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L E I C A F O T O G R A F I E I N T E R N AT I O N A L
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René Groebli Antonio Paredes Peter Bauza
Joseph Michael Lopez
Repeat Winner of the TIPA Award
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p o rt f o l i o Lo ba 2 0 1 7
F / s to p 7 2 | TL 2 : I N THE FIEL D
8 8 | w i nn e r s a nd Finalists
Leica’s fully overhauled, mirrorless APS-C camera with touchscreen operation managed to win over even the the most diehard viewfinder devotee during our practice trial
Terje Abusdal is the winner of the 2017 Leica Oskar Barnack Award. The Newcomer Award went to Sergey Melnitchenko. We introduce the two winners and ten finalists
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Joining an existing home network or creating an ad-hoc network of its own out in the field: it is all in a day’s work for the Leica TL2, which can even act as a miniature web server 82 | shutters All the large sensor manufacturers are developing electronic shutter systems, which will be replacing mechanical shutters – with their advantages and disadvantages – in the near future
1 0 4 | e x h i b i t i o ns Peter Bauza: El Payaso (The Clown) festival hall in El Alto, La Paz
Joseph Michael Lopez 6 | D e a r N e w Yo r k e r
For his long-term project, the New York photographer continues to work on his hometown – as always preferably in black and white
Daniel Etter 28 | t h e c h i l d r e n o f Sy r i a
The TL2 – Leica’s new APS-C system succeeds in our practice test
Children are the first victims in a civil war. Daniel Etter visited survivors at a Syrian SOSKinderdorf (Children’s Village)
Peter Bauza 3 6 | f ly i n g h i g h
Since 2006, Bolivia’s President, Evo Morales has been transforming his country – to the advantage of the indigenous population. A reportage from La Paz
René Groebli 5 0 | T h e Ey e o f L o v e
Honeymoon threesome: Groebli, his wife Rita and his Leica. A homage on the occasion of the Swiss photographer’s 90th birthday
Walker Evans, San Francisco; Lauren Greenfield, New York; Albert Renger-Patzsch, Paris; Rineke Dijkstra, Gothenburg 1 0 6 | F e s t i va l s The Amsterdam Photography Museum fosters young talent with its Foam Talent format 107 | Leica Galleries An overview of the programme of Leica Galleries around the world, including, among others, Wuales und Lars Beusker 108 | books Current publications by Robin Hammond, Masahisa Fukase, William Daniels, Stephen Shore and Sanne de Wilde 1 1 0 | In t e r v i e w Books, exhibitions, PR: publisher Markus Hartmann speaks about the marketing of art 114 | my picture How Peer Kugler found his way back to photography after a hard time in his personal life 114 | imprint
Antonio Paredes 60 | hanami
Paredes found inspiration for his unconventional, breakthrough fashion series in Hanami, the By Jess Bonham Anna Lomax Japanese Cherry Blossomand Festival
An exploration on Trust
Cover photo: Joseph Michael Lopez, Leusi andwetransfer.com Leslie on Canal Street, NYC 2015, from the Dear New Yorker series
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dea r Ne w YO R K E R LeicA M
Joseph Michael Lopez
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“Though New York City has transformed into a very franchised, globalized, amusement park for the super rich‌
LeicA M
Daniel Etter t h e c h i l d r e n o f sy r i a
Children’s eyes haunted by the civil war in Syria: photographer Daniel Etter visited the SOS Kinderdorf facility in the outskirts of Damascus, where traumatised children and war orphans have found a new home. For many of them it is the first chance to live in safety.
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85 percent of all Syrian children are very traumatised. They have lost relatives in the war and have never experienced one day free of worry. Now they have a new home at the SOS Kinderdorf
Sorrowful eyes that stare blankly into nothing, at times a rare delightful burst of laughter, small hands that protectively clasp another child’s hand: the children’s mimicry and gestures offer the viewer a small glimpse of what the youngsters have endured while growing up in the middle of a civil war that has divided the country since 2011. The children have lost their mothers, fathers or siblings, they were sent out to beg, or maimed by relatives to protect them from abuse by the so-called Islamic State. The only thing they have known till now is war, suffering and loss. At the SOS Kinderdorf, the hope is that they will find a way to process what they have experienced.
