KARL HUGO SCHMOLZ
Architectural research
Karl Hugo schmolz was born in Wessenorn Germany in 1917 , He started taking photos at the age of 15
he worked with many of the leading architects of the time , as world war two started he joined the army and had to stop.
However on his return he took to using a large-format camera to document the rebuilding of Cologne after the wartime damage.
Although primarily shooting architectural subjects, he also began to take on a much broader set of assignments, often in connection with advertising. This work was varied but photographing furniture became one of his major projects. His portfolio has therefore become a documentary of living in Germany over a thirty-year period.
Karl Schmolz married another photographer, Walde Huth and together they set up the "Schmolz + Huth studio, which also concentrated on fashion and portrait photography.
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| Walde Huth |
In 1945 Huth-Schmolz worked as an industrial photographer at the engineering works in Esslingen. She then worked on commissions for textile companies and leading German fashion magazines, and she was one of the first to use colour photography for these subjects. She was commissioned by the Frankfurter Illustrierte to take photographs in Paris (1954-6) and by Freundin and Elegante Welt to photograph in Florence (1956).
Huth-Schmolz set up a studio-house with her husband in Marienburg, Cologne, but suffered a long interruption in her work caused by the demands of her family. She returned to the public eye in the late 1970s with a completely new pictorial style, producing long cycles of high-quality photographs with a strong conceptual basis
One of his last assignment undertaken by Karl Hugo Schmolz was of pictures of the new Museum Ludwig in Cologne. he was unable to complete it, his test shots had already captured the main focal points of the building, setting the bar for the next photographer to take on the project.
Karl Schmolz died in Lahnstein in 1986.
This photo shows some stairs in a building
It has good leading lines drawing you
down the stairs
The shadows in the photo improve the photo
This shop window
I love the leading lines and theomposition of the photo
you almost cant see the glass window as you gaze into the photo
A great side on view of some buildings
lots of different shapes to look at in this photo
with lovely tonal range throughout the photo
This is a photo of a the siemens building
from across the street i like the windows
and composition your eyes are drawn to the two men
at the foreground and i think this is what makes the photo
A beautiful stair case photographed
With good ambient light coming from the large windows
on the right the stairs have leading lines up to the ceiling
I then notice the two light fittings and the unusual ceiling
A truly stunning photo
A great interior shot of a theater I like the composition of this shot
showing all the empty seats great tones and textures
each seat is beautifully captured in the artificial light
A amazing shot at some stairs leading all the way to the top
great leading lines all the way to the top
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| Mountain with a heart of glass: the Züblin administration building |
This must of been one of karl hugo last photographic projects and i think hes captured
the building beautifully with the clouds in the sky to the glass windows and pattens
on the floor this is a great composition showing great detail and form.
Gottfried Boehm, German architect, was born in 1920 in Offenbach and was the architect of the zublin Züblin headquarters that karl hugo photographed
Over time Böhm advanced and refined the idea of “encapsulated urban space” until it reached a climax in the Züblin headquarters in Stuttgart (1981–85). Böhm faced two challenges – not only should he design an inexpensive administration building, he was also to rehabilitate the unpopular reinforced concrete by creating exemplary architecture.
Böhm divided the volume into two parallel office wings and to the surprise of the developer installed in the 25 meter wide interstice a generous glazed hall, which acts as a foyer and an event location. A round tower in the center housing stairs and three sets of impressively stacked galleries provide access to the two wings and link them with each other. The glazed structure seems like a transformation of Böhm’s concrete massif. Indeed, the journal Domus described the Züblin building as an “opaque mountain split by a transparent heart of glass.
A shot from further away showing leading lines towards this great building
Karl hugo is one of my favourite architectural photographers that I have researched the way he has captured architecture is stunning . I'm sure hes photography will live on for many centuries .
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