Fred Herzog's Vancouver

[imec]

Anyone who knows Vancouver (fumobici?) will know that images of the city are typically cliched - Stanley Park totem poles,  Grouse Mountain, Lion's Gate Bridge and so on.  The real  Vancouver and in particular the Vancouver of days gone by is rarely if ever seen in photographic images. Until now.

Fred Herzog immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1952 and settled in Vancouver in 1953. He soon after set out to capture everyday life in the city he loved on film. Unlike his contemporaries he chose to work in colour, shooting in Kodachrome and was consequently never considered a serious photographer as "real photographers" only shot in black and white at that time.  As Kodachrome was slide film, most of his work was never printed and therefore not seen by the public until the technology of the 21st century allowed the economical printing of his 120,000 images - most of them of Vancouver.

Have a look here at a few of his amazing images. I've posted a few of my favorites below.

[bixaorellana]

Absolute knock-out photography! The idea that he wasn't considered a serious photographer is mind-boggling. One thing that really stands out about his work is how completely un-stagey it is, which wasn't always the case with "serious" photography of that era.

Maybe the wrong word to use because of the restraint & even muted quality of the tones in some of the pictures, but his colors are luscious. Anyway, that's the word that occurred to me over and over again while looking at his photos. Luscious and necessary, for that matter.

Thanks so much for showing this!

[bjd]

Great photographs, Imec. What strikes me is how homogeneous Canada was in those days. Almost any of those city pictures in Vancouver could have been taken in Toronto at the same time (well, perhaps there were fewer Chinese and no mountains in the background!).

[Deleted]

Stunning photographs. (In some ways his work reminds me of the Vivian Maier forgotten b&w's posted about in the Maritime Museum on here, same era,city life...). The color however,certainly gives them a whole different burst for lack of a better word.

In looking more closely at the the pics in the link,many of these photos are from other places as well as Vancouver.
There are pics of his taken in Curacao,New York,a couple of them are taken in Oaxaca.

I would be very hard pressed to pic a favorite,there are so many that I love.

Thanks for this Imec. Fabulous.

[mich64]

Wow, these are incredible photographs. I like the photo of the intersection showing the street length of neon signs and the children grouped around the convenience store.

With the difference in ages and the sizes of families back then, I imagine them to be brothers and the oldest being sent out on his bike to gather up the young ones, knowing where to find them.

A Norman Rockwell inspired photo.

Cheers!

[Deleted]

Having spent nights on Hastings Street with a friend (now dead) buying drugs from strangers, these photos are absolutely a part of the Vancouver with which I am familiar.