J Photography LLC

J-Photography manages and markets an archive of high quality photographic work. Manfried at the time also organized exhibitions in Northern Germany or Austria.

For the moment J Photography markets the work of Manfried Janson, a business man who partly financed his University life as a freelance photographer. During the 60ties and 70ties his studies took him to Universities in Hamburg, Innsbruck, Saarbrucken, Vienna and Rio de Janeiro, but also on a tour to Asia on the vessel “MS Hessenstein”, to Portugal and Turkey, amongst others. Working with his camer

as Leica M4, M5 and Rolleiflex 6x6 Manfried had an immense interest in taking portraits and pictures of people. His years as a traveler and student allowed him to collect an amount of high quality photo journalistic work. This is how an archive of over 10’000 black & white as well as colored negatives and dias, mostly developed by himself, showing great moments of time, was established. His photographs are proof of a time when photography and owning a camera was something for a selected few. It was a time when photo journalists were flown around the world first class to capture an event or a story. It was a time when photography was not established as a form of art, but rather as a form of documentation. But it was incredible exciting when countries like Brazil still had lots of areas that were hardly reachable and traveling was immensely time-consuming. Equipped with a great deal of curiosity, a need for adventure and his cameras Manfried had the time, chance and dedication to travel and document. Travelling Portugal’s Algarve region for example when golf courses and beach tourists were nonexistent allowed him to take photos of winegrowers and fishermen. Later, the Brazilian Military granted him permission to tour the Amazon on a military DC-3 to photograph Brazil’s North Eastern and Central Region, allowing him to take shots of the life in the Amazonas or picture a great series of Jangadeiros fishermen near Fortaleza’s coast. Some of his work was published in magazines and newspapers such as Germany’s Stern, Der Spiegel, Die Welt or Zurich’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung. After graduation Manfried joined the business world resulting in him having less time for taking pictures or developing them in his darkroom. His job took him and his family to live in countries like Peru, Guatemala and Egypt, occasionally giving him the time to shoot a few pictures. It wasn’t until 2010 that Manfried rediscovered his past talent and the products of it. Buying and installing a server, an iMac and a professional Nikon 9000 Coolscan scanning machine he ventured into the basement of his house for hours each night to scan and organize his work. His family thought he was crazy. It was only until his daughter Anna, who meanwhile had quit her job to become a professional photographer, that the rest of the family realized the value of his precious work. Amongst others Anna took a photography course at London College of Communication, thus strengthened her technics also on the computer. Helping Manfried in gaining some of these technics she started to discover Manfried’s work. It was then that she told her brother Manuel about the work she found in the “basement”. Manuel himself had taken an interest in photography, but more as a buyer and photography aficionado. He visited photography galleries, fairs and museums and was immediately taken by the quality of the work he encountered in the basement of his parents home. In short that’s when both founded J Photography to organize Manfried’s work, select the best pictures to reproduce and make them available to the outside world. Going forward J Photography wants to manage work of other photographers.

23/05/2013

Passion of a Family - Thanks to everyone who came and visited our exhibition at the Kornschütte Luzern

30/04/2013

Come and visit our next exhibition at the Kornschütte Luzern from the 3rd till the 19th of May 2013 with great photographs from Latin America and antique textiles from Guatemala.
The vernissage will take place on the 2nd of May at 18h.

19/03/2013

Come and visit our exhibition at the Goldbach Center in Küsnacht from the 26.3. till the 28.4.2013 with great photographs from Latin America & Anatolia in 60ties and 70ties.
Vernissage will take place on the 25.03. at 18h

23/12/2012

J Photography wishes a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

12/12/2012

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho was a brasilian architekt. He was born on the 15th of December in 1907 and died 5th December 2012 at the age of 104. He was considered to be one of the pioneers in the development of modern Architecture.

The civic buildings of the planned city of Brasilia - Brazilian's capital since 1960 - are one of the most famous designs of Oscar. Another famous project was his collaboration with other architects on the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
His exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of reinforced concrete was highly influential on the architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Both lauded and criticized for being a "sculptor of monuments", Niemeyer was praised by his supporters for being a great artist and one of the greatest architects of his generation. He said his architecture was strongly influenced by Le Corbusier, but in an interview, assured that this "didn't prevent [his] architecture from going in a different direction". Niemeyer was most famous for his use of abstract forms and curves that characterize most of his works, and wrote in his memoirs:
"I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein."

