«Tatort Feuerstelle» wins the photo competition

The jury decided: the winner of the Fo­to­wett­be­werbs «Le­ben und fo­to­gra­fie­ren in Zei­ten von Co­ro­na» is Christian Reding. His picture «Tat­ort Feu­er­stel­le» convinced the three jurors. Ranks two and three go to Hans U. Alder «The par­ty is over» and Franz Geisser with «Wo bleibt ihr Alle?»

A total of 308 pictures by 136 photographers are in the competition of the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen received. Have two rounds of judging the three jurors Adrian Moser, Jürg Ramseier and Christoph Ruckstuhl rated these pictures. Due to the corona situation, the judging did not take place at a physical meeting.

In the first round in the home office, the jurors rated the images individually. On the basis of an intermediate ranking list, they selected the best 20 pictures together in a second round in a Skype session and determined the ranks 1 to 3.

Diverse picture themes

In their report, the jury was impressed by the variety of topics and picture ideas dealt with: "The spectrum ranged from simple cell phone pictures to technical gadgets and sophisticated picture compositions".

In general, the implemented image ideas in empty, public space were rated more strongly than the implemented image situations from personal surroundings. In many pictures you could feel the photographer's attempt to realize your own interpretation of what it looked like outside during the Corona period and what moods you could experience.

"Bizarre-looking scenery"

Christian Reding's “Tatort Feuerstelle” finally took first place. As luck would have it, Reding is at the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen no stranger: the photographer is on site as Nikon's product manager and course instructor.

Reding writes about his motif: “Due to the current ban on gatherings, meeting points have been closed to the public in many places. So also the official fire pits around the Greifensee (ZH). These bizarre-looking scenes motivated me to pack the camera equipment including the flash units and go on a nightly 'documentary tour'. "

Typical picture for this time

On the one hand, Reding stimulated the technical challenge with the flash units. A way of photographing that he had never tried before in the landscape. On the other hand, the scene is also a typical picture for this time and - hopefully - unique. At the otherwise lively fireplace there was no one far and wide on the evening of the recording, as Reding reports.

The surreal scenery also reminds the photographer of a crime thriller: “The photographs that were created make the fire pits appear like crime scenes. Even if the real perpetrator is tiny, he has accomplished enormous deeds ».

Exhibition at the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen 2021

The second prize goes to Hans U. Alder with “The party is over”, a picture of tourism in the time of Corona. «Wo bleibt ihr Alle?» is the name of the photo from the Sihlpost hall with which Franz Geisser wins the third prize.

Bookfactory.ch photo book vouchers await the three winners. The best twenty pictures will be on the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen 2021 issued and are published on the competition website. All submitted images are still in the Flickr group to see.

To the competition page with the award-winning images ...

#wirsagenDANKE: pictures of the Corona heroes

The #wirsagenDANKE initiative aims to portray people who have achieved great things in recent months. Co-initiator of the campaign is Mathias Kniepeiss, who would have exhibited at Photo Münsingen 2020.

Mathias Kniepeiss is a photographer in Vienna. At the Photo Münsingen 2020 he would have shown his exhibition "Cave of Drones" of the Drone Champions League. This, like the Photo Münsingen, was postponed to 2021 for known reasons.

Along with Mar­tin Meier­eg­ger and other photographers, he launched the initiative #We say thank you. The idea is to portray people and groups of people who have achieved great things and who have earned thanks and recognition for their commitment. The portraits and stories should result in a unique, exciting document of the times.

The project is presented on Mathias Kniepeiss' website. In Switzerland, the project is run by Paul Merki, corona.photo and Andrea Camen unterstützt.

The edited images can be viewed by June 30, 2020 under the link

https://form.jotform.com/CropFactory/wirsagendanke

uploaded. The conditions of participation are also listed here.

The aim is also to have the best pictures selected by a professional jury and to present them in an exhibition and at photo events. In addition to the 20 best pictures from our "Living and photographing in times of Corona" competition, we might also see works from this initiative at Photo Münsingen 2021!

Cover picture: Midwife Yvonne Konrad photographed by Mathias Kniepeiss

Photo competition: The judging now follows

The photo competition "Live and take pictures in times of Corona" met with visitors to the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen vir­tu­ell to widespread interest. 308 photos were submitted. Now the challenge lies with the jury to choose the 20 best photos and from these three winners.

The Pho­to Mün­sin­gen has put together a top-class jury. Adrian Moser is chief photographer and image editor of the newspaper «Der Bund». This year he won first prize in the Swiss Press Pho­to Award, Category everyday, won. At the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen In 2019 he presented an interesting series Press photos on the Schlossgutplatz.

