All hotel rooms look the same around the globe. The following are some of the most common hotel rooms. band travels the globe, monotony can set in no matter where the band is touring, be it New York, Tokyo, Berlin or Sydney.
Andy Summers, a 1942-born man, was a member of The Police from 1977 to 1977. The group had just been founded that year by Sting and Stewart Copeland, but it quickly catapulted to fame, with one tour following the next. On the one hand, that was exciting, on the other, it was more of the same over and over again — apart from performing on stage and the fans, there were endless tour buses, airplane cabins and hotel rooms.
Detroit fans in 1982
“I began photographing like a madman”
Summers was a musician whose guitar riffs helped to shape the sounds of The Police. He was also passionate about another passion, which was the violin. photography. Summers mentioned that at that point, “We were a very popular band” and everyone wanted to photograph them.
Andy Summers’ photographs were presented in Wetzlar.
His words were: “I did not know that I had talents.” Ralph Gibson is a friend and fellow guitarist who was passionate about music. photographerHe was advised to get a compact camera. He did so, recalls the nearly 80-year-old. “And so I took to New York’s streets and began photographing like mad.”
Bolivian lake, 2009.
Andy Summers, a relaxed and happy performer told the audience about his beginnings as a photographer and musician. female photographers New Yorker, carrying bags full of lenses and cameras, discussing his passion for cities in Morocco, Japan and China and Bolivia.
Every photo tells a story
Summers’ collection of photos has a wide variety of subject matter. There are street scenes featuring a couple in Buenos Aires dancing the tango, a father holding a baby, a boy on a dive board above a pool and many women sporting tattoos and bare breasts. Summers has taken landscapes and funny pictures, allowing viewers to see the laughs and giggles that are in the background. Summers explained that every photo tells a story during the guided tour.
Stewart Copeland, Cleveland 1982
One exhibition room is reserved for pictures that were taken on tour with The Police, with photos of Summers playing guitar or sitting in a hotel bed. Photos of hotel corridors and a curtain hanging in the hotel rooms, empty bottles, overflowing ashtrays, and a corner filled with them are all featured. The audience, including young ladies and groupies, is represented. The endless scenery seen through the window of the tourbus, Greyhound bus moments and airplane turbines are just a few examples. One photo shows Sting goofing off; another shows Stewart Copeland standing in front of a building in the middle of nowhere.
Bolivian lake, 2009.
Summers photographs capture the energy and excitement of concert-goers as well as the lively cities that are on the tour.
Striking the Limits
His photographs quickly gained a reputation as “cool visual accompaniment to the music”, reflecting an urban surrealist style. Summers observed, “I sometimes photograph things so that it is difficult to determine what I am actually representing.” I push the boundaries of what is possible with a camera. These images often show things in every day life that you would not have noticed otherwise.
List from the 1983 australia tour
The exhibition was named “A Certain Strangeness” Summers was once asked by a Los Angeles woman to identify the location of a secret tattoo. The woman revealed three dollar signs below her lip and guessed that it was in her genital area.
Hidden tattoos
Summers never liked color photography, and so Wetzlar has no color photos. Summers’ photos have a special appeal because of their monochrome optics, the intimate feel of Leica photos and the sense of drama that the sharpness of the grain gives them. A setlist from a Police concert can be photographed, even if the songs are famous.
Street scene in Beijing in 2017
As far as Andy Summers is concerned, photography is just another form of music; both don’t need words. “It doesn’t matter if it’s painting, writing or filmmaking — I always find music in it.”
He said, “There is rhythm everywhere.”
Exhibition “A Certain Strangeness”, featuring over 150 images taken between 1979-2018, is on view at Ernst Leitz Museum in Wetzlar.
The original German version of this article was written by the author..
