Bernard Quade

All my life i have been interested in ways that nature changes people…. And how people change nature, and how it changes people further.
My photographs are like this process – I want to focus on the essential parts – The Nature – and I want the observer to let himself concentrate more on the objects which influence our surroundings, our lives, our thoughts and desires… And in turn be influenced by them.

In my work I want to show opposite desires – A Silence – A Standstill – But also the movement and Tension which we find all around us.
This is the Power of Nature which changes our lives.

To show our desires, to increase these sensations I often change the contrast and colour and take multiple shots of the same subject in different lighting conditions. I can combine these different shots to create often impossible lighting conditions.

Without human form in my work the observer is drawn into more “space”, to enter a new romantic world which creates a silence and tension in the spectator himself. There are no special titles to my work, just a simple description – so the thoughts of the observer are not limited to my words alone. I hope everyone that views my work can find his or her own place in this “new”world – somewhere he wants to be. Where he wants to stay.

I was born in West Germany in 1966, next to the largest open coal mine in the world.
Ever since I was a small boy I have been amazed how this immense project influences and changes not only the entire lives of so many people but also their surroundings, the landscape. In its lifetime the massive digging machines have consumed more than 25 villages.

It was here with this industrial backdrop when I was 14 that I began experimenting with my first photographs – of the mined earth, the equipment which serviced the industry and portraits of the people that lived and worked there.
Being exposed to this environment led to an interest in mechanical engineering and it was this field that I pursued to university, albeit with more of a creative bent, a wish to design ! And so, I finished my diploma with a design of a 30m Placer yacht.

Despite accomplishing my goal I couldn’t shake off the photography bug and all through my studies I used all my spare time to travel Europe, taking photographs of its industry and landscape.

After 2 years working as a boat designer I moved to Haarlem (Netherlands) and enrolled in a school for photography. 3 years later I received my 2nd diploma, this time in photography and worked for many years as a photographer in Amsterdam.