EN – A photo walk with Thomas Leuthard

The master at work

By Thomas Ludwig
On the first weekend of April I had the chance to meet up with Thomas Leuthard, well known street photographer from Switzerland. Back in February we had a first contact while I was eMailing him to present the Camslingers. Sometimes one word leads to another and so we met up in Zurich for talking about street photography and to have a photo walk with other photo nerds.




I know Thomas photos for quite some years and have to say that I'm one of the greatest fans of his work. I was glad to read on streethunters.net, that he is among the 10 most influential street photographers on the planet. There are so many of his photos that touched me very very deeply. Do you know these photos, that do cause a feeling in your breast area in the same moment you see it for the first time? It's some kind of magic and not to explain by technical analysis of a photo. Thomas is one of these rare guys with a certain talent to create such images. Furthermore he is a super nice guy and it is an absolute joy to spend time with him. The photo walk was also very nice and inspiring as I was chatting with some of the participants. Like Bart from the Netherlands, Marc and Nicolas from Switzerland and so many others. I was chatting so much, that I didn't take much photos...

Photo walk in Zurich

Back in Germany I got an eMail from Thomas. He thanked me for my visit and wrote that he found it inspiring to talk to someone who went into camera bag business, as this market is full and over full of competition. And he mentioned that he hopes that I took along something from my stay in Zurich. Sure I was grateful to meet him and other nice people. But one concrete thing was that he suggested that I should go out shooting with a goal in my mind. For example to shoot just blue color, or just hands, or just circles and so on. It would focus me on the world around and leads to better photos. It's a good advice that I will follow. And then, some days later, I recognized that there was something more that I took along. Something from Thomas personal appearance. He looks like a man from Switzerland, he talks like a man from Switzerland, he seems to be very thoroughly, predictable and well planned like a man from Switzerland. But then comes the surprise: He goes out on the streets, suddenly puts his camera some centimeters away from the face of a stranger and takes a photo. Ups! What's up? It's just unbelievable how he breaks the rules! He does it not like a "robber" or "evildoer", but rather with a certain charm and throughout friendliness – but he does it!

Always good for a surprise – Thomas Leuthard

So maybe the most important thing I took along from this trip to Zurich was the assuredness that sometime one has to break the rules. Of course with charm and friendliness...

Here is a link to an interesting interview with Tomas at Bestmirrorlesscamerareviews

More images here.