This Friday is Photography Day or World Photo Day. The Australian photographer Korske Ara brought it to life 13 years ago. The date was not chosen at random, on August 19, 1839, the Paris Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts acquired the patent for the so-called daguerreotype and made it available to the general public. Daguerreotype was the standard photographic process of the time, using metal plates. Exposure times for photographs had previously been very long, and Frenchmen Louis Daguerre and Joseph Nicephoe Niepce had managed to reduce them to under an hour. The date therefore marks the day on which the first practicable photographic process was available to everyone for free and free of charge use. Korske Ara wanted to commemorate this and to focus on photography and the passion for it every year. Accordingly, all photographers are invited to post or share their favorite images on the World Photo Day website and social media channels. The first official event took place in 2010. At that time 250 photographers took part, six years later there were 500 million worldwide. On the occasion of World Photo Day, four SZ photographers show their favorite pictures from the district of Munich and tell the stories behind them.
Nuns in the swimming pool
I took this picture in August 2004 at the outdoor pool in Unterhaching. This appointment was about inviting the sisters from the St. Katharina Labouré nursing home to the bathroom. The home run by the “Sisters of Mercy of Saint Vincent de Paul” is right next to the outdoor pool, and the residents had always wondered about the background noise. So the management asked her into the bathroom at a time when the guests had already left. The nuns were very happy to see what was on offer, how many pools there were. And to please the ladies, the lifeguard José, who still works at the Unterhachinger outdoor pool today, showed a few daring jumps from the five-meter tower – to great applause from his spectators. I climbed up the diving platform at the time, that’s how this photo was taken. I think they showed respect to the sisters and also paid tribute to the employees of the outdoor pool, who have a lot of work in the summer months. Claus Schunk
Arrival from Ukraine
A Ukrainian mother moves into accommodation with her children in Neubiberg.
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
This picture was taken when the first Ukrainian refugees arrived in our district. At the beginning of April I met a family – a mother with her two small children – together with my colleague Daniela Bode in Neubiberg in private accommodation. At the time, I was very touched to look into the face of this woman, marked by the flight from her country, where she had to leave her husband behind. This madness was so palpable here that it took me a while to process it afterwards. In addition to her son, the mother, Yulia, also had her daughter with her, but she is hidden in the photo. Both children are sitting on the bed in the small apartment where they stayed. The mood was kind of crazy. The children were very distracted by the toys, perhaps this allowed them to forget a little about the dangers and hardships of their escape that had gone through. Sebastián Gabriel
Fashion photo with rescue blanket
A girl is wrapped in a rescue blanket at the rowing regatta facility in Oberschleißheim.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
Sometimes it happens that the best pictures are created on the side, i.e. on the fringes of the actual job for which you are on the road and have nothing directly to do with the topic. With this picture it was like that. I did it at an appointment in July at the rowing regatta course in Oberschleißheim. There, together with the author Anna-Maria Salmen, I accompanied the Lohhof water rescue service during rescue exercises. Two girls mimed the injured at the time. When they came out of the water after the exercises, they had this tarp wrapped around them to keep them warm. For me, the picture just captures a very special mood. After taking a bath, you wrap yourself in a towel if you feel a little hypothermic and get that feeling of security that you know from childhood. There is always something cozy about it, and there is also a bit of melancholy in this picture, as if summer were over after this hot day. Due to the fact that this is not a towel, but a tarpaulin from the water rescue service, the picture somehow has the appearance of a fashion photograph. Alessandra Schellnegger
Behind the scenes of the kart track
A driver brings his racing kart into the garage after a training run on the kart track in Garching.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
In the summer of 2016, in addition to my usual appointments, I photographed a summer series for the SZ with the working title “München sweats”. The series was then published under the title: “Some like it hot”. One of my appointments, which I had completely independent of this series, was to take pictures at the kart track in Garching, which hasn’t existed for a while now. I took a lot of pictures of the drivers at the track. Then I wanted something else and asked a driver who had just turned off the circuit and had finished his practice laps if I could still accompany him on the way to the garage. I also took a few pictures there and then went back to the racetrack. When I thought I had enough, I passed the garages again on the way back and saw this scene. The kart driver from earlier had half removed his suit and jacked up his vehicle. It was immediately clear to me: This was a picture for my summer series. So chance brought me an image that I think is much more interesting and tells a lot more than images that you think about beforehand, or if you go to the usual places, which then offer the more clichéd, usual scenes on the topic mentioned . Florian Peljak
The photographers Sebastian Gabriel, Florian Peljak, Claus Schunk and Alessandra Schellnegger (from left) are out and about for SZ in the Munich district, among other places.
(Photo: sz)