Lightyears / Lightjahre

Horst H. Baumann was an artist who used to work with light sculptures. His most iconic work may well be the Laserscape in Kassel (Germany), an artwork erected in 1979 and the first permanent laser sculpture in the world. As a ‘light artist’, it is a very short way to photography. After all, photography is nothing but using the light to catch images and immortalize them.  Add Horst H. Baumanns passion for motorsport to that, and you know what we are talking about. In 1965,  the cooperation between American photographer Ken Purdy and Baumann had a book “The New Matadors” as a result. Even nowadays,  motorsport fans consider “The New Matadors” as a cult book. Consider “Lightyears / Lichtjahre” as the sequel, another photographic masterpiece that reflects the golden era of motorsports as none before.

 

Top racing drivers, legendary cars, and thrills – the 1960s were the golden age of motorsport. Up close: the photographer Horst H. Baumann and his camera. He was one of the first to record the Formula 1 races in colour photos. Full risk. Full of emotion. That was the credo of the celebrated sports photographer. To this day, his vintage photos impress with their breathtaking proximity to the subject and the immediacy of the moment. Baumann not only captured the action of the races. He entered the paddocks to photograph that, what is normally hidden from the normal spectator.

 

 

With his unique photographs, Horst H. Baumann puts racing in a new light. The image he conveys is bright, direct and in full colour. Sometimes he is very close to the subject. Pictures show details of stopwatches, or scoreboards and  cars. Then again, he takes a distance to portray the big picture: pictures from the paddock, the pit stop or the most exciting moment of the race. Sometimes it is only the colourful veil of a racing car racing past – a rush of colour and speed. But all pictures have one thing in common : they breath his combined passion for art, for photography, for motorsport, for beauty. 

 

Motorsports aficionados should not hesitate. “Lightyears / Lichtjahre” is a coffee-table book that brings back the era of back then, when motorsports was dangerous. Times when motorsports was a joy to follow as a specator. Times when stars like the brothers Pedro Rodriguez and Ricardo Rodriguez, Graham Hill and Stirling Moss took the wheel of iconic cars. You’ll have hours and hours of enjoyment flipping the pages of this fantastic book.