Stories & Lifestyle: Renowned Photographer Horst Schaefer turns 75 – an emigrant’s story

It is a rather unusual story - in the 1960s, a journeyman bricklayer from the Westerwald, Germany, decides to start a career as a photographer - not just anywhere in the world, but in New York. Via Canada, he makes it to the US. He takes photos of the Big Apple, its skyward-reaching, bold architecture, in a radically modern way, as if the camera were falling from above flying past the facades - and the people didn't like them. They disappeared in a drawer. And 30 years later, they become the basis for Horst Schaefer's success as a renowned photo artist. Some of his photos achieved almost iconic status.

On Saturday, Schaefer, who returned to Germany in 1980 and has been living in Nuremberg since 1981, celebrates his 75th birthday. Even today he openly admits that the initial rejection of his photos was a great disappointment for him. "At the time, the Americans were very much attached to a pseudo-baroque gingerbread style. They didn't like the new architecture with its strict design. And that's why they didn't like my pictures that emphasized the strict and modern characteristics in an esthetic way.

AN EYE FOR QUIET MOMENTS

However, concerning his style Horst Schaefer didn't let himself be put off in his late twenties. He stayed in New York, worked as a photographer for an agency and a photojournalist for the horse racing industry that was very popular at the time. His eye for side attractions and his talents to make the quiet moments speak earned him recognition. At last, his photos did show up on the front page of the New York Times and seen all around the world. But when Schaefer moved to Denver, Colorado with his family his style again collided with the American taste, that favored postcard romanticism.

The "longing for Germany" that had stayed with him all of those years finally won. Schaefer returned to his old home country. From 1981 he worked as a photojournalist for Associated Press in Nuremberg, where he soon felt at home. As a photographer, he explored every little corner of the city, and even today he still discovers new things.

Since Schaefer went into business for himself as a photojournalist in 1993 his works could be seen in many exhibitions, in 2002 he was awarded the Nuernberger Kuluturpreis (Nuremberg award for culture). On the occasion of his 75th birthday, the Staedtische Galerie Erlangen (city gallery Erlangen) organizes a great retrospective with almost 200 black-and-white photos from the past 50 years - in addition to his photos of architecture, the exhibition will also display his photos of nature and his remarkably impressive portraits of children and other people in Transylvania that were never staged but told authentic stories.

"The instinctive knowledge of the right moment," that's what Schaefer states as his strength. His photos are visual expeditions, they point out the special things in every day life. "Going along with the rhythm of daily life," The photographer describes his approach. And exactly that seems to be the secret behind his photos.

Find some examples of Horst Schaefer's work on