Q'orianka Kilcher - german world magazine

All Photography by (c) Lukas Schwarzacher
What a Rolleiflex
can lead to
From the front lines of war
to fine art photography
The first camera the Viennese photographer Lukas Schwarzacher
ever laid hands on was his grandfather’s Rolleiflex, which he
discovered in the attic of his family’s summer home on the
Danube River. He turned 16 that year.
Following graduation from the University of Vienna
with a Master’s degree in Chinese studies, Schwarzacher
began his career in East Asia, first in Taipei, then
Hong Kong and Tokyo. He soon found himself witness
to the rapidly changing world of 20th-century Asia as
he traveled through China, Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam,
and many other Asian countries. His assignments as
a correspondent for German-language newspapers
such as Die Presse, Frankfurter Rundschau, and Die
Zeit were as diverse as the environments in which he
was working.
“Photography is communication,” Schwarzacher
explained in an interview with GERMAN WORLD at
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his residence in Topanga Canyon, where he lives with his wife and
several rescued German Shepherd dogs. “The key lies in underscoring
tone and mood, and in so doing, to create a resonance
between subject and object.” His photography has been exhibited in
galleries in Tokyo and his native Vienna. “I like to think that my roots
have provided me with a European perspective, while my years in
Asia have imbued my work with a certain sensibility,” he says.
Today, Schwarzacher, who speaks German, English, French,
Chinese and Japanese fluently, describes his photography as
“combining the eye of the journalist with the studio technique.” After
some 25 years of experience as a hardened photojournalist on the
front lines of war, politics and society in Asia, he shifted his focus a
decade ago to fine art images and portraits in order to explore new
stylistic elements. Drawn by the light, Schwarzacher relocated to Los
Angeles in 2008 and started his business
1stDistrict/LA — named after the famous first district
in Vienna where all the leading galleries are located.
“LA is a beguiling city,” he explains, “a metropolis
with many hidden faces.”
In addition to his distinctive portraiture and event
coverage, Lukas Schwarzacher is currently working
on a series of images for a local gallery exhibit in
2011. Themed “Los Angeles & the New Middle
Age,” he aims at showing the “vibrancy of middleaged
Angelenos of today.”
“Photography is communication...”
Summer 2010 www.german-world.com 29