»Form follows feminine.«

Oscar Niemeyer

Blog Lens

Behrens, Bricks and Copyrights

Interview with photographer KP Hoppe

  • uncube issue no. 35: “Bricks” cover image. Technical Administration building interior, Hoechst AG, Frankfurt, Germany, 1924, designed by Peter Behrens. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 1 / 18  uncube issue no. 35: “Bricks” cover image. Technical Administration building interior, Hoechst AG, Frankfurt, Germany, 1924, designed by Peter Behrens. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Main entrance hall detail. The whole office building is an expressionist hymn to brick and the bricklayer’s craft. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 2 / 18  Main entrance hall detail. The whole office building is an expressionist hymn to brick and the bricklayer’s craft. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Main entrance hall detail, shot from below. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 3 / 18  Main entrance hall detail, shot from below. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Main entrance hall shot from one of the upper floors. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 4 / 18  Main entrance hall shot from one of the upper floors. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Front door detail. Since 1998 the building has been the HQ of Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG and is not open to the public. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 5 / 18  Front door detail. Since 1998 the building has been the HQ of Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG and is not open to the public. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Main entrance hall shot from the top floor. Extensive restoration was completed in 2007. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 6 / 18  Main entrance hall shot from the top floor. Extensive restoration was completed in 2007. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • One of the stained glass windows with De Stijl references. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 7 / 18  One of the stained glass windows with De Stijl references. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Ceiling light. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 8 / 18  Ceiling light. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Sculpture of a worker. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 9 / 18  Sculpture of a worker. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • The exhibition hall. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 10 / 18  The exhibition hall. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • All the details were specially designed and handcrafted. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 11 / 18  All the details were specially designed and handcrafted. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • The original paternoster lifts. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 12 / 18  The original paternoster lifts. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Staircase handrail detail. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 13 / 18  Staircase handrail detail. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Glass ceiling. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 14 / 18  Glass ceiling. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Main staircase detail. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 15 / 18  Main staircase detail. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Interior door detail. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 16 / 18  Interior door detail. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Looking down the main staircase. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 17 / 18  Looking down the main staircase. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)
  • The first floor lecture hall was rebuilt in the 1950s after wartime bomb damage. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG) 18 / 18  The first floor lecture hall was rebuilt in the 1950s after wartime bomb damage. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)

KP Hoppe, who shot and allowed us to use the amazing cover image of Peter Behrens’ 1924 Hoechst building in Frankfurt for our current Bricks issue, has worked as a photographer in the city since 1989. uncube’s Sara Faezypour spoke to him about capturing the moment and the pressing issues of copyright regulations now threatening the livelihoods of many of his profession across Europe.

Let’s start at the beginning: could you tell us a little bit about your background? How did you become interested in photography?

My desire to be a photographer struck me like a thunderbolt when at the age of 14, when I held my own photos in my hands for the first time and realised that the feeling one gets at the moment of pressing the shutter is one that can be preserved.

As a professional photographer you’re familiar with different subjects. Architecture is known to be a reliable subject due to its static nature. How different is it taking photos of buildings from, say, shooting portraits?

At first glance, these two types of subjects would seem to be very different, but if you look closer, there are a great number of similarities. Photography is about fixing the moment. With portraits these are often very brief moments in which something reveals itself that I am then able to convert into timelessness with the camera. This sometimes applies to architecture photography too – under certain lighting conditions. But more often it is just the opposite: the appearance of a building changes with the path of the sun and that can take time, as everyone knows. Then it is a matter of waiting for a moment that might take hours to happen.

Both situations affect the way I shoot pictures, but to be honest I don’t know in the end whether my goal is to capture the essence of the person, thing, or building I am photographing or whether the impression that I am capturing is merely a mirror of my own position and projections.

Can you tell us what drew you particularly towards photographing the Hoechst AG Technical Administration building pictured here and on the cover of our latest issue?

I was delighted to get the commission for this job and found it both an honour and a challenge to be the one chosen to shoot these images of a building that had, for such a long time, so rarely been seen by the public.

