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Everything You Need To Know About Photography You Can Learn From One Book
It’s my opinion that Modern Color, by Fred Herzog, is not only an incredible collection of photographs, but a masterclass in the medium itself. Interestingly, not because of his much-heralded use of color.
Herzog was German-born, 1930. His mother died when he was 11, his dad not long after. Herzog’s relationship with the war, which took both his parents, was likely too personal for him to ever appreciate the magnitude of the holocaust. Biographies have sidestepped this aspect of his life whenever possible, but it’s not hard to find evidence of his own inner conflict, if you want.
For the purposes of this article, I simply want to discuss Herzog’s art and what remains essential about his approach. Of all the photographers in my own long list of inspirations, there is something about Herzog that stands above. It has to do with what I consider the core building blocks of all photography. Deep down, photography is about learning to see. And if that ability is at the heart of photography, perhaps nobody existed quite as distinctly in the myocardium as Fred Herzog.
Some quick facts:
Herzog started taking color photos of the grittier part of Vancouver in the early 50’s. Nobody…
