The year 1997 marked a fundamental turning point in my photography. After a decade of working exclusively in black and white, I chose colour slide film for the first time in my Oktoberfest reportage.
Exposure times of up to half a second, along with the use of a fill flash, were further innovations. This allowed me to capture the beer tents in their full depth and, above all, to convey the surging movement everywhere present.
A stylistic device that was to shape my work for years to come.
Capturing all of these emotionally charged moments quickly became an obsession, leading me to roam the festival grounds almost daily.
The scent of roasted almonds, the fairground rides, and the spectacular execution announcements at Schichtl became my temporary centre of life.
Among the beer tents, the Hofbräu tent soon emerged as my favourite.
A magnet for visitors from all over the world, where drinking and celebrating were far more excessive than anywhere else on the Wiesn. Bavarian cosiness, if present at all, was to be found more next door.
It would be more than twenty years before I would devote myself to a photographic project with similar enthusiasm again. Fortunately, I did not know that at the time.
The year 1997 marked a fundamental turning point in my photography. After a decade of working exclusively in black and white, I chose colour slide film for the first time in my Oktoberfest reportage.
Exposure times of up to half a second, along with the use of a fill flash, were further innovations. This allowed me to capture the beer tents in their full depth and, above all, to convey the surging movement everywhere present.
A stylistic device that was to shape my work for years to come.
Capturing all of these emotionally charged moments quickly became an obsession, leading me to roam the festival grounds almost daily.
The scent of roasted almonds, the fairground rides, and the spectacular execution announcements at Schichtl became my temporary centre of life.
Among the beer tents, the Hofbräu tent soon emerged as my favourite.
A magnet for visitors from all over the world, where drinking and celebrating were far more excessive than anywhere else on the Wiesn. Bavarian cosiness, if present at all, was to be found more next door.
It would be more than twenty years before I would devote myself to a photographic project with similar enthusiasm again. Fortunately, I did not know that at the time.
