6. ANÁLISIS DE ENTORNO
6.5 ENTORNO SOCIOCULTURAL
as the head of the Berlin office. In 1930 he became its editor-in-mief. Kurt Korff had invented the 'ultra-secret' and 'unique' photographs whim occasionally required a wiliness not always consistent with the truth. Stefan Lo
rant absolutely refused to accept any posed photographs.
Up to this point, the illustrated press had only reproduced individual pictures. Now Lorant developed the idea of the photostory in which a series of images would depict one central subject. Photoreporting in these stories had to have a beginning and an end and was defined by place, rime, and action, just as in the classical theater. The dif
ference is that in the theater the stage keeps the audience aware of the fictional nature of the action. The reader poring over a magazine, on the other hand, idenrifies what he sees in the photographs as real.
Under Lorant's influence photographers began to fill entire pages of the magazine with groups of photographs on a single subject. He was the first to realize that the public not only wants to be infomIed about famous per-124 Photography & Society
•
sonalities, but is also interested in subjects concerning everyday life. Several years later, this idea was to become a factor in the success of the American magazine
Life.
From this time on, not only celebrities and historic events were to be depicted in the illustrated magazines, but also the life of the man in the street. The illustrated maga
zine became a symbol of the liberal spirit of the time.
A group of young photographers grew up around Salo
mon, who was forry-four in 1930. They were free-lanc
ers, independent photographers who often proposed their own stories. Each of their photographs was signed, indicating the artention that was now being paid to the photographer's personaliry. Like Salomon, they were not only photographers, but also editors of their own texts and captions.114 The majoriry of them were middle class, had university educations and had turned to photography because of the economic difficnlties that Germany faced after the War. Some of these photographers were part of the Dephot News Service'15
(Deutscher Photodienst)
which worked closely with the illustrated magazines, and particularly with Stefan Lorant. The Dephot News Serv
ice was a veritable treasure trove of talent, and almost all its photographers later became famous.
Hans Baumann was one of these photographers. The son of a banker, he was born in 1839 in Freiburg. He began studying art, but was drafted in 1914. After sev
eral years in the army, he found himself in the same post
war quandary that faced so many other young men whose families had lost their fortunes during the great inflation.
Forced to abandon his studies to make a living, he be
came an illustrator for the Berlin newspaper
B. Z. am Mittag
in 1926, specializing in spotts events. When his paper, like others, began to attach increasing importance to photographs, Baumann decided to become a photographer. His father had given him a camera at the age of ten, and as a child, he had developed a passion for work
ing with it. As an art student, he had used photographs The Birth of Photo;ournaJism in Gennany 125
to aid him in his drawings."" He met Stefan Lorant through the Dephot News Service and began working in 1929 for the
Munehner IIIustrierte Presse,
using the pseudonym of Felix H. Man in order to separate his new career as free· lance photographer from his previous pro
fession as illustrator. In 1929 he did the first photostory on night life under the title 'Between Midnight and Dawn on the Kurfiirstendamm' (Berlin's main boulevard). The Munich magazine guaranteed him a minimum salary of 1,000 marks a month,117 under the condition that he out
line his stories beforehand. It was an extraordinary sum for the time, when a civil servant's salary averaged around 500 marks. Between 1929 and 1933, he completed more than 80 photostories, including stories on public swim
ming pools, factory workers, restaurant scenes, boxing matches, the Lunapark, and many other subjects of in
terest to the general public, who recoguized their con
cerns and their pleasures in his photographs.
Man was one of the first photojournalists to work closely with Stefan Lorant in defining the modem for
mula for photoreporting.118 In the early thirties, Lorant sent him to Rome to do a story on Mussolini, who until then had only been seen in pretentious poses. Man spent a fnli day with II
Duee,
from seven in the morning until ten in the evening, and took a series of photographs that inspired a whole generation with a taste for candid shots.'Mussolini's office was enormous, filled with marble columns and pillars like the entrance to a museum; Man recalled. 'He treated his ministers rather badly . . . One of them brought him a stack of papers including certain lerters marked "important." Mussolini looked at the envelopes, and if he thought a letter might be interesting, he read it; if it didn't interest him, he tossed it in the air and expected the minister to run and fetm it.' The story was a sensation and brought Man 3 ,000 marks.'19
The German illustrated magazines of the twenties car
ried many names that are famous today: Moholy·Nagy 12.6 Photography & Society
•
Hans Baumann (known by his pseudonym Felix H.
