Photographs of Residents of a Small German Farming Village

It is not just about a good composition in the formal aspects, it is more about the inner strength of the photographed person. The person I’m taking photographs of is more important than me as the photographer. This is the secret.—Albrecht Tübke

That German photographer Albrecht Tübke was born to a family of accomplished painters is evident not only in the incredible way he handles color and texture in his portraits and landscapes, but in the way he captures the essence of his subjects. He seems able to bend light with the same flexibility that a painter sweeps paint across a canvas. Born in Leipzig, Germany, Tübke lived for 10 years in a small agricultural hamlet in the northeastern part of the country. After leaving the area, he found himself homesick for the denizens of Dalliendorf, and returned on a mission to photograph his former neighbors. The resulting series immortalizes them both in his memory and in print, serving as his way to say goodbye to his childhood village and the characters who inhabit it.

This post was contributed by writer and photographer Melissa Breyer.

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