Hans Blohm (photographer)
Hans-Ludwig Blohm CM (born November 12, 1927 in Rendsburg ) is a German-Canadian photographer and author who specializes in portraits and architecture, but also in technical objects. For more than three decades, he traveled to Canada and Alaska to take photos of the Eskimos who lived there. A resident of Ottawa , he traveled 16 times and covered over 300,000 km. He drove the Mackenzie Ice Road to Tuktoyaktuk on the Beaufort Sea and sailed in the remote and uninhabited bays of Labrador .
His photos have appeared in numerous books, he himself published 17 books (including children's books), 23 of his photos served as motifs for Canadian postage stamps. Large parts of his collection were taken over by the state archive.
Origin and youth
From 1943 to 1944 Blohm was a naval helper in Kiel and was a member of the guard for Admiral Dönitz . Originally he wanted to become a bookseller, but worked as a carpenter and became a master in 1955.
Blohm found pleasure in photography from an early age, especially since his father was an avid amateur photographer. In 1949 Blohm bought his first camera, a Diax with a 50 mm lens. He toured Europe with his camera and hitchhiked with a friend through Lapland for three months , where he got enthusiastic about the arctic regions for the first time.
Emigration to Canada, marriage, photography experience
In 1956 he accompanied a friend from childhood. Ingeborg Ramm had emigrated the previous year. The two married on November 2, 1956 and stayed in Canada. There they went to Ottawa , where they raised three children. Blohm worked as a carpenter again until 1958, when he got a job as a school photographer on the Western Quebec School Board and in Eastern Ontario . He photographed numerous one-room schools. From 1958 to 1963 he worked as a technician in darkrooms , but was immediately fired after asking for a raise. Unemployed, he was trying to get jobs, and shortly before he was about to give up, the National Film Board of Canada paid him $ 600 for a collection of footage for two picture books about Canada, Year of the Land and Call them Canadians .
Starting in 1963, he found a job with Photo Features Ltd . He did project work for the Ottawa Citizen . The country's first news agency was set up for the Toronto Star .
CBC photographer, self-employed
From 1964 to 1966 the CBC hired him as a freelancer and now he was able to work on numerous film productions for the National Film Board of Canada .
In 1966 he finally went freelance as a photographer, working on the preparation of exhibitions for Expo 67 in Montreal . In 1969 he founded Foto Blohm , which in 1971 became Blohm Associates Ltd. renamed.
In 1977 Blohm traveled to the Yukon and Alaska with his daughter Heike . He wanted to take a picture of the new bridge over the Eagle River , the northernmost steel bridge. This special steel, which could withstand the harsh weather conditions, was produced by one of Blohm's customers, Stelco in Hamilton . There, on the Dempster Highway , Blohm returned in 1978 and 1979. In 1980, together with other photographers, he compiled an image catalog of all works of art in the National Gallery of Canada .
Contacts with Eskimos
He first came into closer contact with the local population in 1979 when he was allowed to photograph a gathering of the elderly from all corners of Baffin Island on Pond Inlet . When Nunavut was founded, he was allowed to be present throughout the negotiations. Above all, he documented the contractual agreements such as the Agreement in Principle in Igloolik , the signing of the contract by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in Iqaluit and the hoisting of the new flag of Nunavut on April 1, 1999. From Makivik , Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated and Canadian Geographic he received further orders to photograph the Inuit.
During this work, his work The Voice of the Natives - The Canadian North and Alaska was created over three decades . It was published in English (2002) and German (2005) and contains texts by the Inuit themselves, into whose language Blohm also had the work translated (published 2010). It also contains an exchange of letters with Senior Justice JE Richard of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories . An edition was presented on October 7, 2004 at the Frankfurt Book Fair .
Industrial photography
In addition to his Arctic work, he took many photos in the Canadian Parliament , he also attended the funeral of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson for the National Film Board of Canada , just as he had been there when the deceased at a Liberal Party conference in Pierre Trudeau had been relieved.
