Book review : Street Photography with a Toy Camera
“Street Photography with a Toy Camera, New York” by Johannes Huwe
Printed: 60 pages, 8.5″ x 8.5″, perfect binding, full-color interior ink
Presented in a very simple manner, Johannes’s book stood out to me for its use of color to tell the story of a German Man’s visit to the giant mass that is New York City. I have always been a fan of street photography, capturing normal people doing exactly what they would normally do. They aren’t posed, or arranged- just walking by, picking up a paper- getting their coffee. From a subway engineer to a fisherman proudly displaying his freshly caught fish, Huwe freezes a day in NYC and presents it in a well thought out collection. The moment in their life captured for this book passed them by unnoticed, but for Johannes- it became an image to remember his journey. Coming from Hanover, Germany he visited Coney Island- which had to be quite a visual experience. His images of Ground Zero focused on the people, not the site- which I actually prefer. His walks along the beaches were probably a welcome change from the winters of Hanover. Where he, as a tourist, photographed other toursits exploring a beach new to them as well. He says that the Holga reminds him of a plastic camera he once had long ago that squirted water- but explains that is the charm of this little plastic camera.
1. What made you choose New York for the subject of your book?
My main objects for photographing are people and street photography. For me New York tells a lot of stories. I love the different civilizations and street scenes. Around the next corner can be an other world…
2. Why do you use Toy, or Plastic Cameras instead of newer Digital ones?
I only use film cameras for my workings. I like the expression from the film which in my eyes the digital cameras don’t have. But I also like to take pictures with my medium format Hasselblad which is more than 20 years old. For this book I decided to use a Toy camera to amplify the expression of the pictures.
3. How easy was the process of creating your book, and then uploading it to lulu.com?
I have experience with desktop publishing so for me the workflow to process the book was comparatively simple. It´s also good to have know-how in PDF creation to get the best results from the pictures.
4. How happy were you with the results of the book’s printing?
It was plain to me that I don´t have to expect the best quality from an printing-on-demand book. But the results are okay. I also print my images in 1.20 x 1.20 meter size on aluminum dibond in really good quality. But you don´t have the direct comparison when you only see the book.
5. After going thru the process of creating this book page by page, would you do it again for another series of images?
Yes, I am just working on a new project. I hope it will be ready soon.
Thanks again to Johannes for taking the time to answer a few questions about his book and the process.
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