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Sunday, October 10, 2021

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD


Two days ago would have been my father’s 108th birthday.  He hasn’t been with us for over 40 years, but this date will always be a special day for me and my sister.  We both owe him our profession and for that I will always be thankful.  He is also responsible for my interest in Leica cameras. I have written on several occasions that I received my first Leica, a model II with 50mm f/2 Summar for my 5th birthday from my father.  That was only the beginning.  Over the following years we learned many of our photography skills from him.  He was a Fotografenmeister (Master Photographer), and it was through his influence and teaching that both of us set out on a career as professional photographers.  To this day I am still influenced by what I learned from him.  Even this blog most likely would not have materialized without him.

 
Heinrich Richter
Photograph by my sister Marlies Amling

Thus I hope the readers of this blog will allow me this moment of personal reflections.

My father always encouraged me to take pictures, to experiment, to find my own way.  For that reason he gave me that Leica.  This used to be his personal camera and some of the photographs in this article were taken with that camera.

He attended the Hamburg School of Photography.  After graduating he worked as an apprentice with several different photographers and finally earned his degree of Fotografenmeiser (master photographer).

 
St. Pauli Landungsbrücken Subway Station in Hamburg

 

 

 
 Hamburg Harbor

Throughout his career, he never specialized, instead his work ranged from portraits and weddings, via architectural work to product photography.  That is something I am quite thankful for because it allowed me to do the same in my own life.

Unfortunately, cancer took him from us much too early.  I frequently reflect on the fact that I am now ten years older than he was when he died, and on all the conversations we could have had, had he only lived longer.


 
Two photographs that my father took of me

My sister is now a very successful photographer in Germany.  We often talk about what could have been.  For instance, our dad was an incredibly skillful retouching artist.  It still amazes me what he was able to do with a brush and some retouching colors.  We will never know what he would have thought of Photoshop, but we are convinced he would have taken to it quite readily.  As a matter of fact, I am sure he would have readily embraced digital photography as well, but I am also convinced that he would have missed the skills that used to be necessary to be a successful professional photographer before the digital age.

 
My mother
from a paper negative

 

 

I have several of his cameras in my own camera collection.  Just the other day I marveled once again at his Plaubel Peco Universal view camera and it occurred to me that the majority of photographers today probably have no clue how to operate such a piece of equipment.  Digital photography, combined with computers and software programs like Photoshop have virtually eliminated the need for such camera equipment.  Yet I am very thankful that I still learned to use cameras like it, as well as most of the other, “old” skills that were necessary to succeed in the field of professional photography.  For that I am forever thankful, dad.

 
Suburbian Hamburg

 
Rothenbaumchaussee, Hamburg

 
Boltergasse, Barntrup, Germany
I helped my father to take this photograph in my hometown



 For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right

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16 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday from me too. I wish all people had such fond memories of their dad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much. Days like this also remind me of all the things I have no longer a chance to talk to him about. All too often we think of these questions when it is too late.

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  2. Were all the pictures taken with Leica cameras?

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    Replies
    1. I am sure they were not. Besides Leica cameras, my dad also used medium format and large format cameras. However, I am quite sure that the picture of the little boy climbing the steps and the one with the broken doll were taken with Leica cameras, most likely the Leica III that my dad gave me for my fifth birthday. By the way, the little boy is me.
      The picture below the one with the broken doll is of my mother. It was taken with a 6x9 cm (4x5 inch) camera using a paper negative. At the time, film material was quite scarce and my dad often used single weight photographic paper to make paper negatives instead.

      Delete
  3. Where was your father's business located?

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    Replies
    1. Foto Richter
      Bahnhofstraße 6
      Barntrup
      Germany

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    2. Never heard of Barntrup. Where in Germany is it?

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    3. Barntrup is 150 miles south of Hamburg, or 50 miles south west of Hanover, or. to be more specific, it is about half way between Detmold and Hameln (Hamelin, town of the pied piper), or half way between Lemgo and Hameln.

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  4. You mentioned your father using paper negatives. Don't enlargements show the texture of the paper?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, they would if the paper had a course texture. However, the paper my dad used had a very fine texture which did not show up even when enlarged. The photograph of my mother in this article was scanned from an 11x14 inch enlargement which was made from a 4x5 inch paper negative.

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  5. Your father was indeed a master photographer. You are lucky to have learned from him

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  6. It looks like a paradox but, in my opinion, photographers of today should go back to masterpieces of “old” photography like these, to learn a lot and especially to find a new, stronger motivation and enthusiasm for the practice of this great art.

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  7. Not to be picky, but the photograph of the St. Pauli Landungsbrucken subway station is obviously above ground. Is this possibly mislabeled?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. Part of the Hamburg subway system runs above ground, especially in the Hamburg harbor region. The St. Pauli Landungsbrücken are actually a floating docking area for ocean liners and a well known landmark in Hamburg.

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  8. Were the pictures in thsi article scanned from the original negatives?

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    Replies
    1. No, I scanned all of them from enlargements made of the original negatives.

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