Fotogalerie im Blauen Haus

fotogalerieby Connor Mulvaney

“I think somebody said ‘if you want to make a statement, send a letter,’” said Nick Hermanns, curator of the Fotogalerie im Blauen Haus in Munich.

“Photography isn’t about having a message. This is just showing how somebody sees a special part of the world.”

Hermanns not only curates his own gallery but also is an avid professional photographer, author and a graphic designer. Seeing the trade of photography from both sides of the gallery windows has given him an interesting perspective on the field.

“I have a pretty simple philosophy about photography. It’s not so artistic and not so sophisticated,” said Hermanns. “[Making a photograph] is just showing how I see something. It’s just a picture.”

Hermanns , 63, who has lived in Munich for 45 years and has operated his gallery since 2010, describes his taste as traditional, which drives his choices in exhibitions in his gallery.  His current exhibit, “Landscape Impressions” is by Willi Morali, a photographer and architect from Velbert, Rheinland

“There is one thing which all my artists have in common.  They do pure photography, so they don’t manipulate [their photographs],” said Hermanns.

This technical foundation separates Fotogalerie im Blauen Haus from the field of German galleries and photographers, according to Hermanns. “I don’t think [this exhibit] fits in anything.  It’s really completely outstanding,” Hermanns said.  “It’s really far away from the German art scene.”

In an art community with many “extremely expensive” and popular photographers, Hermanns’ gallery stays true to his principles.

“This gallery has its focus on photography, not on art. It’s more [about] a kind of straight photography, which is easy to understand and nice to look at,” said Hermanns.  “Of course, sometimes the issues [represented in themes of other works] are wilder than this one, but still, it’s not a big art thing.  It’s just photography.”

willimoraliPhotos in Landscape Impressions by Morali were all exposed on film across several countrysides across Europe.  Each is carefully composed, often with vanishing points or displaying perspective in some form in a way that draws the viewer’s eye around the picture and easily allows him or her to digest the photograph.

“It’s pretty easy to understand. It’s not a sophisticated kind of artificial photography,” said Hermanns.  “You can just look at it, you see it’s a tree, it’s black and white, and I understand what is happening there.  It’s nothing with a big concept or intellectual whatever. It’s just photography.”

The photos were printed in a darkroom on silver gelatin paper and then toned with gold, selenium or palladium to give them a taste of color as well as to preserve them.

This may read like Greek to the modern photo enthusiast, but it is this traditional approach that Hermanns has a passion for.

“The guys who work like this are not so many.  Most [photographers today] shoot digitally…and this very traditional style starts to become rare,” said Hermanns.

However, the value of traditionally made photographs in a lightning-fast paced field is not necessarily worth its weight in whatever it’s toned in.

“I don’t think [working this way] is of value. It’s just another way to work,” said Hermanns.  “I think it’s a question of feeling.  [Silver gelatin] gives you the feeling that this is really craftsmanship, somebody did something with that and not [just] pushed a button.  Both can bring perfect results.”

Morali was able to produce such perfect results in Landscape Impressions, according to Hermanns.

“I think he’s a really extremely perfect printer,” he said.  “If you’ve seen the tones of the photography, there is still something in the black, the deep parts of the photo, and also in the very, very light ones.  This is perfectly done; it’s just really good craft.”

DPA’s classic news in a modern world

dpa_newsroom_politik3by Connor Mulvaney

Chief photographer of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur Michael Kappeler believes taking one good photograph is all you need to market news photos.

“Before in the print world, we tried [to get] one good photo which tells the whole story, but now that’s changing,” said Kappeler.

Today in the digital world, photographers are able to tell stories in countless photographs. However, this is not how DPA conducts its business.

“Print is still important,” said Kappeler.

A surprising statement from a modern newsperson, but in his opinion, it’s a justifiable one.

“It’s the moneymaker for us because we cannot earn money in the digital world,” said Kappeler.  “So we make money with the print clients and so we have to satisfy them.”

Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH, founded in 1949 in Germany and based in Hamburg, has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is available in GermanEnglishSpanish and Arabic. The English service is produced in Berlin, which is also the location of the central news office. The DPA has offices in 80 countries, 12 regional German bureaus along with 50 additional offices in Germany. Point Park students and faculty visited the Berlin office and also heard from Christian Rowenkamp, head of corporate communication, on DPA operations.

In particular, DPA aims to please clients with its “classic” news photographs.  That is, one photo that shows the action and emotion of a situation, and tells the story with one exposure of the camera sensor. Kapperler said the agency has 100 photographers in Germany alone to accomplish that compared to the eight the Associated Press has in all of Germany.

By using the word “client,” Kappeler is of course referring to media outlets.  Not the public.  This in opposition to its  American counterpart, AP, who caters to its  news partners but also permits some public access to its website, stories and photographs. .

“We are only providing news to business clients,” said Kappeler.  “They can use these pictures or information to bring to their clients because we have no way to earn money back [from non-business clients].  So they can [sell] news to their clients, so they can buy the news.”

The DPA’s international reach and commitment to its German clients make it vital to reporting German news.  Its client list proves it. Nearly 100 percent of German media outlets are partners of DPA, according to Kappeler.

“For…the Olympics, or the pope’s election… we send our own DPA photographers to countries where these things happen,” said Kappeler.  These photographers have two jobs – “They do general news, but they also follow the German interest.”

dpa_web_02A hard concept to understand for Americans, as the United States is often at the center of attention when it is involved in global affairs.  For smaller countries like Germany, an extra effort is required to report international news.

“If something happens, there is not always a German interest [reported by other outlets],” said Kappeler.  “The best example is the Olympics.  If a German sports team reaches fourth place, nobody will take a picture of them because [reporters] just follow the medal winners.”

One DPA German photograph of interest worldwide was the recent one that Kappeler himself took – of outgoing Pope Benedict’s hand with the papal ring about to be destroyed per Catholic Church regulations.  He said he took a chance on that photograph, but it was used in countless publications.

Thus, DPA’s commitment to its clients leads them to exactly what they need.

“It’s our task, then, just to follow the German interest because there is a huge media market in Germany, so we have a lot of clients and they want to know what the Germans are doing.”