Man) photographed Musso
lini in picrures that were the first to show the Italian leader in his everyday rou
tines (opposite: two pages of Man's photographs from Muncbner IIlu.strierte Presse, 1931; above:
Mussolini's Workroom, 1931).
of the Bauhaus; Alfred Eisenstaedt, chief photographer for the Associated Press in Berlin at the time; Andre Kertesz; Martin Muncaszi; and Germaine Krull. There were others who are not as well known today: Umbo, a former Bauhaus student; Wolfgang Weber; Marian Schwabik; the Gidal Brothers; and such aristocrats as Helmut Muller von Spolinski; von Blucher; and Freiherr von Bechmann. Each specialized in a specific area such as sports, the theater, or political events.
In 1929, the majority of photojournalists still used the Ermanox. At the beginning of the thirties, however, Salo
mon, Man, and others began to use the Leica, a new cam
era that radically changed photojournalism. The Leica was invented by askar Barnack, who manufactured
pre-The Birth of Photoiournalism in Germany 12.7
cision instruments of all sorts.120 Born in 1879, he had been interested in photography as a youth. He loved to take long walks carrying his 7 X 9-inch camera, the dou
ble wooden film holders, and a tripod. Not baving a strong constitution, Barnack dreamed of a camera that could be camed in one's pocket, an idea that obsessed him throughout the years he worked in the optical indus
try. Finally in 191 I, he became the director of the Leitz factory research laboratories at Wetzlar, where micro
scopes and telescopes were manufactured, and at last had the opportuniry to realize his dream. He built a small camera using 35mm film, half the size of the photo
graphic negatives then in use, and capable of multiple exposures. Years of research were still necessary before the Leitz Company could manufacture the new camera.
In 1925, the Leica was finally introduced at the Leip
zig Indusrtial Fair where it was an immediate success.
Equipped with a I:3.5'50mm lens, the Leica was already being sold in 1930 with several interchangeable lenses that gready increased its versatiliry. The film allowed 128 Photography & Society
Oskat Barnacl,'s invention, t the Leica camera, was far
more versatile and allowed inoon-spiwous and thus shoot difficult news stories.
thirty-six exposures without reloading. The Leica revolu
tionized the work of the professional photographer.
Accustomed to working with single plates, most illus
trated press editors did not at first allow reporters to use the Leica. The flash technique had been improved in re
cent years and large cameras yielded good large contact prints. Even a magazine like
Life,
founded in 1936, initially disapproved of the use of the Leica. Thomas Mc
Avoy, a member of the first team of
Life
photographers, recounted the difficulties in having the new camera accepted: 'I had brought a Leica back from a European trip.
The editor-in-chief, thinking it a toy not to be taken seriously because of its small size, forbade me to use it.
At an official reception in Washington, I defied him and took a whole series of photographs in front of my be
wildered colleagues with their large cameras and flashes.
Comparing my prints with theirs, the management ad
mitted that my photogtaphs were much more atmospher
ic and lively because, without the flash, 1 had caught the guests unaware. From then on, the Leica was appreci
ated; and all the photographers followed my example.' 121 1 had a similar experience with my own first official assigument. In 1936, Julien Cain, then director of the Bibliotheque Nationale, asked me to photogtaph all of the libraries in Paris for the 1937 World's Fair. When 1 arrived at the Nationale, the librarian saw my small Leica and exclaimed: 'You can't be serious. Come back with a real professional camera.' He threw me out, but 1 had an idea. 1 went to the flea market and bought an old 8 x lo-inch wooden camera for about 50 francs (ten dollars). This time the librarian was satisfied and the camera was positioned on a cumbersome tripod. My head buried in a black scarf, 1 pretended to adjust the setting, although the camera did not have any plates. When 1 was left alone, 1 quietly took a whole series of photo
graphs of the old bookworms bent over their books with my Leica. As 1 did not use the flash, 1 worked unnoticed.
The Birth of Photojournalism in Germany I2.9