Statement

During my studies at the Folkwangschule in Essen in the 1970s, I initially focused on photo journalism, as taught by Otto Steinert. But after only a few semesters I became enthusiastic about documentary photography, which, however, was hardly taught by this school, with one exception: Albert Renger-Patzsch. My role models came mainly from the USA, which I got to know through the Swiss photo magazine CAMERA. First and foremost: Walker Evans. The later so called "New Topographics". only influenced me after my studies. I was convinced by the thoughtful and calm approach of documentary photography, its richness of detail through the use of larger formats. In this way she has a high suitability to create historical documents and thus she has a sustainability. The occupation with my own habitat, the Ruhr area, enabled me to work more intensively and for longer periods of time. The things that I photograph meet me again and again. You could say it this way: I look at them for a long time until they show me their true faces, only then do I photograph them. And if I can't transport that onto a picture, I photograph them again until I'm satisfied. The documentary style is characterized by a restrained visual language that allows the pictorial objects to communicate in their own language. Only in this way can changes and developments be depicted in a comprehensible way over decades. Since I have been involved with this form of photography, the ability of photography to convey reality has often been questioned in art and media theoretical discussions. These discussions were good and necessary, but in my opinion they were often too general rather than related to concrete works. I am convinced that, under certain conditions, the viewer can recognize whether the photographer is trying to mediate a reality he perceives or whether he rather wants to put the subjective first. It can work if the photographic work is in a clear context or if the photographer and the recipient meet on a common level of pictorial language. In the course of this discussion, the concept of documentary photography has also been shaken. Personally, I would like to maintain it as a term for a style, but I don't mind replacing it with the more modern term "environmental photography", which of course has the advantage of better meeting the content. Of course, my pictures should also be a subjective statement. Without this subjective moment, documentary photography would be bloodless and would not differ from documentary photography. Christoph Schaden describes my style as "poetic realism". That makes me feel well understood.