The German photographer Daniel Etter took his camera on a visit to the SOS Kinderdorf facility on the outskirts of Damascus. With help from carers, psychologists and SOS mothers, he found a way to connect with the traumatised children – and capture their emotions in his pictures. Their faces, gestures and expressions speak of their past, but also of the fact that now, at last, they can look to a future that promises them a safe home. Etter’s photos aim to reveal the fragility of these young souls. Louay Yassin, press relations for SOS Kinderdörfer worldwide, explains the goal of the picture series: “Those of us who were in Syria, could not forget the faces of the traumatised children that we saw at the SOS facility,” he says. “Etter also hoped to capture the
children’s energy and inner strength that leads them back to a normal life.” Etter’s photos show another side to war: not the destroyed buildings or wounded victims. The children’s eyes reflect a quiet suffering of the soul. Some may have physical injuries, but while those injuries gradually heal the ones that have marked their souls remain for much longer. Direct and abrupt, the series offers a glimpse of the consequences of the unimaginably brutal civil war. LFI spoke with Daniel Etter about the situation in the children’s village, the significance of pictures in today’s flood of information and a lost generation growing up in Syria. →
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F ly i n g
High
LeicA SL
Peter Bauza
L e i c A C l a ss i c
René Groebli T h e E y e o f L ov e
Conceived as a declaration of love to his wife Rita, René Groebli’s photo essay epitomises the art of capturing the moment in tender and timeless images – a series that remains trailblazing to this day. The acclaimed Swiss photographer celebrates his 90th birthday.
The peaceful setting of a small hotel room allowed for an intimate dialogue, which culminated in a unique photographic series
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Antonio Paredes Ha n am i
Floating like a cherry blossom on a gentle wind, model Anabel takes on the appearance of a western geisha for Paredes’s pictures. A visual dance between graceful blossom and elegiac beauty.
Leica
Oskar Barnack Award 2017
Speci al edi t i o n LFI : The special edition of LFI
with detailed information about the twelve selected series for the 2017 Leica Oskar Barnack Award, is now available at the LFI Shop ( lfi-online.de/shop). LO BA Ex hi b i t i o n : Berlin, Neue Schule für Foto-
grafie, 14 September to 15 October 2017; Paris Photo, 10 to 13 November 2017; Lucca, Photolux Festival, 19 November to 10 December 2017
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Douglas So, founder of the F11 Foto Museum in Hong Kong and jury member for the 37th Leica Oskar Barnack Award, summarises: “The LOBA offers a reputable international platform for photographers – professionals and newcomers – to show their works, tell their stories, and realise their dreams. The award is a proven benchmark of excellence, presenting each year a relevant and significant compendium of themes contemporary photography is covering at any given time, illuminating each photographer’s unique way of expressing them!” With prizes worth a total of 80 000 euros, the award offers monetary appreciation, as well as worldwide respect and attention. Only series made up of a minimum of ten to twelve images may be submitted. So states, “I always love photo essays. Luck and coincidence might sometimes play a significant role shaping an individual image. It takes far greater talent and skill to build a coherent and aesthetically strong series to convey a powerful message or interpret a complicated issue.” This year there were 2700 submissions from 104 countries. Most candidates came from China, followed by France, Brazil and Germany. In addition to So, the jury included Karin Rehn-Kaufmann, Art Director & General Manager of Leica Galleries International; Michelle Dunn Marsh, Executive Director of the Photographic Center Northwest; and Christian Pohlert, Head of the Photo Editorial Department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. The jury chose Terje Abusdal from Norway as overall winner of the 2017 Oskar Barnack Award. His Slash & Burn series is dedicated to the Forest Finns, an ethnic group that in the 16th and 17th centuries made its home in an area of Norway close to today’s border with Sweden. Abusdal approached his protagonists like a participant observer in social research. As he explains, “Photography is a documentary medium, but it has the ability to capture a moment, idea, or place outside its context and thus create a new meaning – a mystery, if you will. By frame, shape or form, one can convey something different from that which is actually being photographed. The borders between fact and fiction can be distorted. One of the images in my series is of a haystack; but it works as a metaphor for a ghost, a magical being. Through working in series, one can really play with that: pooling a group of images together in a narrative, you can create a completely new world, a mood, a feeling, or a sense of place. A photographic series is a bit like cinema.” From the group of 800 competitors who qualified for the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, the jury selected Ukrainian photographer Sergey Melnitchenko to be honored. Melnitchenko took the role of a participant observer to the extreme: in addition to being the photographer, Melnitchenko danced with an ensemble, as it worked its way through the cheap entertainment districts of China. His Behind the Scenes series captured his observations of life backstage – observations that are normally inaccessible to outsiders. The young photographer explains: “In China I started taking photos on the street with my mobile phone, and photos of my daily life with an instant camera. The Behind the Scenes series was something very new for me. It’s a mix of documentary and conceptual art photography. What’s interesting is that I want to continue working in such a style: I love it!” We look forward to whatever comes next! bernd luxa
From the Slash & Burn series by 2017 LOBA winner, Terje Abusdal (also see the next page) lFI
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