TOUCHING THE SOUL – THE PHOTOGRAPHER GERD LUDWIG
A documentary by Irene Langemann
Running time: 27 minutes
In the field of documentary photography, Gerd Ludwig belongs to the world’s tops. In more than seventy countries he has captured people’s everyday life in atmospheric, spellbinding pictures. “Photography is a form of communication. I communicate my image of the world to the viewer”, emphasizes the 54-year-old photographer, who hails from the small town of Alfeld in Hessia. His pictures, that have appeared on the glossy pages of magazines such as Geo, National Geographic, Time, Life and Newsweek, always strongly impart the social background of the respective country. In the mid 80s, his work for American magazines was the decisive moment for him to move to the US. Today, he lives in Los Angeles.
Gerd Ludwig, as the only German, belongs to the National Geographics regular team since 1988. He occupies himself at some length with the processes of change in the former Soviet Republic. His best pictures of the past few years have been published in his opulent book of plates “Russia. A world power in change.”
From the very beginning, he has also belonged to the photographers of the book project “A Day in the Life of …” This year, 100 famous photographers are working in the various African countries. Gerd Ludwig has chosen the border region in the South of Burkina Faso to Ghana. One of the reasons being the unique archaic clay architecture, that has inspired many Western architects and artists.
In his adopted city Los Angeles he is currently working on a documentary on Sunset Boulevard. Ludwigs first photographic approach to this legendary street is sometimes gentle, sometimes bold, just like the different faces and stories of the 25 mile long boulevard, the embodiment of the American dream.
The film accompanies Gerd Ludwig to his work on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and to his project “A Day in the Life of Africa” in Burkina Faso.
The photo-book will be published worldwide in November 2002.
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