Awarded
Nick Widmer
Various projects in fashion photography
Photography
Awarded
Various projects in fashion photography
Photography
Off-key Fashion Photographed with Ease
How can a photographer be free in his work while at the same time working for others? The photographer Nick Widmer from Zurich no longer has to bend over backwards to get contract work. Instead, he is now able to use his own personal visual language which can also be found in the work he does purely for his own enjoyment. In his preparation of models for fashion shootings, he looks for a suitable pictorial language for the collections of the fashion designers; for example, for the men's collections by Joy Ahoulou. Ahoulou's creations are extremely colourful, the cuts extravagant and the look overall bordering on costumes. To create them, Nick Widmer goes to a gravel pit where he finds a befitting setting that gives space to the collections. Or else he photographs the models in simple apartments devoid of any glamour whatsoever. Or he takes pictures of them in the forest or at non-locations such as pedestrian underpasses. Overall, the photographs have an ease and pleasant 'minor matter feel' about them, and, in a refreshing way, they set themselves apart from the usually very stylish fashion photography. In his non-commissioned works, Nick Widmer explores details, photographs an African sculpture on a chest of drawers, or tussling cats. Other pictures are snapshots of his surroundings: a rock musician in leather pants and his body exposed lies exhausted on the floor; a young man sleeps peacefully, snugly tucked between pillow and duvet. Like the fashion shoots, the photos are agreeably relaxed and come across as authentic. Nick Widmer collects such images and compiles them for exhibitions and publications. A first artist's book 'Volume One' has been released by the photographer's own publishing house. Having completed his photography training at ZHdK, the photographic artist describes his non-commissioned works as 'stories on the border between report and fiction'. He explains that each picture has a special significance for him, as Nick Widmer puts it: it must be credible and beautiful when viewed on its own and always work as a 'consolidation of something actually felt'.
Peter Stohler
Nick Widmer
Born in
1976
Education
Photographer