Poetry of Coincidence / Poesie des Zufalls - Marco Larousse photo exhibition

Poetry of Coincidence (Poesie des Zufalls in German) is a photo project that I have been working on for more than 10 years.

The ever increasing popularity of smartphones seem to make people less aware of the beauty and special moments that surround them every day. "Reality" is mainly consumed through instagram and facebook feeds that other people throw into their timeline.

In this series I focus on the unposed, spontaneous, and special moments that surround us every day and only last for 1/1000s.

These moments happen purely coincidental and tell a story. To me, they are like a single frame cut out from a film-reel of a Hollywood blockbuster. Not knowing what happened before, or what happened after that single frame, I would like for the viewers to explore the images and make up their own stories to the frames.

The series is exhibited at "erstereihe.hamburg" gallery between November 21st and December 7th, 2019.

Here is a quick video of the preparation for the exhibition:

Preceding the opening of a photo exhibition there is a lot of work involved. Image selection, editing, and printing should be taken care of long before the vernissage. But even when the frames and prints are delivered at the gallery there is still a lot of time involved in the framing and hanging process.

The exhibition started with a vernissage on a Thursday evening and was preceded by coverage from the main local TV station in Hamburg. And despite the rain and cold temperatures at the evening of the vernissage, the gallery was heavily frequented and the exhibition received a lot of positive feedback.

Vernissage opening speech by Marco Larousse - photo credit: Pasa Toskic

Time to enjoy the 30 prints of the exhibition - photo credit: Pasa Toskic

The audience takes time to discover each story behind the prints - photo credit: Pasa Toskic

Art needs to be discussed and enjoyed, too

At the evening of the busy vernissage, not all images could be thoroughly enjoyed and not all questions could be answered by me. Therefore we decided to offer an artist talk on Thursday, November 28th for those who wanted to find out more about the images and the photographer behind them. - photo credit: Pasa Toskic

The exhibition finissage is on December 7th between 15h - 18h.

How a street photography photo is planned and created

In street photography, there is quite a complex creative process going on inside my head before I capture the image. But some people may still think that street photography is all about lucky snapshots.

Admittedly, a bit of luck does play a role in street photography because we rely on interesting subjects that are around in the same place and at the same time where we are. And this coincidental factor has kept me going in street photography for the past 25 years - and it has never been boring for me.

But the most important factors that I would attribute to my best street photos are based on exploring a scene and narrowing down the options of a place and the timing. Once you have reached this clear focus and pre-visualization of your image, you are on your way to capture the decisive moment that tells a story in your images.

My friend Steve Brazill invited me to his “Behind the Shot Podcast” and allowed me to take you along the creation process of one of my most famous street images. I share the decisions that I have made before the shot that lead me to narrow down to the final location, timing, and the story that I saw in front of me.

Please take the time to watch and listen to this inspiring interview.

Streetfotografie made in Germany - Our Award Winning Photo Book

Some time ago, I was contacted by a publisher and asked if I wanted to participate in a photo book project about German street photography.

After thorough discussions with the editor about the scope, structure, direction, and the list of other participating photographers I agreed to be part of this project.

I had been asked to participate in other street photo book projects before but declined due to various reasons. But this book had the focus to show the diversity and creativity of the German street photography scene by showcasing the work of 10 different established street photographers. And each photographer explains his creative and technical thought process that lead to each image in the book.

This makes the book a great inspiration as well as a technical reference for other street photographers who enjoy or want to learn more about this genre of photography.

Due to German privacy laws on the one hand and the freedom of artistic expression on the other hand, the street photography scene in Germany has to balance those two factors by adopting an artistic way of capturing the special moments of everyday life that most people don’t pay attention to and that will have vanished forever after 1/1000s.

I’m honored to not only have participated with various images and respective stories to this book but also that I was asked to write the introduction to this book.

This book is currently published by Rheinwerk Verlag only in Germany and can be ordered on Amazon Germany here: Streetfotografie made in Germany

Streetfotografie made in Germany -Marco Larousse.jpg

Update - December 27, 2018:

Our book “Streetfotografie made in Germany” was awarded a German photo-book award 2018/2019!

Deutscher Fotobuchpreis 2018_2019 Streetfotografie made in Germany.jpg

Hamburg's Streets Unstaged - A Photo Project

At the end of 2016, I've decided to start a street photography project in Hamburg for 2017.

The goal of the project was to document the beauty of the unstaged daily life on Hamburg's streets throughout the year from an artistic and classic street photography point of view. During the project, I've captured more than a thousand photos and walked hundreds of miles on Hamburg's streets.

On December 31th, 2017 I've created a short video with a selection of 4 images from each month of the project that you can watch below.

I'm currently in the process to decide how this project will be shared from here on: Maybe a book, an exhibition, or a fine art print series..?

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

I have been producing photography related podcasts for many years now. And 2017 was the year I teamed up with Scott Bourne and founded PPN - Photo Podcast Network with him. Our mission is to inspire, educate, encourage, and entertain our listeners in the field of photography. We publish different topical photography related shows each month in one single feed. So you can think of PPN.fm as an audio version of a photography magazine.

Our shows cover photograph news, interviews, inspiration, mirrorless photography, photo gear and listener Q&A. The shows have been extremely popular and we have already hit the #1 spot on the iTunes charts in this segment in different countries.

I want to thank all current listeners for their support and would like to invite everyone who is interested in photography and not a listener yet to subscribe to our free PPN podcast channel here:

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ppn-photo-podcast-network/id1225034740

Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL3Bob3RvcG9kY2FzdHMubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M%3D

Or search for "PPN" in your favorite podcatcher app.

You can also visit the PPN Photo Podcast Network website by clicking here.

Train Window Diaries at 1/1000s

On every intercity express train ride that I take, I capture images through the window. While the world flies by at up to 300 km/h (186 mph), very few people even take the time to look at the unique and quickly changing scenery.

On a recent train ride from the north to the center of Germany, I captured this series of images - another set of my "Train Window Diaries at 1/1000s".

At this shutter speed, not only the far but even the close objects are frozen in time and can be recognized - which is almost impossible for the human eye to capture at these speeds.

Take a look at the beauty that is often overlooked by most passengers. The varying scenery, weather conditions and snow levels are a good indicator of the distance traveled and the regional changes that come with it.