Michael Schmidt was a German photographer and his subjects of interest were Berlin and “the weight of German identity in modern history.” Schmidt began photographing the streets, buildings and people of West Berlin in a semi-documentary approach. He went on to make a series of “ambitious projects” there, all in black and white and becoming more impressionistic, until his death in 2014.

Five months after the German surrender ended World War II in Europe. His family crossed to West Berlin before the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. He began photographing in 1965 when he was 20 years old.

Berlin-Wedding (1976–78), Berlin nach 1945 (Berlin after 1945) (1980), Waffenruhe (Ceasefire) (1985–87), and Ein-heit (U-ni-ty) (1991–94), demonstrate not only his sustained interest in Berlin as a subject but also his engagement with the weight of German identity in modern history. Ein-heit, his most ambitious project, was made in response to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent reunification of East and West Germany. It comprises 163 images: some were taken by Schmidt in a factual, descriptive style, and others he re-photographed from newspapers, propaganda journals, history books, and other communication and mass media sources. He combined contemporary and archival pictures of mass demonstrations, historic sites, emblems, monuments, and both anonymous and notorious people into a poignant study of German society in the aftermath of World War II. 

Waffenruhe – Photobook

Here is one of Michael Schmidt’s photobooks called “Waffenruhe”. It focuses on areas within Berlin and showcases a variety of images that link to the before and after effects of the country and its monuments, especially presenting the Berlin Wall after effects.

“In contrast to the consciously sober – but far from clinical images of his earlier series, Schmidt uses atmosphere-laden details with high-contrast black-and-white images of cityscapes, details in nature, and portraits in Waffenruhe to create a subjective, leaden picture of a still-divided city.” – Walther Koenig

“He no longer deploys the techniques of pure documentation, but brings together surprising combinations of images to express a generationʼs dystopian sense of life shortly before the fall of the Wall. Schmidt evokes a world of ruptures and absences that eschews a confident, comprehensive point of view.”

Berlin Wedding – Photobook

Another one of Michael Schmidt’s photo books that I particularly like for my area of study is one that’s named “Berlin Wedding”.

Michael Schmidt devoted his project “Wedding” to the West Berlin district of that name, portraying grey urban landscapes where public space is a stage for projecting memories. His perspective on the urban fabric shows how the old and the new meet – ruins as identifiable traces of the war alongside new concrete structures as hostile human habitats.

Inside of the photobook:

Image analysis

Here is an image I have chosen to analyse from Michael Schmidt’s photobook “Berlin Wedding”. I particularly like this image as it is able to capture the urban landscape of the city way after the events of WWII. It is able to capture a nice simplistic yet quite complex photograph as there are quite a few objects within the image, displaying the slight sense of complexity due to there being so much to look at. Although it’s quite complex looking due to there being so much going on, it also has quite a simple basis to it due to everything having quite a clean shape such as squares and triangles and not overly complicated patterns or arrangements. The placement of everything as well can come off as being quite neatly placed which may fall under the theme of simplicity.

I particularly like this image as I feel it fits within the theme of simple and complex rather than one of the other. It displays characters from both themes and I overall think it is a particularly aesthetically pleasing image to look at.