"In Love with Photography" – the title of an exhibition opening Thursday, February 5, at 7 p.m. at Freelens Gallery in Hamburg. The gallery presents portraits by photographer and longtime Freelens member Volker Hinz (†October 18, 2019), who spent decades meeting and photographing some of photography's most influential figures – both at formal events and in intimate, private moments. These works offer a direct, often strikingly candid look at the people behind the iconic images, revealing photography in its fullest dimension: as art, craft, and a way of seeing the world.

"In Love with Photography" invites us to see photographic history through an unexpected lens: not the legendary images themselves, but the visionaries who created them. Over decades, Volker Hinz documented some of photography's greatest practitioners – among them Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Peter Beard, Alfred Eisenstaedt, F. C. Gundlach, Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh, Lee Miller, Helmut Newton, Mary Ellen Mark, Irving Penn, Sebastião Salgado, Ruth Bernhard, and Joel-Peter Witkin. What emerges is a powerful series of encounters – captured both in formal settings and unguarded moments. Hinz's portraits transcend celebrity; they reveal character, conviction, and individuality. They're ultimately about intimacy – about what happens when the eye behind the camera becomes the subject.

The exhibited works are drawn from the companion book of the same name, "In Love with Photography". In the foreword, Peter-Matthias Gaede writes: "Over decades, Volker Hinz hasn't pursued comprehensiveness, but resonance: respect, curiosity, and a genuine love of the image. This is the essence of these portraits' singular power – they're focused, intimate, bold, and tender all at once. Hinz removes the masters of his craft from their pedestals and places them among us – not to diminish them, but to bring them closer."

The opening will be introduced by Peter-Matthias Gaede and Henriette Väth-Hinz. The exhibition is realized with generous support from art historian and author Henriette Väth-Hinz.

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