Andreas Trogisch | MONOVISIONS - Black & White Photography Magazine

MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025

Andreas Trogisch was born in 1959 in Riesa (Germany). He lives and works as graphic designer and photographer in Berlin.

1. How and when did you become interested in photography?

I have been interested in photography “forever” – at least since I began to buying and reading the East German “fotografie” magazine in 1977 or so. In 1982, I began to take photos of my own with a borrowed camera that I shared with my girlfriend of the time. But by the end of that year I had my first own camera.

2. Is there any artist/photographer who inspired your art?

In my last years at high school, at the age of 17 and 18, when I was increasingly interested in music and arts, I was very impressed by surrealism – the kind you can see on Pink Floyd record covers. And then there were certain black-and-white aesthetics – I watched Peter Bogdanovich’s “The Last Picture Show” more than once just because of his landscapes and small towns under a cloudless dark sky that turned light gray towards the horizon. Later there were photographers who reminded me of those feelings: Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank (but of course in reality it was the other way around: these photographers inspired Bogdanovich).

3. Why do you work in black and white rather than colour?

I started in black-and-white; it was the common technology of the time (at least in East Germany). It was cheap and you could do everything by yourself. Black and white to me is by nature more “essential” than color – and it is a step towards abstraction that you get for free. To me there are not many pictures that take advantage of color. Only those that are made because of the color – or that at least use color consciously – can be as strong as black and white.

4. How much preparation do you put into taking a photograph/series of photographs?

I am a collector rather than a hunter. I am totally dependent on light (and, embarrassingly, on temperature) – this is why many of my photographs are taken in sunlight in warm places. But to prove the opposite: many of my pictures are taken in artificial light – night streets, storefronts or construction sites. I try never to lie, which means I never manipulate a scenery by moving something or even changing the lighting. I never, ever touch the things I take photographs of.
As long as I was working on film (until 2005), I had (and still have) a Nikon FE and a Leica M3 (apart from a Mamiya 6×9 rangefinder camera, some Polaroid Land Cameras, and a 5″x7″ large format camera).
In 2006, when I converted to digital, I bought an Epson R-D1, which is for sure not the best camera in the world, but I am very familiar with it – and it allows me to use my old Leica lenses. Meanwhile, I have 2 of them to be on the safe side. For my “Runway” project of high-res shots of structures, I use a Nikon D800E (see next question). I print on an Epson 3880 mostly on Harman Baryta Glossy because it comes pretty close to traditional photo paper.

5. Where is your photography going? What projects would you like to accomplish?

Within the next few weeks my new book will go to print. It is called “Aphasia” and contains 23 pictures. The special edition will have a 3D-cover. You can find more info HERE.
In September I will have an exhibition in Vienna at the Anzenberger Gallery. For the first time I will show large prints of signs, letters and numbers that I shot at the Tempelhof airport in Berlin. These runway markings are “scanned” in single shots and stitched together to show these surfaces in the highest possible resolution even at 4m in height. There will be a very outstanding supplementary book. It shows nothing more than the center line of the runway spread over 44 pages. Although scaled down to half size, this picture is still 14,50m long. You can find more info HERE.

Website: www.andreastrogisch.de

You can order Andreas Trogisch recent book “Replies” here:
Great Britain: http://www.beyondwords.co.uk/p/1979/replies-photographs
Japan: http://www.flotsambooks.com/SHOP/PH01845.html
USA: http://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?catalog=IB533&i=9783941825659&i2=
Germany: http://www.25books.com/25_books_all_detail.php?book=3914&cat=1