by Hamann, Horst | The arts
Published 11/09/2023 by teNeues Publishing UK Ltd (teNeues Media GmbH & Co. KG) in Germany
Hardback | 188 pages, 85 Illustrations, black and white
The coffee-table book London Vertical is a delight both for lovers of the British capital and for fans of Hamann's work. Whether Big Ben, Tower Bridge, London Eye or The Shard, Hamann presents all these sights, which have already been photographed thousands of times, in his own creative way and thus creates something completely new. It is fun to pick up this illustrated book again and again, because the unusual approach to the motifs is interesting for the eye and brings new details to the fore.
The passionate photo artist was born in Mannheim in 1958 and discovered the camera for himself at the age of 11. Having grown up on two continents, Europe and America, he began an intensive artistic exploration of the extreme format of panorama photography in 1985. But it was not until 1991 that what Hamann's followers adore about him today happened: He turned his camera to portrait format for the first time at the intersection of 41st Street and Avenue of the Americas and has since been called the 'inventor' of vertical photography among insiders.
His photographs not only testify to his great skill and compositional talent, Hamann manages in a unique way to stage well-known motifs in a completely new way. As a reader, you look at his pictures with curiosity and look forward anew to recognising the sights in each photo.
Text in English and German.