David Köster is a German photographer. He is a specialist in the area of the scenery photograph. The dramatic perspective and the atmospheric light is typical. Particulary is the epic natural scenery. He was distinguished by his prominent work already several times. Moving, tourism, enterprise and agencies belong to his costumers. Since 2015 he offers regular photograph workshops. Besides taking photos he writes articles for outdoor, photograph- and holiday magazines.

I picked some photos of David Köster. They inspired me to take my own interpretation of his photographs. He travels around the world, follows his passion and lives his dream. Iove travelling and taking photos. My favourite motive is the landscape. Every photo has a positive meaning to me. They remind me of my hometown or vacations during the holidays.

What did you learn during the landscape shooting?
It takes a long time to take a good photograph and landscape photography depends on the weather conditions.

Why did you chose your artist and how you connected to their work?
I chose David Köster because he is a German photographer who travels a lot. This is the way I can identify with him. He takes photos of the nicest sceneries of the world
We share the enthusiasm for nature, travelling and scenery.

What was your idea behind your own images?
David Köster is an explorer and travels a lot. I tried to follow his passion and took photos of different places. I would like to show different places. I would like to show different laces and landscapes around the world. To reach the atmospheric light I chose sunrise and sunsets as a motive.

The Arnolfini Portrait , 1434
The portrait probably shows Giovanni Arnolfini a wealthy Italian merchant resident in Brughes, and his wife. The couple I shown in a richly furnished living room; beds were a common feature of such rooms. The mirror of the back wall reflects two figures in a door way. Arnolfini’s hand is raised, perhaps to greet them. The painting is signed on the wall above the mirror, ‘Jan van Eyck was here’. (The painting is Oil on Oak)

Shooting plan?

A shooting plan is used during the shooting process of your image to help communicate the photo process to all members of the crew.

1. Dream up a concept
2. Decide on a location
3. Equipment
4. Model and Actor
5. Plan your timing

The drawing has so many details so that we decided to pick two of them: the oranges and the holding hands. In my opinion they have the most important meaning.

Oranges: In the past Oranges were a rare delicacy and expensive because they were imported from the far south. Typical they added zest of sauces. The fruit symbolizes love and marriage. During this period of time doctors recommended that oranges be carried in order to stave off the plague. The oranges also symbolize innocence and purity. In the painting are four oranges. In Netherlands the oranges stand for wealth because they were uncommon. However, in Italy they symbolize fecundity in marriage. That oranges could also stand for fertility.

Holding hands: In the drawing you can see that the couple is married. If a woman is unmarried she would have her hair down. A sign for the marriage is the woman’s headdress. The right hand of the man is vertically raised, representing his commanding position of authority. Meanwhile, her hand is in a lower horizontal, more submissive pose. The man is holding the woman’s right hand with his left. The marriage is morganatic. With the future daughter-in law, who should be of the same status, one wanted to achieve political, economic or strategic advantages.

Photograh Rankin shoots Rembrandt:
Rankin was born 1966 in Paisley, Great Britain as John Rankin Waddell. His occupation is being a fashion and portrait photographer and director. He is founder of the magazine “Dazed and confused”. He shoots for the TV show “Germanys next Topmodel”. He also shoots different celebrities such as Heidi Klum, Madonna, Kate Moss or Queen Elizabeth II.In 2014
He produced the Rankin shoots Rembrandt show. The challenge was to interpreting Rembrandt’s portraits of old age. To create his own contemporary versions of four Rembrandt portraits, he collaborates with Una Stubbs, Terry Gilliam, Zandra Rhodes and Ken Loach. Rankin adapted Dutch master’s techniques for his camera during the shooting. He captured the vulnerability an vitality of his motifs and showed the effects of time in and open manner that still resonates today. Rankin attemps to take photos that capture the essence of these 17th century images, created by one of the best portrait painters in the world. The Oil Painting was drew in 1434. Probably it is a portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife on oak panel. The Painting has many details and everything has a meaning. The Arnolfinis were a great merchant and banker family. Whether the woman is pregnant is not known. The curvature of her belly speaks for it, but it was quite typical for van Eyck and his contemporary painter colleagues. Currently the painting is hanging in the national gallery in London. The colours of clothes are Marian colours and symbolizes purity and innocence. The woman is probably not a portrait, but an idealisation like a Madonna. The woman lays careful her right hand in those of the man. He lifts his right hand to the blessing or oath. This is the sure sign for the common promise to marry. During the 15th century you didn’t need a priest to marry. The colour order is covering continuously and faithful to detail. The chandelier forms a vertical, concentric line itself by the picture and by the hands of the couple and the dog.
The painting has so many details that we decided to pick two of them: oranges and holding hands. The painting documents a bourgeois rich household – to recognise the valuable mobilar, bull’s eyes, oriental carpets, elegant clothes, fur and the exotic fruits (oranges at the window). The eyes of the woman rest on his upraised right hand. And why does he pass her his left hand, does it hardly, however, touch? As if it concerns a morganatic connection, just “ on the left-hand side” in which the woman from the social state is inferior.