You're into photography and you don't know Fred Herzog?
The real pioneer of colour photography
Among all the dusty boxes in my life, I have a favourite type of dusty box. I suspect it may be your favourite too. It’s the one filled with old photos that you find at your parents or grandparents house. There’s a unique joy in taking out these dusty boxes of loosely organized albums and envelopes filled with small prints and negatives. You might even find some film slides and, if you’re lucky, you’ll have a projector that works and hear the satisfying click between each image. These boxes are like time capsules of family life.
Fred Herzog created a time capsule of his own but for the whole city of Vancouver. His work transports you to a different time and place. And although I’ve never been to Vancouver, his photos have the power to make me believe I’ve lived through the 50s and 60s there. There’s a certain elegance to his work. The composition, the light, the attention to human gestures are all very poetic. And of course, the colours…
You’re into photography and you don’t know Fred Herzog? is part of a series dedicated to exploring the work of renowned photographers. I was once told “you’re into photography and you don’t know William Eggleston?” by a gentleman who was surprised that I can be interested in photography without knowing Eggleston. I tell that story here in case you missed it.
Like Eggleston, Herzog shot in colour at a time when fine art photography was mostly black and white. The same applies to Saul Leiter, Ernest Haas, and many others, generally referred to as “New Colour” photographers. Some of them came to be designated with big labels like “the father of colour photography” or “the pioneer of color photography”.
But Herzog, not so much. His work only gained recognition in the 1990s and 2000s and colour photography was already widely accepted. Unlike Eggleston, he didn’t have his work exhibited at the MoMA in the 70s, which earned him some credit for gaining institutional acceptance for colour photography.
To me, Herzog is the real pioneer of colour photography though. I think the appeal of his colour palette has to do with his use of complementary colours but also from Kodachrome slide film, which he used almost exclusively.
Kodachrome was a widely used film slide introduced by Kodak in 1935. Developing it was a complex process requiring professional service, for a long time monopolized by Kodak themselves. Film stock was sold with an envelope that photographers would use to send their exposed film to specialized labs. Photographers would receive back their developed photos in film slides mounted in a small cardboard box that could fit directly in a projector.
In 2010, the last Kodachrome processing facility stopped accepting Kodachrome rolls. Dwayne's Photo in Kansas announced it would accept rolls until the 30th of December. Anyone who missed that deadline will have trouble processing their rolls today (some labs offer to process them in black and white). The last roll they developed was shot by Steve McCurry.
Kodachrome was difficult to print. This meant that, for a long time, Herzog didn’t exhibit his work in print or photo books. The typical way of viewing and showing film slides was using a projector. In the 60s, Herzog showed his photography in slideshows but those remained niche circles. With advances in photography technology, Herzog was able to create prints from his 35mm slides and that changed the way he was able to present his work. His first major exhibition was in 2007 at the Vancouver Art Gallery when he was 76. His first book was published the same year.
Herzog was not a full time photographer but he photographed Vancouver consistently for decades. And for a long time without much recognition. It’s a great example of commitment to process rather than results. Herzog had no expectations of acceptance from his audience. He went out and took his photos for himself and I think that’s part of the appeal of his work.
I have always felt that you should do the kind of work that is close to your heart. — Fred Herzog
He photographed what he found interesting and that was the mundane of scenes of daily life shown in bold and vibrant colour. I think that part of the recent success of his work is the fact that there is not much colour photography from that time that is executed so consistently for such a long time.
I’ll leave you with two quotes from Herzog that illustrate the breadth with which he saw photography:
“what you bring to the picture is everything you are, everything you have learned, everything you have intellectualized. You have to have ideas of what the world is like, looks like, and should be like. That all has to be brought into that picture”
“I’m an eclectic photographer and that has to do with the breadth of my being, my interests, my intellect, my friends.”
Check this post out @Razlyn Lysaught
Thank you for sharing his work, colors are just amazing! Happy to find a new favourite street photographer. Of course, sharing that position with Saul Leiter and Ernst Haas.