:25.080


00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:29.200
A guy I studied with was a technical assistant
for photo shootings in the fashion world.

00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:29.440


00:30:29.440 --> 00:30:33.520
One day he said to me,
we’re doing a shooting at Halensee.

00:30:33.520 --> 00:30:33.680


00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:35.760
Why don’t you come by and take a look?

00:30:35.760 --> 00:30:36.040


00:30:36.040 --> 00:30:37.200
So, I went along.

00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:37.360


00:30:37.360 --> 00:30:42.520
The photographer saw me
and told me to put his jacket on,

00:30:42.520 --> 00:30:42.760


00:30:42.760 --> 00:30:46.480
take the female model by the hand,
and run down the hill with her.

00:30:46.480 --> 00:30:47.440


00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:49.680
Those were my first fashion photos.

00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:49.920


00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:56.440
He was really keen after that
to have me as an extra  an accessory, if you will.

00:30:56.440 --> 00:30:57.320
He was really keen after that
to have me as an extra  an accessory, if you will.

00:30:57.320 --> 00:31:03.520
The fact that I was tall and slim
was obviously an advantage.

00:31:03.520 --> 00:31:03.880


00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:12.080
So, I worked on a lot of photo series in fashion 
for more than a year.

00:31:12.080 --> 00:31:12.480


00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:18.720
Not only advertising, but editorials in particular.

00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:19.240


00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:25.600
I was even in French Vogue once,
but only with a really small photo.

00:31:25.600 --> 00:31:26.080


00:31:26.080 --> 00:31:32.520
But I was also in 'Stern', and then there was 
a fashion magazine back then called 'Film und Frau'.

00:31:32.520 --> 00:31:32.880


00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:37.480
I was really dressed up in that one...

00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:39.680


00:31:39.680 --> 00:32:16.760