PORTRAIT OF BERLIN

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The show must go on – this week’s portraits #PortraitofBerlin

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It’s been a busy week, to say the least…it’s getting harder and harder for photographer Rankin and us to pick out only a few portraits each week, watching all these fantastic pictures coming in on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well as over e-Mail. We would have loved to simply pick a few more of you prior to the event! Collectively we are creating a #PortraitofBerlin.

However,  we want to offer as many passers-by as possible the chance to be photographed on April 30th, too. We are looking forward to another week with your photos, the final week of our social media campaign. It’s all about hashtagging things on the social web these days, so we are using #portraitofberlin #RankinLive #KaDeWe. Add them to your posts on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to easily participate in our project.  Next Sunday, 5 pm, we will announce the last ten portraits selected prior to the event.

The dice has been cast and there they are, this week’s five portraits for #portraitofberlin #RankinLive #KaDeWe

 

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Portrait 6 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Facebook user Oscar

 

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Portrait 7 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Instagram user Cassandra

 

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Portrait 8 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Instagram user Daniel

 

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Portrait 9 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Facebook user Silke

 

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Portrait 10 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Facebook user Monique

 

Read the full guidelines of participation here.

 

A good portrait for me, is when you feel something when you look at it!

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Having co-founded the magazine Dazed & Confused, Rankin has remained a prevalent force in publishing and has over 42 photography books to his name. He continues to direct commercials and music videos for some of the biggest artists and brands, as well as directing and producing numerous documentaries and dramas.

We wanted to give you a better idea about the person behind the camera. Therefore, we interviewed Rankin, asking him rather personal questions.

©Rankin
©Rankin

 

Photographer’s Profile in form of a short interview.

Name: Rankin
Profession: Photographer, Boss, Husband, Dad.

Living in: London/ Born in: Scotland

Your Personal Trademark: I’m not sure I have one apart from I try to collaborate with my subjects.

What’s special about portrait photography/ In your opinion, What makes a good portrait?
A lot of people find photography uncomfortable. They feel like they’re under some kind of microscope. As a portrait photographer, it’s my job to make them feel comfortable and confident about themselves so that they will give something to the camera. At the end of the day, you’re asking someone to reveal something about their personality and capturing it. That’s very intimate. A good portrait for me, is when you feel something when you look at it!

Role Models/ Your Heroes: I really admire David Bailey. He’s a hero of mine. They say “never meet your heroes”, and it’s often true, but with him it’s not.

Projects: I’m working on a few books at the moment.

Biggest Moment: The birth of my son.

Favourite Place: I have a house in Suffolk, which I try to go to as often as possible. It’s very peaceful and though I will never fall out of love with London, it’s good to have a break.

What’s special about Berlin? It’s such a creative community. I’ve got friends who live there fulltime and a lot of British artists make a beeline for it because it seems to cultivate art and artists. My son loves it.

Ostkreuz e.V. sets out to promote the visibilty of artistic and documentary photography

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When writing our recent introduction on Ostkreuz, we realised that it would never be possible to summarise Berlin’s most important agency of photographers in just one single post. There are many stories to tell and months and months to spend with the enormous body of work that Ostkreuz photographers have created over the past 25 years and beyond.

[Read more…]

A Life Through The Lens

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There are plenty of interviews to be on when trying to get to know the person behind the lens – photographer Rankin has portrayed many star-studded characters from Heidi Klum to the Queen of the England. So, let’s take a sneak-peak behind his lens!

Rankin initially caught public attention as a publisher, having founded titles such as Dazed & Confused, AnOther Magazine and more recently, Hunger. The British-born photographer now spends the majority of his time focusing his attention on capturing people with his camera.

 

©Rankin
©Rankin

 

“I am… Rankin and I’m a workaholic.” said Rankin to Hypebeast in an interview from 2012.  Very true, we thought looking at the enourmous body of work Rankin has created.  

“Photography is… my life. I’m addicted and I need a hit.” Rankin’s shutter seems contanstly going, creating his compelling and often thought-provoking photographic artwork.

“Shooting people… is wrong. Try photographing them instead!” It is an approach that feels key to his work. (Read the full interview on Hypebeast here.)

Rankin has been inspired by technology and the digital revolution of photography. As a previous participant of Rankin Live says, “You don’t have to be beautiful or stunning, just be interesting and be yourself”. (Read more on Rankin Live at rankinlive.com.)

“Hunger magazine means… I get to feature all of the people I am fascinated by. It’s incredibly personal.”

[Read more…]

The show must go on – our first week’s five portraits

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It’s been an exciting first week seeing all your photos for #PortraitOfBerlin coming in, causing photographer Rankin and us a hard time picking out the first portraits for Rankin Live at KaDeWe. So, here they are…the first five lucky people that will have their photo taken by Rankin live at KaDeWe, 30. April 2016. Congratulations!

It’s all about hashtagging things on the social web these days, so we are using #portraitofberlin #RankinLive #KaDeWe. Add them to your posts on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to easily participate in our project. We will pick out five more Berliner portraits next Sunday, 5pm and even ten more on Sunday, 24. April. Try again next week to increase your chances to be seen among all those great Berliners. There are fifteen of you left to be assured in advance that they will be photographed!

 

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Portrait 1 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Instagram user stef_unveiled

 

Portrait 2 #portraitofberlin - Facebook user Diane
Portrait 2 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Facebook user Diane

 

Portrait 3 #portraitofberlin - Facebook user De Niz
Portrait 3 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Facebook user De Niz

 

Portrait 4 #portraitofberlin - Instagram user pollykreuzost
Portrait 4 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Instagram user pollykreuzost

 

Portrait 5 #portraitofberlin - Facebook user Tamara
Portrait 5 #portraitofberlin – Photo submitted by Facebook user Tamara

 

This is just the beginning: At the event plenty of you will have the opportunity to experience one of the biggest photo shoots in Germany. Sign up to our newsletter or stay in touch via our Facebook event.

Collectively we are creating a Portrait of Berlin. You can send an e-Mail to digital (at) kadewe.com for further questions.

For the last time before its reconstruction, the KaDeWe Atrium will serve as a platform for an outstanding installation: a huge custom built photographic portrait studio, with hair and make-up stations as part of the experience. We are looking forward to seeing you for an extra-ordinary piece of theater, soon!

You can read the guidelines of participation for the social media streetcasting here. Berlin isn’t about beauty, it is about character.

Between countryside idyll and fast-paced meltingpot – An Interview with Patrick Wamsganz

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You will have come across the works of Berlin based photographer Patrick Wamsganz quite surely as he has portrayed famous German icons like Ben Becker, Moritz Beleibtreu, Eko Fresh or Klaus Wowereit, to name only a few. Born in 1979 in the countryside idyll of the south-west of Germany (Neunkrichen/Saar), Patrick was magically drawn to Berlin after exploring the city in his travels after school.

Moritz Bleibtreu ©Patrick Wamsganz
Moritz Bleibtreu ©Patrick Wamsganz

 

In 2002, Patrick discovered the works of Helmut Newton whose elaborately staged photo series impressed him immensively, inspiring Patrick Wamsganz to take a closer look into how this photographic work was produced. It didn’t take long until Patrick bought his first  single-lense reflex camera, a  Minolta x 500. The camera became his closest companion, leading Patrick to stuying photo design at “Best-Sabel” in Berlin, Köpenick.  First small scale projects and jobs as assitant to various photographers followed his degree in 2006.

Mario Adorf ©Patrick Wamsganz
Mario Adorf ©Patrick Wamsganz

 

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