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August 29, 2008
Otto Landauer's digital evolution
Life's work of prolific local photographer will be digitized and uploaded onto the Internet.
RYAN NADEL
From black and white to color, that was the first evolution in the medium of Otto Landauer's career as a photographer. But now, his material will evolve into the digital era through an initiative of the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia (JMABC).
Prolific and noteworthy in composition and subject matter, Landauer's work documents a 40-year period in the development of British Columbia. The JMABC, which owns the Otto F. Landauer Photograph Collection, is undertaking a digitization project that will see Landauer's work digitally archived. The project is made possible with a matching $8,500 grant from the B.C. History Digitization Program at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia. More than 5,000 photographs out of 10,000 will be digitized and made available online for public access. This will be the first collection of the JMABC to be available online.
"We decided to digitize Landauer's work because it not only highlights the work of a Jewish photographer but also the history of British Columbia," said Janine Johnston, archivist at JMABC.
Like so many others of his era, Landauer's life was set adrift by the workings of history; in retrospect, the pieces of fate fit together smoothly in his life story, but it is a harrowing tale. The Second World War chased him from his home in Germany to Switzerland then, ultimately, to North America. Landauer, born in 1903 in Munich to a Jewish family, immigrated to North America in 1941. He arrived in Vancouver, via New York City and Portland, in 1947.
Each chapter of this journey brought unique challenges and opportunities. While in Switzerland, Landauer worked as a clothing salesman and eventually enrolled in agriculture school. As the war developed, Landauer futilely tried to immigrate to Canada. In 1938, Albert Landauer, Otto's brother, had moved to Portland. From the time of his arrival, Albert worked desperately to get Otto out of Europe. In June of 1941, with the financial support of his mother's cousin, Otto's immigration visa was approved and he was on his way to Portland.
Laudner's sister, Hansi, had moved to Vancouver in 1939 and had befriended photographer Leonard Frank. Frank, famous for his photographs of British Columbia, had garnered international attention through publication in the New York Times and National Geographic. Frank died in 1944 and his brother, Bernard Frank, was anxious to sell the business. Hansi suggested that Otto buy it. At this point in his life, Otto was aimless, no career, no home, no family. Without any professional experience in photography, he hesitantly agreed to buy the business for $1,500 and enrolled in the Northwest School of Photography. With the purchase, Landauer not only acquired a business but also Frank's stock of photographs.
Like his predecessor Frank, Landauer passionately assumed the mantle of documenting British Columbia's development. With the mind of a businessman and eye of an artist, he built upon Frank's achievements and established himself as a pre-eminent photographer.
An avid mountaineer and lover of nature, Landauer lugged his camera to both industrial and natural locations. The collection features bridges, construction sites, factories and logging camps alongside gracious shots of snow-covered peaks, Stanley Park and sweeping city vistas. He is most famous for the photos documenting the construction of the Second Narrows Bridge and its collapse in mid construction on June 17, 1958. One photograph, pictured here, stands out as it was taken only 20 minutes after the collapse, which is timely even by modern news standards. Even though color photography came of age during his career, Landauer primarily shot in black and white as it was considered superior in artistic terms. Landauer's collection thoroughly captures the province's growth in an artistic and historical fashion. The photos carry both a poetic and raw sentiment.
The collection at the JMABC also consists of many of Leonard Frank's photographs, but they will not be part of the digitization project.
"For this project, we are particularly interested in Otto Landauer's photographs. While Leonard Frank's images appear in archives and special collections all over British Columbia and are very well-known and referenced, Otto Landauer's works have remained relatively obscure," explained Johnston.
The digitization process will entail the scanning of both photographs and negatives. The prints and negatives have been stored by size and format in archival enclosures. In order to develop a workflow and maintain clear procedures for this project, the JMABC will scan the images in order of size. The selection to be digitized in 2008-2009 includes 5,000 8" x 10" photographs and negatives. These larger-sized images can be scanned quickly at a comparatively low resolution," said Johnston. The process is slated to begin in September 2008.
The grant from the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia is part of a $200,000-a-year program aimed at digitizing collections outside of the auspices of the centre. The program came about after the founders of the centre toured British Columbia to understand the needs of the community.
"They heard people saying they wanted more access to more resources through digitization," said Chris Hives, a university archivist at UBC Library. "This program relates to the philosophy of the Barber Learning Centre to give back to the community that expands beyond the UBC campus."
Since the digitization program launched last year, it has been oversubscribed and deemed extremely successful. "People have been very grateful for the money. I can only assume the program will continue in the future, as it is one of the learning centre's most successful programs," said Hives.
The fundamental goal of the digitization project is to increase access through the Internet. However, preservation is also a factor. "These photos will last a long time, but more than half of the collection is acetate negatives and they are already starting to deteriorate. We are taking a long-term perspective and trying to preserve them," said Johnston.
Johnston expects to launch the online database by March 2009 with approximately 3,500 images, and 5,000 images by May 2009. The online presentation will coincide with an exhibit at the museum highlighting Landauer's work and life.
Ryan Nadel is a Vancouver freelance writer and MA candidate in digital media at the Centre for Digital Media.
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