Early Travels
November 14 – December 17, 1976
The photographs in this publication are among the first I presented to a larger audience, including at the Blue Sky Gallery in 1976. I had left Germany in 1966 to live in the United States, where I began a new life by going back to school to study photography. I left the San Francisco Art Institute with a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1970 and set out to work as a photographer.
From the very beginning my approach to picture making was rather intuitive. I responded to what I saw and felt at a particular moment and used the camera to record my impression. A state of intensive awareness is the pivotal aspect in this process. The excitement when noticing an unexpected scene or situation corresponded immediately to my long standing passion for traveling. I went back to Europe with a new purpose and an unbounded enthusiasm to find inspiration by observing my “old” continent with this newly developed perspective.
The choice of countries I visited was kind of random and so were the various ways of getting around within each country. Traveling alone or with a friend, it was just a time to drift from place to place, being open to new experiences, enjoying the contact with people and trying to capture some of the moments on film.
I traveled with my Leica rangefinder camera, an extra lens and a couple of canisters full of self-rolled film. I also carried a half frame camera, which was fun to use for snapshots and “non-serious” work, but it also was extremely helpful to connect with people in an easy-going, playful way.
In Ireland, Hungary, and Spain, rather than spending time in the cities, I found myself drawn to rural areas and small towns. I developed a strong interest in photographing the land, the people and the animals. This fascination stayed with me for a long time afterwards and clearly influenced the work I did later in Mexico and the American West.
Working on this project brought back memories of specific moments and how it felt to be in an unfamiliar place. This was particularly true for Hungary, a country that at the time was still behind the “iron curtain.” Traveling alone by train, bus or hitch-hiking was adventurous at times. Looking through the prints and negatives, some of which I had not printed before, I was reminded of the day-to-day experience: Staying and communicating with people I met along the way, trying to figure out how to get to the next place and the hardship of the cold season approaching.
Putting this work together was a rewarding experience. This collection of images developed into a personal record, a kind of visual diary. The process made me reflect on my earliest years as a photographer and think about what effect that time had on me as the photographer I am today. So it was another “journey” – a journey into the past and a good one, too.
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