My First Photography Exhibition

Friday the 11th of October was the day. Long-term planning and rather short-term realization culminated in the opening of my first exhibition at the Café Koeppen. 🤗

Considering that I ordered the photographs only a week before the exhibition, I was fortunate they arrived on time and undamaged. As it would have been too expensive to print them on photographic paper, I had them printed quite simply as posters. One 20 × 30 cm, four 40 × 40 cm and five 50 × 70 cm.

In the days leading up to the opening, I operated in a state of hecticness and excitement. After all, there were posters hung around town and friends had been invited, so I wished for everything to run smoothly. Accordingly, I could relax more once all the photographs hung on the walls the day before the opening. Which took longer than I thought – the frames needed cleaning, the photos had to be centered, and above all, I needed to find a suitable arrangement in the room. (I hadn’t given any thought beforehand to which picture should hang on which wall.) A good three hours it took.

On the same evening as well as on the day of the exhibition itself, I baked and prepared spreads, as I wished to offer a small buffet for the opening. My friend assisted me significantly – her ideas, such as the chocolate-covered fruit skewers, were a delight for everyone. 😋

Directly on the opening day, I hurried from work at 3pm and prepared everything remaining at home, until I brought the buffet components to Café Koeppen shortly after 6pm. Time was running. Fortunately, a friend spontaneously offered her assistance with the canapés and arranging the buffet.

Even though everything had proceeded smoothly until then, I was quite nervous at this point, as the opening speech still awaited…

Around 7:30pm, familiar and unfamiliar faces began to arrive, and ten minutes later I opened the exhibition. During the speech, the tension likewise fell away, so that I began to feel genuinely delighted about the presence of each individual. I was able to relate this with appropriate joy.

I have seen the exhibited photographs so many times that I can at times no longer savor their aesthetics. Therefore, it was a joy to be able to present them to fresh eyes, to capture new perspectives and reflections. The experience filled me with euphoria – to perceive and hear the delight of others at the sight of the images. The feedback made me happy. And there were even discussions about some of the motifs that I had never dreamed possible!

Now the photographs hang in the café until the end of December, and I hope that other visitors will find pleasure in them as well.

What Am I Actually Exhibiting?

Photographs of the local town, captured over the last seven years. During a walk at the beginning of the year, I noticed that most of the subjects could no longer be reproduced: Either the photograph was captured at an inimitable moment on digital celluloid, or the object photographed has since been changed, renovated or demolished.

In the exhibition I show a city on a small scale, an unseen Greifswald, so to speak. And I attempt thereby to ignite a kind of search game, inviting the viewer to discover where which motif was photographically captured.

How the Exhibition Came About and What Inspired Me

Directly before the beginning of my studies I acquired my first camera (an Olympus OM-D E-M5, to be precise) and experimented with photography parallel to my pharmacy studies. The subject that first presented itself was the city. Thus, from the end of 2012 onward, the photographs that can be found in the exhibition came into being.

Even though the will was there in principle, until two years ago I still lacked the self-confidence to perceive my photographs as being of high enough quality to be shown in an exhibition. Only since embarking upon my new life path as designer/developer have I experienced myself anew and actively worked on taking my dreams into my own hands.

Since my original wish was to leave the city next year – a wish that was surpassed by the job offer at KATAPULT magazine – I thought that exhibiting a retrospective portrait, captured through my eyes, would constitute a fitting conclusion to my time in Greifswald.

Moreover, I felt that my photographs would simply fit well at Café Koeppen. In short, I thus inquired and received approval shortly thereafter. The owner was delighted by the photographs!

Are You Close? Come and Visit Us!

Should you be reading this while it’s still 2019, feel free to stop by:

Café Koeppen
Bahnhofsstraße 4/5
17489 Greifswald

I would be delighted by every visitor. 🙂

One, Two or Three Words of Gratitude

I would like to thank everyone who actively supported me in the planning and realization of the exhibition: Marie, my friends, and Christiane Waak, who offered me the opportunity to exhibit my photographs in her café.

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That concludes the article. If you spot any typo or would like to share your thoughts on this article, please feel free to get in touch. 🙆‍♂️