Book of Paul

I first became aware of Paul Ripke in 2009. I was incredibly proud when I won a “honorable mention“ It was about bringing him coffee and Crémant in bed. Or something like that…

A little later I saw him at the friendly match between FC St. Pauli and Celtic Glasgow as part of the 100th anniversary of the club from the heart of the city of Hamburg. I shyly spoke to the big Paul and said, "Aren't you Paul Ripke?" To my surprise, he knew immediately who he was standing in front of. We had a nice chat, he was told about the customs on the sidelines, and then he ignored everything and ran across the grass. Actually a no-go, but if you have the right subject in mind, you have to cross boundaries. A year later, Oliviero Toscani taught his protégés this in the photography casting show "Photo for Life" on ARTE.

I then politely asked for a picture of him and got it. I was also told a little story about the special Nike training jackets, which led to me buying one of the jackets in the Nike store in Hamburg the very next day. That was a good thing, because three days later sales were banned and, according to rumors, 600 of the 1000 jackets originally produced had to be destroyed.

Paul Ripke on the lawn in Millerntor

Paul Ripke in the Millerntor

Why do I warm up the old camels? Paul Ripke has pressed his snapshots from 2012 into a book and he sent me one of his books before the official publication day. Just like that.

Leafing through his book is at least as interesting as looking at Annie Leibovitz's book of family photos. Sometimes inconsequential, sometimes brilliant. Definitely interesting how Paul Ripke tells many different stories with one camera and one lens.

From March 27.3th you can read one of his 400 books Buy directly and only directly from him for a pleasantly small €30. With your purchase you also acquire a ticket, because on June 1.6st. In 2013, his Leica M9 will be raffled off among all book buyers. This is exactly the camera with which all the pictures in the book were taken.

Actually, I can't recommend the book to you at all, because when you see the pictures, then there's one more person on the market who really wants to have this awesome photographer's life. By the way, my favorite picture is Campino, who is currently photographing cats...