Hartmut Fischer is a cultural manager and the Flaneur du Mal in Berlin. Since 1986 he has been active as a cultural worker, mainly in the fields of poetry, literature and performance. So about as long as I've been working as a cultural worker in the field of photography. And he's my cousin.

I made a digital-analogue report on the proof of his novel Fuller at the Berlin Druck-Manufaktur LetterTypen.

Reportage photography, Heidelberger Druck, Heidelberg, Berlin, Havana and Rochester

I like reportage photography anyway because I like to tell stories visually, but here it had a very special appeal for me, since I know the origin of the printing press, an original Heidelberg cylinder from 1954, which was the focus of the report. Both from a previous life and also from my current one.

I used to visit the headquarters of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen often because I worked there as a consultant in the IT department. And later, because I developed and printed the images for my first analogue photo series – Persona – in the communal darkroom there. Even in Rochester, New York, where Heidelberger Druckmaschinen had a plant on the former Kodak site, I was only an IT nerd and had no time for Kodak or the George Eastman Museum. I'm still angry about it to this day!

So my connection to Heidelberger Druckmaschinen is quite different from that of Daniel Klotz, the letter type. He can handle the machines properly. For me it's just fascinating to see them. A few years ago, by chance, in a print shop in Havana, where packaging boxes were printed on a similarly old Heidelberg cylinder, and now in Berlin, where real works of art come out of the machines. So through and through a very emotional reportage.

photo reportage

Below you can see an excerpt from the spread from the photo reportage about the work of Daniel Klotz in his manufactory, which was partly created analogously with a Rolleiflex and digitally with a Fujifilm (at least the name fits). The letter types almost directly into his hands until the first pages of Hartmut's book were printed.

The novel Fuller was printed on the finest Fedrigoni paper with black thread stitching and published by Hartmut Fischer himself. It is with him directly or in Online shop of the Erotic Art Museum available.

You can find more information about Hartmut Fischer and Fuller on the Website of Hartmut Fischer or in his profile linkedin,

You can take part in the literary city tours through Berlin with Hartmut Fischer Tour guide booking make an appointment.

Analog film in the Rolleiflex

Fujifilm digital film