Manfried travelled in 1969 and 1972 through Brasil and of course he visited Brasilia as well. At that time Brasilia was still developing and some of Oscar Niemeyers buildings were still under construction.

(information on Wikipedia)

03/07/2012

Corte Suprema in Brasilía
Brasília was declared Capital of Brasil in 1960, but only in 1972 all federal politicians had to have their residence there. It was still a town with lots of space and few people then.

Photographed with a Rolleiflex 220px 6x6 Film AgfaColor 18DIN in 1972.

Format: 80 x 80 cm

Printing: Diasec (mounted behind plexiglass)

Edition: 8 + 2 AP

10/04/2012

Tiriyó Indians and DC-3 in the northern Amazon

In 1969 Manfried was invited for the first time by the Brazilian Military to go on a medical supply trip with a DC-3 into the Amazon at the border between Brazil and Suriname to visit some small villages of Tiriyó Indians and missionaries who where living there to teach the Christian education as well as giving medical care and support. The DC-3 could land in the grass lands of the savannah in the border area of North-Brazil close to their village, which the Tiriyó had set up close to a small river. As in principle no foreigners was allowed into the area the villagers only knew the military doctors and the Franciscan monk, and were extremely friendly to the visitor. The cacique working on his bow he used for hunting gave him small presents, allowed photos and invited him to see their homes.

“The Tiriyó (also known as Trio) usually call themselves tarëno, etymologically 'people from here, local people'. They are approximately 1.151 (in Brazil) und 1.845 (in Suriname; in 2006) and live in several major villages and a number of minor villages in the border zone between Brazil and Suriname.”

“The first recorded encounter was by Robert Schomburgk in 1843. Until the late 1950s contact remained sporadic because there was no permanent White settlement in the region. Then, almost simultaneously on both sides of the frontier, airstrips were cut and permanently manned by a few non-Indians. From the Trio point of view the most important event that took place at that time was the arrival of two missionary organizations, a Franciscan mission in Brazil and a U.S. Protestant group in Suriname.”

The policies pursued by these two groups are very different. While the north American Protestants tried to actively convert the natives into “Christians”, the Franciscan missionary from Germany took a extremely moderate, liberal approach: he respected their traditional way of living without interfering in their live-style, their traditions and pagan worships. He had built, though, a small cabin in traditional Tiriyó style, but without walls, where he practiced his catholic service on Sundays. Thus the Tiriyó could observe him, while he sang his corals, practised his ceremonies, and gradually some curious natives joined him.

“There is also a difference in civil status afforded to the Indians by the respective nations. In Suri-name the Indian is a full citizen of the country with the right to vote and to pensions and welfare ben-efits, but the Indian's right to land is not guaranteed since all land is owned by the state. In Brazil the Indian is still a minor, but at the moment the Trio live in a park in which their right to land is guaran-teed. In describing Trio culture, however, it is necessary to bear in mind that many features of their society and culture have been transformed since the late 1950s by external influences. The word "traditional" as used in the following description refers to the period prior to then.

The Trio are slash-and burn cultivators, hunters, and gatherers. In Suriname agricultural practices have remained relatively unaffected, but in Brazil change has resulted from mechanization and the introduction of new crops, such as rice. Hunting was traditionally with bow and arrow, but now fi****ms are generally used.

Traditional commercial activities were limited to trading, but in the second half of the twentieth century there have been periods in Suriname when wage labour for government and other agencies, either in Trio territory or elsewhere, has been available. In Brazil a system of paid agricultural work has been introduced. Most Trio are now familiar with the use of money, and they are increasingly in need of a regular cash income in order to obtain supplies of shotgun cartridges, electric batteries, and fuel for outboard motors.

Traditional crafts included pottery, basketwork, and woodwork. The first of these declined as pottery items have been replaced by metal objects, but the other two continue to form an important part of Trio technology and material culture.”

Information found on the following websites:
http://wikipedia.org
http://pib.socioambiental.org/en/povo/tiriyo
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Trio.aspx
http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Trio.html

31/01/2012

Story behind the photo… "Jangadas in Joao Pessoa"

This photo depicts a classic scene from Brazil’s North-East in the 1970s showing a Jangada approaching the sandy shores of João Pessoa following a busy days fishing. The Jangada is a very simple but highly efficient boat dating back to the ancient Greeks and rumoured to have been the vessel used by Ulysses in ‘The Odyssey’. The Jangada’s construction depends on the correct use of materials such as fluctuation woods (like the Brazilian balsa, and other rare species), artisan tissues and ropes. The traditional Jangada doesn't have any metallic elements like nails; its structure is completely put together with joints and lashings using ropes made of hand-woven fibres.