The first floor lecture hall was rebuilt in the 1950s after wartime bomb damage. (Photo: Klaus Peter Hoppe, © Infraserv Höchst GmbH & Co. KG)

You are familiar with photography regulations within Europe when it comes to public spaces, buildings and ownership rights. Can you explain these regulations and how it affects your work as a photographer?

It is a complex topic and I myself am torn between wanting to protect my work and allowing it to be shared by others. It is no different for architects and designers. At the moment in Germany there is the law of so-called “Panoramafreiheit” (panorama freedom). This means that all images taken from public space without the use of tools like ladders are allowed and can be exploited. Be careful however, even taking photos from the first floor of a neighbouring building for example, is no longer covered by this rule. The whole topic is very much under discussion at the moment since the panorama freedom rule is now at risk as part of the harmonising of EU regulations. [And could potentially have far-reaching consequences: see the current Wikipedia campaign, eds.]

Nevertheless, we do have to ask ourselves how cultural development can take place without reference to what has gone before; when images of everything man-made becomes impeded from further use or this use is transformed by copyright regulations. The first effects are already visible: street photographs like those of Henri Cartier-Bresson taken between 1930 and 1950 are now practically impossible under the current terms defining privacy rights. Yet everyone posts images on their social networks and thereby transfers extensive rights to these directly to the US corporations that run them.

I believe we have to completely rethink the whole of copyright law in such a way that it does not inhibit progress, yet still allows the copyright holder to earn a living from his or her work. Copyrights should serve the creators – not industry.

So if the new proposal by the European Parliament to restrict panorama freedom goes through how do you think this will change architecture photography as we know it?

It will enormously restrict the work of creative people earning a living from film and photography and threaten their livelihoods.

– Interview by Sara Faezypour

Klaus Peter Hoppe (*1964) is a commercial photographer based in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. His work includes advertising, portraits, still-life and machine and architecture photography.
kphoppe.com

RECENT POSTS

more

Recent Magazines

25 Apr 2016

Magazine No. 43
Athens

  • essay

    From the Bottom and the Top

    Powering Athens through collectivity and informal initiatives by Cristina Ampatzidou

  • photo essay

    Nowhere Now Here

    A photo essay by Yiorgis Yerolymbos

  • Essay

    Back to the Garden

    Athens and opportunities for new urban strategies by Aristide Antonas

  • Interview

    Point Supreme

    An interview by Ellie Stathaki

>

03 Mar 2016

Magazine No. 42
Walk the Line

  • Essay

    The Line Connects

    An essay on drawing and architectural education by Wes Jones

  • Essay

    Drawing Attention

    Phineas Harper sketches out new narrative paths with pencil power

  • Essay

    Gotham

    Elvia Wilk on a city of shadows as architectural fiction

  • Interview

    The (Not So) Fine Line

    A conversation thread between Sophie Lovell and architecture cartoonist Klaus

>

28 Jan 2016

Magazine No. 41
Zvi Hecker

  • essay

    Space Packers

    Zvi Hecker’s career-defining partnership with Eldar Sharon and Alfred Neumann by Rafi Segal

  • Interview

    Essentially I am a Medieval Architect

    An interview with Zvi Hecker by Vladimir Belogolovsky

  • viewpoint

    The Technion Affair

    Breaking and entering in the name of architectural integrity by Zvi Hecker

  • Photo Essay

    Revisiting Yesterday’s Future

    A photo essay by Gili Merin

>

17 Dec 2015

Magazine No. 40
Iceland

  • Viewpoint

    Wish You Were Here

    Arna Mathiesen asks: Refinancing Iceland with tourism – but at what cost?

  • Photo Essay

    Spaces Create Bodies, Bodies Create Space

    An essay by Ólafur Elíasson

  • Focus

    Icelandic Domestic

    Focus on post-independence houses by George Kafka

  • Essay

    The Harp That Sang

    The saga of Reykjavík's Concert Hall by Sophie Lovell & Fiona Shipwright

>

more

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST Close

Uncube is brandnew and wants to look good.
For best performance please update your browser.
Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer 10 (or higher), Safari, Chrome, Opera

×