Man is a visual animal. We need to see something in order to understand it. By selecting a brief moment of a scene in time, photography is capable of capturing its visual essence and transferring an idea or emotion to the viewer. The image is then more than the faithful representation of reality. The choices that go into a picture, the reason a picture was taken in the first place, make it more than a mere record. As a consequence, showing your pictures is a very intimate – and slightly intimidating affair. You get to see how I think. You get to see under my mental motor hood.

The name of this photography blog is after a quote by Ansel Adams:

Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.

I have always disliked taking pictures at parties/weddings and the last thing I wish to be is a tourist with a camera. Photography as an art form is the only thing that interests me. This is not to say that the moment worth photographing cannot occur during a social event in which I do not feel the urge to take pictures. But, for me, photography is a selfish and private business. One that I nevertheless want to share.

In my job as professor for molecular microscopy at the University of Göttingen in Germany, daily life centers around the optical and the visual. We try to make things visible and extract quantifiable information from the images (professional homepage to be updated soon). We hope that our scientific work will provide new insights into the molecular workings of cells and that our techniques will contribute to microscopic diagnosis. But that is an all-together different chapter. However, the microscope and the specimens hardly allow the expression of ideas. Selections are (and should be) unbiased, detached, and the representation is more like visual book-keeping.

Maybe this is why I need my pictures. For balance.

I hope you like them as well.

All pictures on my site are original and copyrighted. Should you wish to have some of the images on your wall, I am happy to sell them and send you a high-quality and full resolution print (sans watermark). Just send me an email: info@fredsilvester.com.

Göttingen, June 14th, 2016

Fred S. Wouters