Gerd Ludwig

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Gerd Ludwig (actually Gerhard Erich Ludwig , born March 17, 1947 in Alsfeld , Hesse ) is a German-American documentary photographer and photojournalist .

biography

Education

Gerd Ludwig first studied German, political and sports science at the Philipps University in Marburg . He broke off his studies to travel to Scandinavia and North America , where he made his way through doing odd jobs as a bricklayer, seaman and dishwasher. After returning to Germany, he studied photography with Otto Steinert at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen (now Folkwang University of the Arts ) and graduated as a photo designer in 1974. In the same year he founded VISUM, Germany's first photography agency, together with André Gelpke and Rudi Meisel. From 1978 onwards he lived in Hamburg and began to work for international magazines and advertising agencies.

Work for National Geographic

He moved to New York in 1984 and became a contract photographer for National Geographic in the early 1990s. The focus of his photography is on environmental issues and the changes in the republics of the former Soviet Union . As a 10-year retrospective of the social, economic and political changes after the collapse of the Soviet Union his book Broken Empire was released in 2001 - After the Fall of the USSR (German title: Russia - A World Power in Transition), also the photos of the book were in shown in exhibitions in the USA and Europe . His coverage of the time after the fall of the Soviet Union has earned him an international reputation as the leading western photographer documenting the region.

Gerd Ludwig has worked on almost all of the book projects "A Day in the Life of ..." initiated by David Cohen and Rick Smolan. In addition to numerous other awards, he received the Lucie Award for International Photographer of the Year in 2006. In 2014 the German Society for Photography (DGPh) awarded him the Dr. Erich Salomon Prize , which is awarded in memory of Erich Salomon for photographic life's work. In the fall of 2015, the University of Missouri honored him with its coveted Missouri Honor Medal, which has been awarded to people and institutions for many years of service in journalism since 1930.

Gerd Ludwig lives in Los Angeles , California , USA and continues to take photos mainly for National Geographic, occasionally for other renowned magazines and book projects as well as for advertising agencies. He also teaches at universities and gives workshops around the world, and his photos are exhibited internationally in galleries, museums and at festivals such as the Visa pour L'Image in Perpignan . He also photographs personal projects such as Sleeping Cars and processes works from his archive, including portraits of Joseph Beuys and Friedensreich Hundertwasser .

Chernobyl

Gerd Ludwig first photographed the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster for National Geographic in 1993 and returned there in 2005. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the accident in 2011, he tried in vain to gain media interest for further reporting. Gerd Ludwig finally turned to crowdfunding and began using it in December 2010 as one of the first internationally known documentary photographers for a personal project. His Kickstarter campaign supported a return to the Chernobyl exclusion zone in order to be able to continue to document the consequences of the largest nuclear accident in history. The Fukushima disaster on March 11, 2011, while crowdfunding was still going on, re-directed public interest to Chernobyl and the nuclear issue . The project ultimately achieved more than 200% of the amount originally required.

The pictures that Gerd Ludwig took on his return to Chernobyl were published and exhibited worldwide, for example at the headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London and presented at the LOOK3 Charlottesville Festival of the Photograph in Virginia . In cooperation with Lightbox he developed the app “The Long Shadow of Chernobyl”. In 2012 it was awarded 1st place in the tablet category of the “Best of Photojournalism” competition of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).

In 2013, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his Chernobyl reporting, Gerd Ludwig returned to the exclusion zone to document the clean-up work and the progress made in the construction of the sarcophagus . In 2014, together with the Austrian publisher Edition Lammerhuber, he published the retrospective illustrated book “The Long Shadow of Chernobyl” (with an essay by Michail Gorbatschow , quotations from Swetlana Alexijewitsch ). To support the printing of the book, Gerd Ludwig used Kickstarter again. The book was presented as part of a comprehensive exhibition in the Natural History Museum Vienna . "The long shadow of Chernobyl" met with worldwide recognition and was among other things. a. Awarded as Photo Book of the Year by POYi (Pictures of the Year international).

Quote

  • “A good photo touches the soul and enriches the spirit.” (In English: “A great photograph touches the soul and broadens the mind.”)
  • “Technique and composition in photography are like grammar and syntax in literature.” (In English: “Technique and composition in photography are equivalent to grammar and syntax in prose.”)

