Some Brilliant Pictures - The Two Germanies

[p.giannakis]

Greek photographer Constantin Pittas travelled throughout Europe in the 80's carrying a small Minox 35 camera. Today he posted some pictures taken in the period between 1987 and 1989 in both East and West Germany.


These are brilliant picture, i hope you enjoy them.


https://vimeo.com/464241728

 

[JohnBeeching]

Thanks for posting this. Beautifully observed.

 

[Ricoh]

He has a good eye, I enjoyed looking. Thank you.

 

[Out to Lunch]

Wonderful, especially with Bach's Goldberg Variations accompanying the photography. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, OtL

 

[Erik van Straten]

I remember having seen these before. Very nice, great pictures! Thank you Pan!


Erik.

 

[Richard G]

Thanks. V poignant.

 

[charjohncarter]

Thanks for posting this, and for your other posts. Meeting photographers unknown to me is a pleasure that you have given me.

 

[robert blu]

A great series of photos, thanks for the link. As John says it's always a pleasure to meet unknown photographers.

 

[Joao]

A pleasant surprise, wonderful series.
Thanks !!
Joao

 

[p.giannakis]

Another set of great pictures here:
https://vimeo.com/316254236

 

[Erik van Straten]

Great, great! What a pictures. I remember having seen them, long ago. Beautiful printed too, really professional work.

Thank you, Pan, for showing them. I am so sorry that I did not make more pictures in those years.

Erik.

 

[raid]

Thanks for the link. Beautiful and also alarming what politics can do.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Very impressive. And sharing same name with me. He has done it on high level of HCB and GW. And no Leica was involved.

My two relatives went to East Germany to "help" with some things. One caught high doze of radiation ...
For many pictures I didn't needed East/West narrative. Difference between market where Leica were priced according to the free market and where car name was trabant is obvious to me.

 

[charjohncarter]

Another set of great pictures here:
https://vimeo.com/316254236

Pan, thanks for the video. I get a feeling that some of his photos were taken by shooting from the hip. Do you know anything about his technique?

 

[robert blu]

Great ! Thanks for the link! A pleasuer to watch .

 

[p.giannakis]

Pan, thanks for the video. I get a feeling that some of his photos were taken by shooting from the hip. Do you know anything about his technique?

I was wondering the same, some pics seem to be taken from a hip height. I might plucked up some courage and ask him - he looks like a down to earth and approachable type of guy.
Having said that, sometimes I bend my knees when taking pictures, it looks very similar. Here are two for example.

 

[charjohncarter]

Pan, I found this on his web site:

What kinds of cameras did you use?



You’ll never believe it, but all my pictures, 24.000 negatives in total, were shot with a small german Minox 35GT, a pocket camera with a fixed 35mm lens. Never carried any other camera on me. Thanks to that small camera I was fast and invisible. I would steady it on my body, on my stomach, and shoot without framing my subject. Besides, its viewfinder was rudimentary.

Later in the interview he said he became proficient in 'shooting from the hip' as we say in the West of the USA.

I've tried it with my Olympus Stylus Infinity, we mixed results.

 

[raid]

I love using my Minox 35GT. It is an excellent camera with a poor reputation for reliability of the shutter.

 

[nikon_sam]

These photos were taken within the last 30 years but look much older...

 

[Erik van Straten]

These photos were taken within the last 30 years but look much older...

Yes, some pictures look outdated earlier than others. A strange phenomenon.


Erik.