Biography

I have been involved in photography since the early 1990s. I started out focusing on the “grand landscape” and nature untouched by the hand of man, but over the years my interests have changed and now I photograph everything I finds beautiful, be it in nature or in the middle of an urban area. Originally a color photographer, I have switched almost entirely to black and white.

My passion is platinum/palladium printing, a medium that suits my images perfectly. Platinum/palladium is considered one of the most archival forms of photographic expression, and has long been prized for its beautiful tonal scale and velvety smoothness.

In addition (or as a counterpoint) to using large-format equipment that is slow to operate and best suited for more static subjects such as landscapes, still lives and formal portraits, I also photograph with a Holga, a $15 medium-format camera that's all plastic, including the lens. That lens is famous for its low contrast and lack of sharpness, and the camera is prone to mysterious light leaks. While this sounds like a recipe for disaster, it actually is the reason why this camera has such a cult following (just do a Google search for “Holga camera” and you get over a million hits!). The camera is completely manual, has only two simple settings and its use is fool-proof: simply aim and click.

I use the Holga to capture moods and feelings, a sense of mystery and a sense of place. The Holga, with all its optical imperfections, creates an image that is completely timeless—something familiar yet strangely distorted from our perfectly focused reality.

The 2¼ x 2¼" negatives produced by the Holga are scanned at high resolution, output as enlarged negatives, and then contact-printed the same way in-camera negatives are.

I live in Davis, California, with my wife and two daughters.

Artist Statement

My goal is to see and capture beauty, in all its myriad forms. That includes things others find ugly or mundane. But as long as my pictures cause you to feel something—good or bad—I have succeeded.

To visit Gerhard's web site, click here.

To see Gerhard's images in our online gallery, click here.

To contact Gerhard via e-mail, click here.