Vancouver, Canada: Seen In A Rear-view Mirror

Soon after coming to Canada from his native Germany, Fred Herzog must have fallen in love with the city of Vancouver. Not only with the mountains, the ocean, the beaches, like everybody else. But with the core, the city itself. Starting early in the 1950s, he took literally thousands of color slides in Canada's Pacific Coast hub.
With a good photographic eye, technical skill and his warm, appreciative perception, Herzog created a unique record of the changes in Vancouver´s appearance and character. Largely unnoticed and unpublished for decades, he seems to have had no problems to tenaciously pursue his own goal. A crucial choice early on ensured that we today are able to appreciate these photographs: Herzog persistently used Kodachrome film as his material, already at that time ascribed to possess outstanding color fidelity and archival stability. Herzog's Kodachrome slides were dormant for years and decades, when finally the evolution of digital scanning and printing gave him new chances to produce exhibitable pictures. Had he used other film brands and processing types, he would likely have been faced with badly degraded and faded colors. Herzog's foresight is one factor behind these images' power to convey the vibrancy of bygone days.

Recent years brought Herzog well deserved attention through exhibitions, publications and awards.

Still active in his 80s, Herzog continues his work...digitally!

Vancouver today

Herzog's street photography brings to mind the work of Vivian Meyer in New York and Chicago. You find a little show on her here.