Johannes Huwe

EDITORS’ CHOICE Johannes Huwe - Analog Photographer

I first found the analog work of Johannes Huwe through Instagram, which then inspired me to click through to his website and find out more about him and his photography. Turns out there’s a lot to discover and one particular road trip Johannes made in his 1975 Gemini Blue Porsche 911 was to the Mojave Desert.

The images on this trip were perfectly captured in glorious analog with muted colours and to my mind all the better for being film rather than digital. The area and landscape are almost untouched with the transfer of time, and somehow the pastel shade and light Johannes captures with his Leica and Mamiya cameras show an aesthetic from another time. Add in his 75’ Porsche to images and you could be looking at images taken from that era - or the 60’s

Each project Johannes undertakes, whether it’s with his Porsche across America or covering old time races in New Jersey, his work reflects his own passion for a golden past alongside all things vintage and so his work will take you on a wonderful analog journey through time.

In his coffee-table book “The Race of Gentleman” he takes you to Wildwood Beach, New Jersey, where an extraordinary motorsport race takes place every year in the tradition of the “East Coast Hod Rodder.” At this wild event, Johannes captures old automobiles, bizarre drivers, and race girls in a series of fantastic pictures.

Johannes loves anything or any object that has outlasted the test of time and therefore has a history. This for Johannes is not a trend but a lifestyle. Therefore this Hanover native lives in an Art Nouveau villa from 1903, and of course drives an Ur- Porsche from 1954, and photographs with a 60-year-old Leica. With his vintage wardrobe choices, he embodies the symbol of a freedom loving individualist.

Johannes lives by the term ‘vintage’ because to him, “a lot of things from the past are more emotional and higher quality than modern products”. He is enthusiastic about analog, mechanical cameras without batteries that, after more than six decades, work more reliably than any modern digital camera and have proven themselves on his travels through extreme situations such as Antarctica.

At 16, he bought his first analog SLR camera; but his true love of photography developed later on his various photography trips, which in turn awakened the adventurer in him. The digital revolution also left its mark on the trained computer scientist, who is CEO of a successful digital communications agency. However, after various excursions and adventures with digital cameras he realised that the images appeared to be cool and lifeless.

“For me, analog film still has an unattainable artistic expression in a photo. It awakens feelings and emotions that digital images cannot”. With analog photography, he confidently occupies a niche that has only recently become more popular again and promises the slow return of analog film. Huwe gives several reasons for this: “First of all, it is a deeply genuine and – without Photoshop – unaltered photograph. On the other hand, in contrast to digital photography, it is a demanding craft. It demands much more expertise from the photographer.”

Johannes is a huge supporter of analog photography because, “only through it

can an intense and direct engagement with one’s current setting take place”. This is a skill that many younger photographers who have perhaps only ever been exposed to digital cameras and Photoshop will find a very different expression of photography as an art form.

Many have tried and either failed or just given up. Analog is not for everyone, and is a dedicated art form, which once mastered has a tendency to ‘take you over’.

For Johannes this includes picture preparation, lighting, and, “As I am limited to 36 shots along with the lack of control of a screen, I have completely distraction-free access to the object. This creates closeness and a very special relationship.”

With his unique combination of camera, lens, and film Johannes has very much developed his own style, all of which carry his DNA.

Every press of the shutter through to the resulting picture is celebrated by Johannes and allows him to work much more within the scope of an artist than if perhaps working in digital format, where so much can be altered in camera even before any kind of ‘final’ picture. This of course slows you down as a photographer, but for Johannes it comes almost as an escape from his daily life as CEO of his digital agency.

Working as he does with lenses from the 1930’s and 1940’s his images stir hidden memories from photo albums of times-gone-past. All a part of his planning and own vintage style which means Johannes Huwe very much stands out from an often over saturated photographic marketplace.

You can find Johannes Huwe on Instagram @johanneshuwe and at www.johanneshuwe.com