Conversation with Jürgen Banda-Hansmann

I met Jürgen several years ago on Twitter, and I must say he is a friend who has never let me down. My appreciation for him continues to grow over time. Jürgen has collaborated with me on various projects; a highlight was his wonderful work on rural Cape Town architecture, featured in the first issue of my magazine AnedulMag. As with every new challenge when I've asked for his cooperation, I'm grateful he has accepted. In this story, Jürgen delves into the intricacies of his first steps into the world of photography. It's an excellent story that I have the honor of posting below.

"If you would understand me, go to the heights or water-shore;

The nearest gnat is an explanation, and a drop or motion of waves a key;

The maul, the oar, the hand-saw, second my words. "

(Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman)

"My first printed picture"

by Jürgen Banda-Hansmann

I probably was not born with a camera in my hand, though I would love to imagine that it happened that way. One of my first childhood memories are of me browsing through my father's photo album. You know, these ones with black and white images glued on thick paper board, separated by tissue paper.

I am not sure, what fascinated me about these pictures. Maybe it was the fact that I saw my parents when they were younger or maybe it was because of the black and white image they all were.

A few years later (assuming that I was not born with a camera in my hand), I had my first little point and shoot camera. This was of course a film camera, loaded mostly with black and white film. Black and white film was cheaper. It was just my luck that my brother at that time was member of the Photography Group at his school. That meant cheap film and close to free processing and printing.

My first subjects was Roe Deer. In the suburb of my hometown we had a small castle called Schloss Schönau surrounded by a park. the history of the castle goes back to the time around 1200. The surrounding park was home to a small herd of Roe Deer. they were fenced in a relatively small area and made photography of them relatively easy. They were also tame and bread or chestnuts were a welcome treat for the animals. I spent a lot of time in the park, playing with friends and cycling on the red paths.

For a very long time we didn't have a protestant church in our neighborhood and when I was about ten years old (as far as I remember), we started visiting Schloss Schönau for church services. At some stage it was decided that it was time to have a dedicated church. That was in 1982. the church was called Paul Gerhard Kirche. It had for it's time a modern feel and I was also in the first group of youth, who were confirmed at this church.

Around that time (1983), I started participating in the photo group at my school. At that time, I was the proud owner of a Canon T50 SLR. It was a basic entry level camera and offered hardly more options than a snapshot camera of the era. Nevertheless, it was my first SLR and the entry into more serious photography.

My first spool of film that I received from the Photo Group, called Photo AG (AG stands for Arbeitsgemeinschaft or workgroup) was a Ilford FP4 with ISO 125. Now it was my turn to fill this spool with images that I might print myself and so I did.

One of the images I shot, was an image of the Paul Gerhard Kirche, which in the end, was my first print.

I remember on how I had to use my sense of touch to unwind the film in the dark from the spool and put into the the development tank. Our teacher, Mr Goblet was there to help and assist and was very glad to have him around, when processing my first spool of film.

Printing the image was very exciting. After the film dried and I do think it was a week later that enlarged the shot. We worked with a lot of manual steps to get the timing right and it was a feeling of success when I saw my image emerging from the white of the paper in the development liquid under the red light.

Later the image, was mounted and presented in school with the prints from all the others as examples of results from the Photo AG.

It is in those days, that I became passionate about the magic of photography. Something I haven't lost ever since.

© Text and Image by Jürgen Banda-Hansmann, all rights reserved

About Jürgen Banda-Hansmann

"With the formalities out of the way, I can tell you a bit more about myself. Photography has been part of what I do and how I express myself for the most time in my life. In my business, I help companies and individuals transform their message and story into pictures. Most of my photographic work is location based. Environmental portraits, photography of work processes, events, architecture and even product shots are part of the mix. My pricing is based on the images you require and not on a daily rate. I deliver my images online and offer my clients long term online archive access to their images. When I don’t photograph, I love reading, barefoot running and cooking."

Comments

[Erin Wilson]

Thank you for posting this story, José. And thank you for writing it, Jürgen. I was stopped by this line "I remember on how I had to use my sense of touch to unwind the film in the dark from the spool and put into the the development tank." It immediately took me back to my own fumbling efforts, learning to spool in the dark. Makes me want to re-learn!

[Jose Martinez]

It was a pleasure to read Jürgen's story, he knew how to translate us to his experiences learning and discovering new sensations on the photographic world. Thank you Erin for stopping by.