| Description:Johannes Fenn discovered his passion for photography when he got to know documentary wedding photography from the US. It is all about reporting that does not start with the bride’s entering the church, but that already begins in the morning with the hairstyling or the dressing or with the groom’s best man helping him with his tie, and often ending with the wedding waltz or at midnight with the cutting of the cake. Last year Johannes Fenn accompanied a couple in Berlin with his camera for 17 hours to capture all the special moments of their wedding and transform these into pictures. His photos often show people and situations on the sidelines that are not in the centre of attention and that might have remained unnoticed without his camera. To capture the immediacy of the moment, Johannes takes part in the wedding day as an observer in the background. His photographic interpretation and his personal visual language create images that are both pieces of art and journalistic documents.The posed wedding portraits are what Johannes Fenn calls „mise-en-scène“, by which he means photos that look like candid photos, natural, lively, spontaneous, happening almost incidentally, secretly and unnoticed. The ideas for the portraits are always developed together with the bridal couple and they are always about the relationship, the communication and the emotions between bride and groom. The pictures vary immensely according to the personality of the couple: sometimes they are natural and romantic, sometimes cool and elegant. Johannes Fenn always prefers the unexpected, the unusual, the contrasting.
His path to photography had already begun in early childhood. His father gave him a reflex camera at the age of 10 and told him to take pictures of rural town festivals. The nights were spent by father and son together in the dark room. His passion for photography developed during biology lessons too. He cleverly caused his teacher to turn the torso of a human body with its innards to reveal the image of a naked woman. At this moment the young student pulled out the waiting camera, and with this picture the fifteen-year-old won the 1st prize and got onto the front page of a student magazine. This experience has impacted his style until today. „Especially at a wedding with its unrepeatable situations the anticipation of the decisive moment is of great importance“, says Johannes Fenn. His work later won numerous international awards. After his studies Fenn worked as a freelance photojournalist for magazines, later as an advertising photographer and partner in an agency.
Feedback of the bridal couples:
“Thank you very much for the professional accompaniment on the best day of our lives! These are amazing and incomparable pictures. We’re totally impressed and we could not have chosen a better photographer! The guests’ feedback was very positive. We’re really glad that you joined us on our great day at Wildbad Rothenburg ob der Tauber – not only because of the pictures, which are extraordinary, but also because you’ve been an important part of our ceremony. You’ve been more than just a photographer, but also very sympathetic.
Our guests have been highly impressed by you and many even asked how we found you in the first place. Thank you again for your really professional work at our wedding, which will be an unforgettable memory thanks to your beautiful pictures. Besides we will especially remember the Trash–the-Dress shooting on the next day. It was simply gigantic! Thank you so much!”
Miriam and Matthias Weber, 2010/02/25
“At first I, Thomas, was very skeptical about a photoshooting. I considered it to be superfluous, even at my wedding. My skepticism actually vanished during the taking of the first pictures. In the end it was so much fun that it could have lasted even longer!
We were infected by Mr. Fenn’s enthusiasm for taking pictures. His ideas and his method to integrate us as active participants, made this time an unforgettable experience. During the photo shooting we felt free and comfortable. Mr. Fenn was open towards our ideas and accepted our personal note. The images perfectly reflect our personalities.”
Manuela and Thomas Gessner, 2009/01/19
“These images are an amazing and timeless memory to us and our relatives. It has been the wedding of our dreams and your pictures were the top of it. The photo session was exiting, overwhelming and funny, but also exhausting during the weeding. We loved the way you did your job: The ambience and positions, just everything. As well, it was fantastic because it was so laid-back and not as formal as usual wedding shots. We couldn’t have found any better photographer. These pictures have excellent quality and everybody’s just blown away.”
Susanne and Wolfgang Schilling, 2009/08/31
“The pictures came out wonderful. Great! We are delighted and thankful for these fancy, funny and especially beautiful shots! This day will stay an everlasting memory!”
Nicola and Hans Rimkus, 2009/08/31
“The procedure of our wedding celebration was probably unusual; we didn’t have a settled beginning and an open end. Because we were constantly welcoming and seeing off guests, there was no time left to take special wedding-portraits and we relinquished it. When we finally saw the pictures by Johannes Fenn, we knew that it was the right decision. His reportage images – especially the ones of us as a wedding couple – were better than every posed portrait could be. We were staggered by the picture’s sensational significance. With his camera Johannes Fenn accompanied our celebration from the beginning until the end on a unique way.
The only posed and typical image was the group photo with all guests. Thereby my guests an I were overwhelmed by how Mr. Fenn arranged all those people and still kept up his humor and his sovereignty. Not one face was covered and everybody’s emotion has been captured perfectly. Furthermore, it was the only shot during the whole celebration where I even recognized Mr. Fenn’s photographing. Apart from that I hardly ever noticed that there was a photographer because Johannes Fenn figured out how to act like a guest among guests. When we saw the pictures, we finally realized how well he had managed to capture the atmosphere and other unique situations. We were stunned. I had to look at them over and over again and in doing so every single moment and the whole celebration came back alive. We married in a rose garden. When I look at these pictures today, I got the impression I could still smell the scent of those roses.”
Angelika Bechter, 2009/10/07 |
