Axel Triestram
What caught my attention in my father’s photos:
With today’s perspective on those times, i.e. from 1948 until into the 1960s, my father’s archive is of course very interesting purely from the image point of view. This is because it shows a picture of a world which does not exist in this form any more. The archive contains 100,000 negatives of which I have only processed the larger ones (9 x 13 and 6 x 6 cm negatives). The rest of that archive and the smaller format archive are still waiting to be discovered.
Achieving a feeling of emotion when looking at a photograph should be the goal of a photographer. A mobile shop absolutely laden with household goods standing on the street is a good picture in itself and awakens memories. The photo could also be stylised and declared as art. It is a document of that moment in time. A picture with children looking at the display in a shop window shows us not only the spirit of the time but also the art of photography capturing more than just the structure.
It is here that a feeling is conveyed in a particular way. All the people who saw this picture laughed and were happy. The photographer had reached inside the viewer. My father took photos of children from the neighbourhood, dressed just as they were. He stood them in front of the shop and started taking photos and we were also sometimes included. He had an idea. The shot “children in the rain” on a driveway expresses this joie de vivre in a similar way.
A method of expression which my father used with care was the photographic angle. Standing over the craftsmen, he photographed the renovation work of the then largest building in the town, the School of Construction. The ice cream van is standing in the lower part of the picture, the inhabitants are going about their business and the shops have their shutters down. This shows it to be a hot summer day. Everything appears familiar and harmonious. The coincidence (the ice cream van) turns out to be a good assistant to the photographer thus rounding the picture off well. A story is being told. The perspective is unique. There are many shots which are remarkable for their good proportioning of the motive. It is for this reason that the original negative frame is to be seen on some of the photographs.
Working with the archived pictures of my father, I noticed how direct his contact was with the people and it shows me how well liked he was. Of course the people were fascinated by photography and photographers were something special at that time. Working a camera, the costs and day-to-day living prevented photography being accessible to a wide section of the population. At a time in which people had to find themselves again there were more important things to do. My father often succeeded in becoming close to people in a way which was neither casual nor superficial. He captured dignity and personality within his photos. Many of his shots express this feeling. Whether it be a ferryman who is proudly letting himself be photographed or the lady who is holding a newspaper in her hands and giving my father a winning smile; all these impressions are timeless. What a beautiful and touching shot of the couple pulling a cart laden with wood across the largest square in the town in the snow. This is something which has to be perceived in the first place.
This “small town” of Holzminden and its surroundings were, on the one hand, a clear limitation of photographic possibilities. No film star came by; no large ship was built here. I am convinced that my father would have followed his photographic path in a larger town. In hindsight however, this seclusion of his complete works is precisely what creates a time document of particular quality. It shows the upheaval after 1945 in the Federal Republic of Germany. Like a rainbow my father’s work spans the most diverse of occurrences and happenings. For this reason, the archive has a longevity which in my opinion appears to be important.
To conclude I would like to point out two things:
Please make allowances for me that I show the photographic work of my father in the best possible light. Seeing as I am a photographer myself, I have followed the history of photography with great pleasure. I have read much on Larticue, Gernsheim, Horst, Sander, Eisensteadt, Strand, Beaton, Erfurth etc. including Norbert Triestram and looked at their photographs. In this way and through my own professional experience, I have been able to acquire the ability to assess pictures. Please take this into consideration.
The other reason is as follows: I have allowed myself the right to re-work some pictures. I worked with filters or also blurred some of the pictures in order to be able to show them. Some of the negatives have suffered from being stored over a long period of time.
The publisher is the son of the photographer. He is a photographer himself and was employed as a commercial photographer for a long period of time.