Books by Wolfgang W. Sohn

THOUGHTS ON PHOTOGRAPHY BY WOLFGANG SOHN

Book ´DISTANCE´ by SNAP Collective London

Those who take photographs pay attention to what they see, or even better: concentrate, or best of all: feel. Those who take photographs move on these three levels of visual activity. He either photographs what he sees. Or he photographs what he wants to show. Or he photographs what he feels. This level is the art level of photography: the abstraction and communication between the medium of photography and the photographer. This is the highest level of visualisation. Here, a photographer answers questions such as: "What does love look like?". Or: "What kind of head picture does a dementia patient have?". Or: "What photo does God have in his passport?" Superfluous, off-the-wall questions? Every magazine title dedicated to the phenomenon of love needs a concise cover photo to go with it. Preferably one that boosts sales. The head images of a dementia patient were long the subject of painting; today they take place in the abstract play forms of photography. They help the better understanding of the disease dementia, thanks to digitalisation. And the question of God's passport is answered by the incomparable Sir Peter Ustinov in his 300-page book "The Old Man and Mr. Smith": when entering the country, the border official finds out: the Old Man's passport expired about 15,000 years ago, that's when God was last here. And the passport photo ... well. Well? Are you in a mental cinema now? Then experience now what the occupation with photography leads to: to the visualisation of your thoughts and feelings in confrontation with yourself and existence. In human existence there is nothing more important, nothing more exciting than other people. This also applies to photography. In over 40 years of being involved in photography full-time, I have not met any photographers who do not love what they do. And they all love people. Humanitarians who take portraits of people with their cameras do not just photograph their faces. They photograph their soul. Wolfgang Sohn does what he loves. And he loves what he does: he is a philanthropist and he looks into people's souls with his camera. Only a few photographers can do that. Above all, Annie Leibovitz, Dorothea Lange, Greg Gorman, Robert Frank, Peter Lindbergh should be mentioned in this context. They are or were photographers who had the soul of the human being in view. And of course Steve McCurry, the photographer of the Afghan girl. This picture belongs to the "Visual Iconic Index" of our time. Wolfgang Sohn's works are based on this photo. The direct camera gaze of "his people" creates the magical interaction between photographer and photographed: both exchange soul gazes. Both love what they are doing at this moment. Against the backdrop of a stressful time for everyone, they celebrate an emancipation from oppressive contemporary events. These are the metaphysical, emotional moments of photography. And Wolfgang Sohn has visualised them throughout. This makes his work unique, elevates it to art and does not shy away from comparison with the photographs of the above-mentioned photo artists.

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Rüdiger Schrader, lawyer, photographer, book author, ski instructor.

Professional stations: Chief photographer dpa, Director of Photography "stern", "Gala", "Focus".