Wim Wenders

Most of Wim Wenders photography is captured during personal travels and location scouting for upcoming films. The beauty of his work lies in the vast locations that he has visited, which allows him to capture a variety of photographs without us knowing where they are.

I commented on my last post about one of the photographs looking American, and made an instant judgement on Wim being from America, however, he is of German origin and works in Berlin with his photographer wife, Donata Wenders. Although, reading about the monograph the photograph was shown in, the photograph was captured in the American West, which means that the location of Wim Wenders photographs can be guessed my context and knowledge of their culture.

The monograph I have been encouraged to read is 'Written In The West', which was in conjunction with the exhibitions held in Paris, Portugal, Milan, Miami, Stockholm, Kopenhagen, Saint-Yrieix-La-Perche and Freiburg.

In this book, Wim Wenders travelled through the American West in search of locations for the shooting of 'Paris, Texas', whilst he was doing so, he produced a sequence representing the country, a German eye photographing the wonders of the West.

'Photography enables you to grasp a place first time round. In fact, photograph often tends to become impossible in a place you're already familiar with. Going back somewhere seldom accompanies a desire to take photos.... Photography is a means of exploration, it's a vital part of travel, almost as essential as a car or a plane. The photo camera makes arrival in a place possible.'