Uwe Ommer
Allemagne
Bio
It is the love of nature and animals that brings him to photography. With a small simple device brand “Braun”, he goes on a hunt for birds. Alas, without much success!
But it is a photo of children playing football, which won the 1st prize of the prestigious contest “Deutscher Jugendphotopreis” 1962 (proposed by the gallery) which marks the real beginning of his immense career. At his majority, he decides to spend a year in Paris. Assistant week, he spends his weekends photograhier passers-by Mouffetard Street, his neighborhood. The result, about fifty “stolen” portraits exposed to the “Galerie de la Mouffe” in 1965.
Become a photographer on his own, he landed an advertising job for Charles Jourdan, a collaboration that installs it. He began publishing books, including “Uwe Ommer, Erotic Photographs” at Taschen. In 1983, he made the images of the Pirelli calendar in the Bahamas. In 1986 appeared “Black Ladies”, enriched by the preface and poems of Léopold Sedar Senghor. Followed in 1995 of “Black Ladies 2” and “Asian Ladies” in 2000. A meal at the end of 1995 changes his life. While dining in a neighborhood restaurant, he observes seated groups and suddenly is born this crazy idea to photograph the families … of the whole world! It comes out with the paper tablecloth with notes, sketches and … various sauces!
Everything is there: the white background, the lighting, the necessary time, the means of transport … 4 years and 250,000 kilometers of roads later, in 2000, the “1000 Families” are exhibited for the first time in Cologne. The book “1000 Families” is published by Taschen In 2010 he goes back on the road and photographs 300 families with their teenagers in 40 European countries “Families of Teens”, a European project through outdoor exhibitions, get to know our European neighbors.