Martin Blume,

[Christopher Nisperos]

My good friend —and dedicated large format photographer— Martin Blume, of Landau, Germany, died suddenly last Tuesday, March 10th, after suffering a cerebral hemmorage after surgery.



Martin loved large format photography, favoring 8x10. He worked in the great tradition of Fine Art photography, and he knew and respected Al Weber, for example. Martin, Al and I (and a host of other good photographers) met up for a conference in Wetzlar, years ago. Martin was well known for his work around the themes of historical sites, especially exploring the very scenes of the horrors of World Wars I and II, all while trying to avoid stereotypical visions we are used to seeing: Auschwitz, Verdun, The Elbe bridge.. and other historical sites such as castles and ruins, which reflected more peaceful images.

You can take a look at his website, while the link is still up:
Dead Link Removed

… and his last book, a fine work published by Hentrich & Hentrich, who specialize in Jewish cultural topics: http://www.hentrichhentrich.de/book-verdun-100-jahre-danach.html

Martin Blume was a human being who was about peace. A beautiful person — a mensch. He courageously dealt with subject matter which is still not always very easy to look at or talk about in Germany. He worked both sides of the French-German border (and in both languages) on his photographic projects, books and photo workshops. In a wonderfully ironic turn of the word "collaboration" (as we normally understand it in the U.S.), one could say that he worked in perfect collaboration with French photographer, Emmanuel Berry, on his last major project, photographing the Verdun battle site. Here is one of his beautiful images of that place of horrible memories:



Always truly restless to express himself, Martin always seemed to be searching for a kind of peace, yet he was a calm and peaceful person. With deep sadness in my heart, I say that I truly hope that he will now rest in the peace he searched for in life.

As he often signed-off to me, I return the same thought to him before the whole world: Much love to you, Martin… my friend. I will miss you terribly.

Chris

:

 

[Bill Burk]

Christopher Nisperos,

I am sorry to hear of the loss of your friend Martin Blume.

Friends like him are rare and precious.

All the best,

Bill Burk

 

[Christopher Nisperos]

Thanks, Bill .. I only hope that you have the same type(s) of friend(s)!

 

[Renato Tonelli]

Christopher - my condolences to you, Martin's family and circle of friends.

I was aware of his photography through his website and was struck by his wide range of subject interest - something I aspire to. I especially appreciate his 'Vestiges' series and photographs of other historical sites.

 

[Christopher Nisperos]

You are right, Renato. I had forgotten to mention that Martin worked on the 'Vestiges' book project with another friend, ULF photographer Doug Busch, from Malibu. If memory serves, the images in the book compared ancient ruins of the American Southwest with those of Europe, from the same time period. Very interesting work.

Thanks for your kind words. I'll let Martin's family know of them, from you and others in Martin's 'other family' of photography colleagues.

 

[Photo Engineer]

Sorry for your loss Chris. Best wishes to his family and to you.

Ron

 

[Christopher Nisperos]

Thanks, Ron, that's kind of you. I'll convey them.

Best,

Chris