The cash prize for the winner of the main category has been raised to 25,000 euros
Leica Camera AG, Wetzlar, invites professional photographers and newcomers to the profession to submit their work for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2015 and has once again raised the value of the cash prize for the winner in the main category. For the first time, the winner will be presented with a cash prize of 25,000 euros and Leica M-System equipment (a camera and lens) valued at an additional 10,000 euros.
The entry forms and terms and conditions of entry are available now at http://ift.tt/KAhpKf. Online applications will be accepted between 15 January and 1 March 2015.
In addition to the main category, there is also a newcomer prize for up-and-coming photographers aged 25 and under. The winner here will be presented with a cash prize of 5,000 euros and a Leica rangefinder camera and lens.
The winners will be chosen in a selection process by an international jury of experts. In their assessment of the entries, the jury members pay particular attention to the photographer’s unerring powers of observation and how they express the relationship between man and the environment in vivid form in a portfolio of up to twelve images. The best entries will be presented online from 1 April 2015. The awards will be presented in the course of the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie photographic festival held in Arles, in the south of France, from 6 to 12 July 2015. A special issue of LFI magazine presenting the winners and finalists and numerous illustrations of their works will be published to accompany the awards.
The Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2015 will also see the presentation of an audience award for a winner determined by voting online at www.i-shot-it.com, the online platform for photographic competitions. Voting begins in April 2015. The winner in this category will receive a cash prize of 2,500 euros. A prize draw for non-cash prizes of Leica compact cameras will also be held for all those who participated in the vote.
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Alfons Alt, the art photographer who lives in France, has designed and constructed a work of art in glass especially for the Leica headquarters in the Leitz Part in Wetzlar. The installation across the three-part window on the northern side of the foyer is a particularly eye-catching work and is a fascinating enrichment to the world of Leica experience.
For his piece entitled Kreiswerk (‘circle factory’), the artist, Alfons Alt, found inspiration in the geometry of objects and Charlie Chaplin’s classic movie Modern Times. As in the most famous scene of the film, his triptych also depicts an interrelationship of circular elements in light and easy form. Alfons Alt employs the energies of simultaneously appearing colours to instill his work with the motion of Chaplin’s cinematic masterpiece – and with this, sets his interplanetary glass bead game in oscillation. His aim – to expand the medium of photography by the addition of matter and open it to ‘the warmth of painting’ (Alfons Alt) – was achieved by the artist in years of experimentation and almost alchemistically complex processes. Alfons Alt worked with the Leica S medium-format system during the creation of his piece for the Leitz Park. His Kreiswerk can be viewed free of charge during the opening hours of the world of Leica experience.
In the world of Leica experience, visitors can discover everything about the past and present of the company and the fascinating process of manufacturing optical products made in Germany. Alongside the milestones in the history of Leica products, constantly changing exhibitions present rare exhibits and collectors’ pieces from the history of the company. A permanent exhibition of Leica Sport Optics products is also on show: 17 pairs of binoculars from various decades provide an overview of the past 100 years of development in the design and construction of binoculars at Leica.
The production areas offer public viewing and are located immediately adjacent to the product and exhibition areas. Three panoramic windows allow visitors to see what goes on in the clean rooms of Leica manufacturing, where lens elements, complete lenses and cameras are made. Individual windows are equipped with interactive touchscreens to provide more information about the processes. Like with a smartphone, visitors can tap on and swipe over the screens to access films, photos and explanations.
A particular highlight of the world of Leica experience is the Leica Galerie, which plays host to regularly changing exhibitions of photography. On the occasion of the 60th birthday of the legendary Leica M rangefinder system the Leica Galerie Wetzlar shows two exhibitions: Magic Moments – 60 Jahre Leica M (‘60 years of the Leica M’) is a selection of top-class photos from the last six decades captured by various Leica photographers. The second exhibition is a project entitled 100 Fotografen – 100 Porträts (‘100 photographers – 100 portraits’), in which the American photographer Claire Yaffa reveals the personalities behind the camera in a series of tenderly composed black-and-white portraits. Both exhibitions will be open until 4 January 2015.
In addition, a unique photo installation, entitled 36 aus 100 (‘36 from 100’) is a further component of the cultural experience. This photographic project shows a total of 36 iconic examples of Leica photography from the past 100 years, each of which played a role in the creation of the Leica legend.
The Leica Store area of the complex, which also has its own integrated photo studio, is open from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and offers visitors an opportunity to find out more about all the latest Leica products and purchase them during their visit. Rest and refreshments are also on hand n the Leitz Park: a day at the Leitz Park can be rounded off in comfort and style with a visit to the restaurant or the coffee house, which has its own patisserie. The coffee house is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m (a breakfast selection is available from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.).
The world of Leica experience in the Leitz Park is open from Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free.
About Alfons Alt
Born in Illertissen in Bavaria in 1962, Alfons Alt has lived in France since 1985. In 1993, he made his home in Marseilles and founded an experimental workshop for alternative photography in the disused Friche Belle de Mai tobacco factory. Since 1988, the career of Alfons Alt has been documented by numerous exhibitions of his work in France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Egypt and Belgium, some of which were accompanied by publications. His works can be found around the world in public galleries and private collections. The winner of the European Publishers Award for Photography has been connected with Leica in a partnership since 2001. For example, in 2012, his exhibition entitled Album in the Leica Galerie Salzburg attracted considerable attention.
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