Featured Photographer: Gerhardt Coetzee

Photographer Gerhardt Coetzee

Gerhardt Coetzee (1983) was born in Pretoria (South Africa). Since early childhood an interest in line, form and atmosphere has developed into an investigation of life and lifeless matter through photography. Speaking about his own work, he says: “My work deals with the story behind what has been, what has become of it in the present state, and how the cycle will continually perpetuate.”

Gerhardt received his Photography BTech (cum laude) degree at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2009, and is now lecturing photography at the School of Music, Art and Design at NMMU. During his studies he was awarded the NMMU merit award (for best third year student in Visual Arts), was invited to take part in the ABSAL’Atelier exhibition (2009,2010 & 2011) and received an Honorable Mention in the International PIEA photographic competition in 2008. His work has also received two Sony Profoto Gold Awards for his architectural seriesOpen Spaces (Vol.1) and he was selected as an emerging creative at the Design Indaba Expo in 2009. In 2010 his Open Spaces (Vol.2) received two Sony Profoto Silver Awards, and he received a merit award for the Sasol New Signatures with his work now part of the Sasol Permanent collection. In 2011 his work Jesus Saves Rainbow Chickens was selected as one of the 10 finalists in the ABSA L’Atelier competition.

1. Who are your heroes or role models in photography and why do you admire them?

The late Richard Avedon and a more contemporary photographer, Edward Burtynsky. Even thought their styles and subject matters are so different, they both have a humanistic approach and a strong sense of realism in their work.

2. Where does your inspiration come from?

Humankind and their spaces have always fascinated me. Not the empty space per se, but rather the stories they tell about the societies that have created them.

The Railway series. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

3. If you were given the opportunity to photograph something you haven’t done yet, what would it be?

I would love to go to the moon and take some panoramics.

4. What is your favourite subject?

Architectural spaces.

Architectural Spaces. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

5. What camera do you use?

Canon 5D MK ii

6. What are your most preferred lenses?

Canon fixed 50mm f/1.8 and the Canon fixed 20mm f/2.8.

7. What do you pack into your camera bag and can’t do without on assignment?

Canon 5d mk ii and the Canon 40d as my backup. I honestly can’t do a project without my trustworthy fixed 20mm f/2.8.

8. What would you consider a gimmick in photography?

Lomography… pop culture’s photography fab. Have a look at their tagline: “Don’t think, just shoot.”  Over-priced plastic camera with a defective lens. But I must add, at the end of the day it’s  not  about the camera, it’s the monkey behind the lens.

9. Do you think digital photography has given you more creative freedom?

Yes and no. Digitally you can definitely experiment a lot more, but shooting on film sharpens your selection process. Digital photography also seems to open the door to a more intimate and immediate relationship with your subject.

Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

10. Does it bother you that photography is not as specialised as it was a decade ago, and what advice do you have to make your images stand out amongst the millions floating around cyberspace?

It is important to  find your own niche and stick to it.  Not all drawings or paintings can be considered art. The same applies to photography.

11. What assignment was most memorable to you and why?

At the moment… My  Kempton Park Hospital series.  This hospital was abandoned, fully equipped, in 1997. Bureaucratic indecision and tender wars have kept it unused for 14 years, costing South African taxpayers over R800 000 a year to safeguard. The series emphasises the crushing failure of civilisation to evolve beyond the labyrinth of self-interest and highlights what might have been.

Kempton Park Hospital series. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

12. Do you have a favourite image that you have taken?

Yes, a photograph of the unused, fully-equipped theatre in the Kempton Park Hospital series.

13. What is the most important lesson you have learnt in your photography?

Take nothing for granted! But that is true about life in general.

Jesus saves rainbow chickens. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

Presence in Absence series. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

Presence in Absence series. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

The Railway series. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

The Railway series. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

Kempton Park Hospital series. Photograph: Gerhardt Coetzee

You can see more of Gerhardt’s work at: http://www.gerhardtcoetzee.com/