SEAMOTION 2005
Fotoarbeiten von Herbert Böttcher
Eröffnung 15.01.2006, 15:00-19:00 Uhr
16.01. - 29.01.2006, 30.01.-31.03. nach Vereinbarung
in focus Galerie, Köln
Brüsseler Straße 83
D - 50672 Köln

I came across photography late, when I was 25. Until that time I was a salesman and eventually I went back to school. I had never owned a camera before that, but when I took a picture of an old woman with a friend's camera in 1987 - it was the second photo I had ever taken - I became fascinated by the possibilities of the medium. Two weeks later, after working out the one photo of the old woman in a darkroom again and again, I decided to study photography. During my studying at University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld / Germany (1988 -1993), I recognized my personal aim of photography - to illustrate my visions. I don't want to show what I see - I want to express the pictures from inside.

A pinhole camera could be made out of several materials. At least, you must build up a darkroom with a hole and a shutter to control the exposure time. The sharpness of the photograph, among other things, depends on the correct size of the hole and the thickness of the used material for the pinhole.

Since 1990 I have built many cameras. The reasons for using and creating pinhole cameras, for me always follows the experiment of expressing my pictures from inside.

In 1990 the contrasting atmosphere of an old war memorial fascinated me. On one hand, there was the speech of the architecture, which was able to express an ecclesiastical spirit in a strong way - on the other hand, I don't agree with the glorification of war. The conceptual background was, to find a visual way to express the break between the two. I created a round camera and put demolished film-pieces inside. (the first 3 images in the gallery above).

A similar atmosphere, I found at a military training area in 1993. On one hand, the nature grows up in a very colorful way in ecological recesses - on the other hand nature became destroyed by the military. I used a camera with the possibility of exposing the film at both sides. The background was, to look in oppositional directions and to create oppositional colors by the physics chemistry property of the films. (the final 3 images in the gallery).

On a daily basis I use a pinhole camera that works with the perfection and possibilities of industrial cameras, but with several options of manually controlling the creative process.

For my favorite camera, during the day 0.5 - 2 seconds. In the evening and morning time a longer exposure is more appropriate.

The ways of taking photographs are as different as the people who take them. What I mean is, that there are several ways of thinking, feeling and expressing. The pinhole photography is one part of all. Yes, I love this way of working and the creative possibilities - but we need the variety to draw pictures of the world, there are specific pros and cons.

In my opinion the use of a pinhole camera at times, where digital media are available, is not a fallback into ancient history of photography, but rather a conscious decision. Creative work with the pinhole camera in combination with digital applications offers extraordinarily sophisticated possibilities for new photographical areas. I live with the happiness, the conflicts - and all of the creative possibilities of this time!

There are two main steps before starting photography. When I have a feeling for the theme - the pictures come themselves. At first I am collecting information about the theme. Mostly at this time, I create a first picture inside my head. Sometimes I am making scribbles about it, not to forget the quick ideas. In the second step, I try to find a way of realizing the pictures, or better, visions. At this point, during searching for it, I have to decide between lens and lensless photography, too. When I'll take lens photographs, the digital possibilities are playing a big part up from the beginning. When I decide to take pinhole photographs, the digital media doesn't play a big role at that point.

When I am in front of my objects, at first I am collecting information again - but with the camera. I want to give an example: When I was in Spain to take the pictures of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, for nearly 5 complete days I walked around and looked at every corner outside of the building. Every day in the evening, I controlled my results of work the negatives, for 1-2 hours. In that atmosphere of silence and concentration, I compared the results with my thoughts and feelings of the day. At the end of every day I created the steps for next day.

I am remembering, up from the 6th day I was able to walk around the building in my thoughts, full of pictures. I knew everything about the light and a lot of perspectives at the correct time. Up from that time, I created the concrete versions of the multiple exposures inside of my head. I needed 5 more days (mostly I waited for the best light) for taking the photographs. After this time, in the evenings there were no differences between my results on film and my visions. Sometimes I walked around the building without taking any more photographs and enjoyed the nice town for two days.

Each of my Guggenheim photographs is made with multiple exposures onto one negative. After printing in my darkroom, I scanned the prints and mostly modified only the colors and some contrasts digitally. Nowadays, I prefer to scan the films without printing, but the way of finding my working results is the same.

In my opinion the digital possibilities offer a great liberation for creative work, because the borders for realizing visionary photography became smaller. You can use digital options when you want - but you must not use.