The freelance photographer Jürg Ramseier lives in Münsingen and presented at the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen 2019 pictures from his book «Mein Mün­sin­gen» in the castle. The book is a lovingly critical look at the emerging community of Pho­to Mün­sin­gen between village and agglomeration. In 2017 he had a well-noticed exhibition in the Korn­haus­fo­rum Bern about his life's work «Un­der my skin».

Christoph Ruckstuhl is head of the team of photographers Neu­en Zür­cher Zei­tung NZZ. He has won several prizes and awards in the Swiss Press Award won. In the NZZ am Sonn­tag he has the series with three NZZ photographers "Four photographers, four perspectives" published with personal photo series of the Corona crisis.

The three jurors will now - as is common in Corona times - conduct the jury in a video conference and select the best 20 pictures. These photos are on the website of the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen vir­tu­ell published and at the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen Issued in 2021 from May 13-16, 2021.

The first three are rewarded with great prizes in the form of vouchers from book factory, Moenchaltorf, a main sponsor of Pho­to Mün­sin­gen.

To the competition pictures on Flickr ...

Cover picture: Walter Winkler, at the hairdresser

Last chance at the photo competition

"Live and take pictures in times of Corona" is the photo competition of the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen vir­tu­ell. The closing date for entries is Sunday. So now is the last opportunity to participate. And to win photo book vouchers as well as fame and honor.

Over 250 images were received in the photo competition. People with masks, creativity in the home office and garden, empty streets or small details of the new everyday life - the photographers discovered with their cameras a wide variety of ways to depict the effects of the pandemic.

To the competition ...

To the pictures already submitted ...

Cover picture: André Maurer The Corona Star

Video greeting to the driveway

The Ascension weekend is with Pho­to Mün­sin­gen usually a weekend of inspiration, full of impressive pictures and friendly exchange. Not so this year. No tableaus in the Schloss­gutsaal, no multivision on Friday. Neither wows in Schloss­park, technical discussions at workshops or bratwurst.
 
As a little consolation, we meet some familiar faces of the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen. Among them Florian Spring, exhibitor of the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen 2018, Vera Wenger, responsible for culture in the municipality of Münsingen and Peter Aemmer, who is responsible for infrastructure in the OC.

Inspiration for weekend number 3

The measures taken against the pandemic gave photographers unexpected free time. Why not use this time for some further training? Camera manufacturers, photo shops or course instructors have put together tutorials in the last few weeks. Meanwhile, the first real workshops are also advertised again.

In the video cycle «Caught at home» shows photo video Zumstein what can be photographed at home in times of Corona. Together with Foto Video, Jost von Allmen offers Zumstein beginner courses on the subject Fine art printing. More online training are offered by our sponsors Bookfactory, Nikon and Fujifilm. For example, next Monday’s Bookfactory webinar will be about the Design of murals.

Olympus has various video tutorials and a virtual regulars' table on offer. The Cap photo school shares free learning content during the Corona crisis. Philipp Dubs from photomundo.ch has the video tutorials «MOTIVATED at home» launched. Boris Baldinger created a series for Image processing with Lightroom. Ralf Turtschi has a workshop on Macro photography for your convenience.

Already active again in real life Christoph Ris, longstanding workshop leader of the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen. Via Auffahrt he offers initial courses in small groups.

Got new ideas? Our competition "Living and photographing in times of Corona" has received over a hundred and fifty pictures. Below that the cover picture for this post. Georg Keller used it to photograph all of the woody things from his apartment. To the competition!

Inspiration for weekend number 2

The museums will start operating again from next week. During the closure, some of them set up virtual offers over the past few weeks, which are still worth seeing today.

The Fotomuseum Winterthur launched his "Photographic Flux". Using a timeline, the website offers an overview of historical photographic processes, imaging devices and new image forms and phenomena - from heliography to computer-generated images, from the camera obscura to the selfie.

The Photoforum Pasquart in Biel made the catalog of the current exhibition “Her Take” - which, by the way, was extended until June 14th - available digitally as a PDF. In addition, the museum recently published on Medium.com, a selection of texts that were written on the occasion of exhibitions and research.

Posed in Lausanne Musee de l'Elysée on his social media channels aspects of the exhibition “René Burri, l'explosion du regard” in the center. The digital content is also worth seeing, including those relating to previous exhibitions. For example the videos on the Vimeo channel, the podcasts at Soundcloud or the multimedia collections at Artmyn.

