GEORG REITER
// Georg is primarily a landscape and architecture photographer, but also does travel photography. His main concerns are to capture a mood and certain formal criteria. When travelling through Cuba, he came upon many musicians, and we are pleased to share a set of his vibrant musician portraits.
Georg has been taking photos since his youth, in the past in black and white, developing and enlarging films himself. Since 2012 he has been taking photos almost exclusively digitally.
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”
Elliott Erwitt
What draws you to art?
“Art, be it painting, sculpture or photography has accompanied me since my youth. Through art I learned to see things differently, to question them. For me, photography is a contemplative activity, I see something and try to put it into practice.”
What do you like most about the Cuban musicians you met?
“I was most impressed by the virtuosity and unbelievable joyousness of these musicians.”
The music of Cuba is famous all over the world. Its instruments, performance, and dance are full of unique traditions influenced mostly by Cuba´s west African and European (especially Spanish) musical heritage. Cuban music has contributed to the development of a wide variety of genres and musical styles around the world, with genres such as rhumba, Afro-Cuban jazz, salsa, soukous, many varieties of Afro-Cuban music, Spanish fusion with flamenco, and a wide variety of genres in Latin America.
When Georg travelled through Cuba he was struck by how many musicians he saw and met everywhere. “Musicians get together in the squares of the cities and play together, in different line-ups. Even in smaller places you always meet musicians who meet and play, and in between people drink and forget everyday life.”
Concerning his predilection for capturing mood, Georg says, “Even with photos of industrial architecture, I am not concerned with the documentation (as with the people at the Düsseldorf School by Bernd and Hilla Becher), but with capturing the brittle charm of these buildings. And a more formal image structure is important to me, also in landscape photography.” We recommend checking out Georg´s Instagram page and website to see his quite stunning aesthetic landscape and architecture photographs.
Images may be cropped for layout. Click on the photos to see the original version.
All photos © GEORG REITER
You could also visit Georg´s Instagram page and his website for more of his work. Georg has also been interviewed by our friend platform The Pictorial-List, where you in addition see a story about his bike tour through Cuba.
SPECTACULUM MAGAZINE 