En
FrInaugural visit to Leitz Park, in Wetzlar, Germany
By Gilles Porte, AFC, and Vincent Jeannot, AFC
Leica invited the AFC to attend the inauguration of Leitz-Park in the small town of Wetzlar, nearby Frankfurt. Over a weekend, we hobnobbed with over a thousand guests from all over the world while we discovered an astonishing architectural complex and where we especially learned that the CW Sonderoptic brand was changing its name and would now be known as Leitz Cine Wetzlar, a tribute to Ernst Leitz, who created the Leica camera a century ago.
Impossible not to mention the exceptional visit of the lens manufacturing workshops, with Ulrich Schröder – an employee of Leitz for over 40 years – as our guide. We felt a bit as though we were in a Rolls Royce factory or inside of an ultra-modern operating theatre as, through glass windows, we observed technicians handling lenses with white gloves, masks, cosmonaut-style shoes, and surgical bonnets.
Tommaso Vergallo and Gerhard Baier gave us an extremely warm welcome.
Germans are so good at archiving and showing off history – in this case, a history to which the world of photography owes so much!
Beneath a magnificent print of a still of Mohammed Ali, we met Kees van Oostrum, the president of the ASC, who reminded us how much he appreciated the AFC’s invitation a year ago.
In front of Nelson Mandela, who is looking out from in between the bars of his little prison cell on Robben Island, we discussed with Louis-Philippe Capelle, SBC, who told us that the AFC was more than welcome to become a part of Imago once again.
In front of the face of the little girl burnt by napalm who is running naked towards the photographer, we met Stephen Pizello, the editor-in-chief of the American Cinematographer who was focusing on an imaginary target.
Pensive in front of the portrait of Che Guevara (the most reproduced image in the world), it was impossible not to spend an instant with the very charismatic Ed Lachman, ASC, whose presence magnified the entire event.
Technology can be so beautiful when it is at the service of moments such as these, and in the hands of men and women who know how engaging a simple glance can be.
Members of the AFC present at the inauguration of Leitz Park: Richard Andry, Rémy Chevrin, Patrick Duroux, Vincent Jeannot, Gilles Porte.
(Translated from French by Alexander Baron-Raiffe)
