The Car's Courtesans: A Flashback At Car Photography
Jacques Séguéla, a French photographer and founder of the advertising agency RSCG supposedly once said: “Don’t tell my mother I’m in advertising, she thinks I’m a pianist in a brothel”. It must have been an exclusive brothel. Photographers, especially for cars, are paid higher and are sought after more than exquisite courtesans. Fees of $1,000 per hour are not unheard of. What do they do for that much money? They make the cars look good.
Dietmar Henneka is one of them. I know what his rates were. In the 70s and 80s, Dietmar was one of the most sought after and highest paid courtesans of the business, and we did many campaigns together.
When Dietmar heard that the car is celebrating its 125th birthday, he thought of the people who set it in scene. Fashion and cars are unthinkable and unsalable without photographers. Henneka wanted to unite them under one roof. If you are on a trip through Europe in Summer, make a stop in Sindelfingen, which will become even more pittoresque from July 3 through August 28 with the exhibition “Ein Bild von einem Auto” – Mercedes Benz through the lenses of famous photographers 1930 – 2010.
The exhibition is at the gallery of the city of Sindelfingen at the central market square – you can’t miss it. Exhibition and a printed catalog will show 87 pictures by 66 photographers, some dead, some alive, some hardly known, some world famous. Here are a few.
Dieter Blum / 600er Pullman / 1989
Gary Bryan / Car, Glass Girl / 1997
David Douglas Duncan / Ghost of Sindelfingen / 1954
Zoltán Glass / speed and spirit III / 1934
Hans Hansen / o.T. / 1989
Dietmar Henneka / Nighthawks, Hommage to Edward Hopper / 1999
Werner Pawlok / Polaroid Lifts C 9 III / 1992
Horst Stasny / Grossglockner / 2002
Reinhart Wolf / Vorbilder I / 1959
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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You say car photography? Well, yesterday I posted the full set from the Cars 'R' Stars car show last week at the Packard Proving Grounds at Cars In Depth. There were over 250 stereo pairs in that set. Yesterday I was at the Eyes On Design show at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford Estate benefiting the Detroit Institute Of Ophthalmology. I haven't processed the pics yet but I think there were 200-300 cars there and I know that I shot at least half of them. Usually at least two shots of every car. http://www.carsindepth.com/?p=2508
Bertel, in light of the post's title I'm surprised that you didn't reference some of Zoltan Glass' other work. http://www.zoltanglass.com/images/pamlarge.jpg Glass was pretty dedicated. He stayed in Germany until the Nuremberg laws got him fired from the Berliner Tagblatt in 1936. He used his connections with the J. Walter Thompson ad agency to relocate his base of operations to London, but continued to photograph races in Germany and run his photographic agency in Berlin. After Kristalnacht in '38, though, Jews were prohibited from owning businesses, and under pressure from the Nazis his work for Mercedes, Auto Union and other clients ended. He moved permanently to London. His archive of negatives was left to a British museum which recently digitized them. http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Collection/Photography/PhotographsCollection/CollectionItem.aspx?id=1991-5018/121