Also at the Zurich Image Hall we find a lot of information and pictures from past exhibitions. Special: The virtual tour through “The Magic Eye” by René Groebli.

The Museum in the Bellpark Finally, Kriens near Lucerne launched the “Walkie Talkie” project. It has asked artists to contribute. The museum presents the video clips, photographs, audio tracks and studio visits that come together online.

Inspired? Our competition "Living and photographing in times of Corona" has received over a hundred pictures. Below the cover photo of this article by Stefan Willi entitled "Together Alone". Click here for our competition ...

The festival spring is canceled

Not only the Photo Münsingen, but also the Bieler Fototage and the Fotofestival Lenzburg attracted photo enthusiasts from all over Switzerland to their exhibitions this month. Tobias Kühn summarizes in his Online magazine 42mm.ch together how the different festivals deal with the current situation.

The Biel Photo Days would have been planned from May 8th to 31st, 2020 under the title «Cracks». "When we planned the 24th edition, which deals with social breaks and challenges, we did not know that the reality of the events would catch up with us and that the theme provided by the festival would become so frighteningly topical," write the organizers.

You have announced the postponement to next year: "In this time full of turmoil and change, we invite you to take your time - we will be back in May 2021."

Photo Festival Lenzburg and Photo Basel in September

The Lenzburg Photo Festival has not been canceled, but has been postponed. Scheduled from May 9th to June 9th, it will now take place from September 12th to October 25th, 2020. "We are currently working on a reorganization of the festival program," reported the organizers at the beginning of April via Facebook.

Photo Basel, originally planned for June, will not take place until September, from September 17th to 20th - at the same time as Art Basel.

Rencontres d'Arles canceled

At the international level, the Rencontres d'Arles have been canceled for 2020. They should have taken place from June 29th to September 20th. During the past two months the organizers have been considering ways to run the festival despite social distancing.

For the first time in its 50-year history, however, they had to cancel the festival: “It is impossible to produce exhibitions and equip the venues. International travel has come to a standstill and public gatherings are prohibited for the foreseeable future, ”they write.

Inspiration for weekend number 1

The Photo Münsingen photo competition "Living and photographing in times of Corona" has been running virtually since Monday. Over 60 pictures have already been received. For everyone who still needs inspiration: Here are our link tips for the weekend.

First of all, it is of course worth taking a look at Photo Münsingen virtually. More than 60 pictures have been received since Monday for the photo competition "Living and taking pictures in times of Corona". We publish the continuously updated collection of these photos Flickr. Among the entries, for example, the cover picture of this article: "Until further notice" by Astrid Schulz. Or the photos of Hans U. Alderwho has published more pictures of the lockdown on his website.

In the post "Four photographers, four perspectives" four NZZ photographers show their very personal view of the Corona crisis. Christoph Ruckstuhl observes the small changes on his way to work. Simon Tanner collected self-portraits that testify to excessively long layers and the arduous wearing of protective masks. Karin Hofer is forced to focus on her own apartment. Annick Ramp was on the otherwise invisible limit.

They also have very different views of Switzerland in the lockdown Keystone-SDA photographers. This week's «Zoom» photo blog shows how it is doing Sports world in the time of Corona has changed. And he publishes aerial photographs of Alessandro della Bella. "Sleeping Beauty Zurich": Zurich is waiting like a sleeping beauty to be awakened from the crisis.

SRF shows the pictures from Marko Stevic. From the street, he portrayed people who are currently staying at home. For the "time" have eight Photographers from Germany Photos compiled that show everyday life in their vicinity.

The creators of "Photo Schweiz" have meanwhile invited 30 Swiss photographers* to show their view of Switzerland in times of the pandemic. Respondents included Christian Bobst and Kostas Maros, who exhibited at Photo Münsingen in 2019 and 2013 respectively.

Would you like to take pictures now? Click here for our competition ...

A photo journey after the Corona crisis

Hard to imagine at the moment, but there will also be a time after Corona. Rolf Gemperle has on the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen 2010 Panorama photos of the Sahara exhibited. He was also the leader of several photo workshops at Photo Münsingen with a focus on panoramic photography. In the photo journey from 14. to 28. May 2021 he and his local partner offer the large crossing of the Namib Desert in Namibia. Here is an excerpt from the travel description:

Crossing the Namib Desert from Lüderitz to Swakopmund is an adventure in a class of its own. The huge dunes of the coastal and foggy desert reach here as far as the sea and thus form a unique backdrop. An approximately 500-kilometer-long strip along the coast is part of the restricted diamond area and can only be traveled with special permission and as a guided tour.

Images: Rolf Gemperle / Nicolas Genoud