As a child growing up in Munich toward the end of World War II, Walter Schels was greatly affected by death, having witnessed the casualties of air raids.
“I was afraid of death and coffins my whole life and I avoided seeing any dead bodies, even those of my parents,”
to slate
Language: English
Walter Schels, a passionate portraitist and photographic researcher of the human physiognomy, photographs animals as great portraitists photograph people: with sincerity and a deep desire to capture the very essence of those portrayed.
Preface: Dennis C. Turner
Zürich/New York, Edition Stemmle, 2001
118 pages, 70 fullpage images
Hardcover, 36,5 x 27,5 cm
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With texts by Franz-Joseph van der Grinten and Walter Schels
Fotografenverlag
63 illustrations, 88 pages
Softcover, 22,5 x 28 cm
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Modular Work Catalog Vol. 11
Language: German/English
For several years, photographer Walter Schels and journalist Beate Lakotta accompanied young people who perceive themselves as girls but were born in a boy's body and vice versa. Schels' portraits make the difficult process of becoming one with oneself visible. In interviews, the trans girls and boys talk about self-rejection and self-discovery, solidarity and exclusion, friendship and bullying, experiences with parents, siblings and first love.
Fotografenverlag
91 illustrations, 104 pages
Softcover, 22,5 x 28 cm
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Modular Work Catalog Vol. 14
Language: English
Few experiences are likely to affect us as profoundly as an encounter with death. Yet most deaths occur almost covertly, at one remove from our everyday lives. Death and dying are arguably our last taboos – the topics our society finds most difficult. We certainly fear them more than our ancestors did. Opportunities to learn more about them are rare indeed.
The photographer Walter Schels and the journalist Beate Lakotta spent over a year in hospices in northern Germany. They made portraits of 26 peoloe who were very close to death. All of them agreed to be photographed shortly before and after death. The project articulates the experiences, hopes and fears of the dying, and gives them one more opportunity to be heard.
Fotografenverlag
55 illustrations, 126 pages
Softcover, 22,5 x 28 cm
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Modular Work Catalog Vol. 08
Language: German/English