For companies such as Mitel , Nortel , Mosaid, Motorola and others, he staged technical products such as wafers and microchips . In 1986 he tried a technological world history in his work Pebbles to Computers with Anthony Stafford Beer. To this end, he traveled to 13 countries; a calendar and a one-hour documentary appeared on TVOntario .
Exhibitions, honors
His exhibition From Bona Vista to Vancouver Island was presented by the Goethe-Instituts in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto and was also installed in Europe with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Blohm's pictures have been published by Masterfile, Canada's largest stock photography agency, for more than 30 years . 180,000 of his photos were acquired by Library and Archives Canada . He received the Order of Canada .
Works
- with Lorraine Monk and Gail Vanstone: Canada with love / Canada avec amour . McClelland and Stewart, Toronto 1983.
- with Paul Russell: The Beauty of Ontario. Methuen Publishing, Toronto 1983.
- with Paul Russell: The Beauty of Quebec. Methuen Publishing, Toronto 1984.
- with Paul Russell: The Beauty of the Maritimes. Methuen Publishing, Toronto 1984.
- with Claus-M Naske: Alaska. Skyline Press, Toronto 1986.
- with David Suzuki and Marjorie Harris: Sciencescape - The Nature of Canada. Oxford University Press, Toronto 1986.
- with Anthony Stafford Beer and David Suzuki: Pebbles to Computers: The Thread. Oxford University Press, Toronto 1989.
- with Heike Blohm and Rudi Haas: Egg-carton Zoo II . Oxford University Press, Don Mills 1992.
- with Lorraine Monk a. a .: Canada with love = Canada avec amour . Firefly Books, Willowdale 2001.
- The Voice of the Natives - The Canadian North and Alaska . Penumbra Press, Manotick 2002.
- The voice of the indigenous people. The Canadian North and Alaska . M. u. H. von der Linden, Wesel 2002. (German translation of The Voice of the Natives )
- with Hartmut Lutz and Alootook Ipellie: The Diary of Abraham Ulrikab . University of Ottawa Press, Ottawa 2007.
- with Hartmut Lutz, Kathrin Grollmuß and Alootook Ipellie: Abraham Ulrikab in the zoo: Diary of an Inuk 1880/81 . vdL, Wesel 2008 (German translation of The Diary of Abraham Ulrikab ).
- Nunaqaqqaaqsimajunut nipigijaujuq Kanatami ukiuqtaqtuani Alaska-milu . Photo Blohm Associates. Inuktitut, Ottawa 2010. (Translation of The Voice of the Natives )
- with Karl-Heinz Raach and Karl Teuschl: Canada. Stürtz 2010.
Honors
Professional Photographers of Canada awarded Blohm the title Craftsman of Photographic Arts in 1972 , and two years later the Master of Photographic Arts . Since then countless other prizes have come from associations, cities and regions. In 2005 the airline First Air decided to put one of the portraits that Blohm had taken on their aircraft. Ottawa has a Blohm Drive and Blohm Court # 1 and # 2, two residential complexes in Hunt Club Park, where prominent Canadian photographers gave their names. The highest honor he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in December 2011 , with the right to add the letters CM to the name, bestowed by the Governor General of Canada .
literature
- Canadian Who's Who 2010. Vol. 45. University of Toronto Press, 2010, p. 132
- Winnie Czulinski: Hans Blohm. In: Studio Magazine. November-December 1988, pp. 18-24
- Pictures and pictures: Ingeborg and Hans Ludwig Blohm, in Canada - promised land. From the life of a German congregation abroad. Stories, documents ... Edited by Dieter Kiesewalter. MMC, Ottawa 1994 ISBN 0969901003 pp. 294f. (via both spouses)
Web links
- Photo Blohm Associates Ltd.
- Hans Blohm Fund at Library and Archives Canada
- excerpted from his Open Letter to Justice JE Richard
- Hans blohm stock photos and images , Masterfile
Remarks
- ↑ Edith Kuntz: Briefly reported from Ottawa. In: Canada Courier , July 7, 1988
- ^ Appointments to the Order of Canada. The Governor General of Canada, December 30, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Blohm, Hans |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Blohm, Hans-Ludwig (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Canadian photographer and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 12, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Rendsburg |