Reports in National Geographic

  • "Museum Magic", National Geographic Germany: December 2015
  • "On a Roll" National Geographic: July 2015
  • "Two Cities" National Geographic: March 2015
  • "The Nuclear Tourist" National Geographic: October 2014
  • "Incident in the death zone" National Geographic Germany: October 2014
  • "Searching for King Arthur" National Geographic Germany: January 2014
  • “Tomorrowland” National Geographic: February 2012
  • “Crimea: A Jewel in Two Crowns” National Geographic: April 2011
  • “Soul of Russia” National Geographic: April 2009
  • “Jakob der Reiche” National Geographic Germany: March 2009
  • “Moscow Never Sleeps” National Geographic: August 2008
  • “Send Me to Siberia” National Geographic: June 2008
  • “Vitus Bering” National Geographic Scandinavia: October 2007
  • “Vitus Bering” National Geographic Germany: February 2007.
  • “Marktl” National Geographic Germany: May 2006.
  • “The Long Shadow Of Chernobyl” National Geographic: April 2006.
  • “Napoleon In Germany” National Geographic Germany: November 2005.
  • “The Salton Sea” National Geographic: February 2005.
  • “Nibelungen” National Geographic Germany: December 2004.
  • “Russia Rising” National Geographic: November 2001.
  • “Russia's soul” National Geographic Germany: November 2001.
  • “The Brothers Grimm - Guardians of the Fairy Tale” National Geographic: December 1999.
  • “A Comeback for the Cossacks” National Geographic: November 1998.
  • “Russia's Iron Road (Trans-Siberian Railroad)” National Geographic: June 1998.
  • “Moscow. The New Revolution ”National Geographic: April 1997.
  • “Reinventing Berlin” National Geographic: December 1996.
  • “Toronto” National Geographic: June 1996.
  • “Soviet Pollution,” National Geographic: August 1994
    • "Lethal Legacy: Pollution in the Former USSR"
    • "Chernobyl: Living With the Monster"
  • “A Broken Empire” National Geographic: March 1993
    • "Russia: Playing by New Rules"
    • "Kazakhstan: Facing the Nightmare"
    • “Ukraine: Running on Empty”
  • “Main-Danube Canal Links Europe's Waterways,” National Geographic: August 1992.
  • “The Morning After: Germany Reunited” National Geographic: September 1991.

bibliography

  • AO TEA ROA: Island of Lost Desire. Hundertwasser in New Zealand (Albrecht Knaus Verlag, 1979) [20]
  • BROKEN EMPIRE: After the Fall of the USSR (National Geographic Society, 2001) [21]
  • The Long Shadow of Chernobyl, an interactive photo book as iPad App (Lightbox Press, 2011) [22]
  • The Long Shadow of Chernobyl (Edition Lammerhuber, 2014) [23]

Anthologies

  • What Matters (Sterling, 2008) [24]
  • Wide Angle: National Geographic's Greatest Places (National Geographic Society, 2005) [25]
  • Witness: The World's Greatest News Photographers (Carlton Books, Ltd, 2005) [/ 1844424928]
  • A Day In The Life of Africa (Tides Foundation, 2002) [26]
  • National Geographic 50 Greatest Pictures (National Geographic Society, 2011) [27]

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ VISUM website from Visa. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  2. ^ [1] Book title in English. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  3. ↑ [2] book title. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  4. ^ [3] Website of the Lucie Awards. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  5. ^ [4] Report on the award of the award to Gerd Ludwig on the DGPh website. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  6. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. University website for the Honor Medal. Retrieved November 28, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / journalism.missouri.edu
  7. ^ [5] Report on Gerd Ludwig's award. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  8. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Gerd Ludwig in the 2014 festival program of Visa pour L'Image. Retrieved November 28, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.visapourlimage.com
  9. ^ [6] Website for the Sleeping Cars project by Gerd Ludwig. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  10. ↑ [7] Gerd Ludwig's photographs by Joseph Beuys. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  11. ^ [8] Gerd Ludwig's Kickstarter campaign. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  12. ↑ [9] Photoshelter reported on Gerd Ludwig's Kickstarter campaign. Accessed November 28th
  13. ↑ [10] Website on Gerd Ludwig's photo project in Chernobyl. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  14. ^ [11] BBC report on Gerd Ludwig's exhibition in the EBRD. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  15. ↑ [12] Video recording of Gerd Ludwig's project presentation at the LOOK3 Festival in Charlottesville on YouTube. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  16. ↑ [13] The app for The Long Shadow of Chernobyl in the App Store. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  17. ↑ [14] Official website of the “Best of Photojournalism” competition. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  18. ↑ [15]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report on the award of Gerd Ludwig by the NPPA. Retrieved November 28, 2015@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / bop.nppa.org  
  19. ^ [16] Website of the Lammerhuber publishing house. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  20. ↑ [17] Website for the illustrated book. Retrieved November 28, 2015
  21. ↑ [18] Website for the exhibition in the Natural History Museum Vienna. Accessed November 28th
  22. ^ [19] POYi website with the winners of the photo book award in 2014. Accessed November 28, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Ludwig, Gerd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ludwig, Gerhard Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German photographer and photojournalist
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Alsfeld , Germany