The fishermen, mostly several at a time, often stay out overnight in the open ocean, out of sight from the shore. They have no instruments and navigate by the stars and their own eyes only. In the photo above the men wear white lacquered straw-hats, identifying them as members of a fishing cooperative in João Pessoa. Their catch is carried in the large basket/bag in the centre of the vessel.

The results of these fishing trips were often poor, so some of them focused on lobster-fishing with baits and baskets, generating higher value products which could be sold on nearby markets.

The old fashioned building methods of Jangadas still seen in the late sixties and early seventies are no longer used thereby highlighting the uniqueness of this series of photos. The traditional logs of the handmade Jangada have been replaced by machine cut wooden planking or even metal floating bodies, retaining the established shape of the Jangada but losing its historic roots.

The Jangada is unique to the North-Eastern part of Brazil from San Salvador da Bahia to São Luiz due to a law put in place by the Portuguese Conquerors outlawing any movement of sailing craft in an effort to halt illegal gold trafficking. As a result the Jangada is still today confined to Brazil although with the introduction of motorboats and with the knowledge and skills required to make traditional Jangada’s fading Manfried’s photo dramatically captures a mostly extinct piece of history.

Fishermen and the sea always was a theme searched for by Manfried. So when he heard of the cooperative in João Pessoa he was attracted to their beaches, village and market south and away of the city, where the “jangadeiros” landed with their harvest, repaired or dried their heavy sail, sold their fish. Their small houses nestled between the sand dunes. Locals from the nearby port came often to buy their supply there, freshness guaranteed.

Link to article on our website:
http://www.jphotographyllc.com/arch/6e203f551d23e7efc9750c685f66b9e2.pdf

26/01/2012

Dear friends. Please visit our new webpage www.jphotographyllc.com. There you will be able to see our exisiting series! We hope that you enjoy it. Your J-Photography Team!

19/12/2011

Check out our latest article. THis time we write about the DIASEC process which we are using for our "Brazil 1972" Series. Enjoy!

In this article we are writing about the DIASEC printing method and Lucerne based Foto Luternauer AG - http://foto-luternauer.ch/index.php?id=18 - our partner for specialty photo prints. The firm that is specialized on printing in particular analog and digital fine art photography was founded 40 year ago and is now run in the second generation by siblings Stefan and Susi in a team of 7. Stefan „Stifu“ Luternauer is a learned cook but quickly joined his father’s business to then take it over with his sister after their father’s death about 6 years ago. They are complemented by Anna Geroni, a certified foto developer who learned her trade, including analog printing, at various photographic laboratories.

Unlike most other photography printers Luternauer offers all processes in-house such as for example the Diasec process, but on top also offers professional photographers to actually work in the company’s laboratories for analog black&white, color negativ and print development. The firm is one of the few Swiss companies that owns the Laser-Exposing machine “Cymbolic Sciences LightJet 5000”, something that is not produced anymore, and equipment such as an AutoPan RA4 for chemical development.

Wikipidia explains the Diasec process, which we for example use for the “Copacabana Early Morning Pilates” out of the “Brazil 1972” Series as “a patented process used for face mounting prints like photographs on acrylic glass.”

In terms of process Luternauer’s Anna Geroni first develops a photographic print to then check it on a PC for preparing, defining type and amount of color components to then print it on an Epson Photo Stylus PRO 11880, allowing for prints up to a width of 160 cm.

After that the photo is laminated with a „dia foil“. Hereby it is important that foil and specialty glue are clear and transparent. Normal foil with glue is unclear and opaque. After covering the photo with this special foil it is bonded with the acrylic glass through a compactor or rolling process. During that step it is important that no air gets in-between glass and photo.

Finally an aluminum panel or board is attached on the backside to protect the photography, as well as a mounting strip is fixed on the back side.

J-Photography has currently selected the “Brazil 1972” Series for Diasec printing. We believe that the colorful photos taken with Manfried’s Rolleiflex combined with the Diasec process will make for a great piece of art on everybody’s wall.

Let us know if you are interested in knowing more about our work.

19/12/2011

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

07/12/2011

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