Rainer Schlegelmilch

passion for cars in the lens

[eltdf_dropcaps type=”normal” color=”” background_color=””]R[/eltdf_dropcaps]ainer Schlegelmilch is a living legend in racing car photography. Between the years 1962 and 1973, he covered nearly all European Formula 1 Grand Prix and endurance races, particularly the 24 Hours of Le Mans or the Targa Florio.

55 ANS DE CARRIÈRE, 15’000 clichés monochromes et 600’000 en couleur, dont 30’000 consacrés au seul Michael Schumacher. Les chiffres de la collection de Rainer Schlegelmilch donnent le tournis. C’est en 1962 que la passion l’amène à sa fabuleuse carrière. Cette année-là, pour examen final de l’École nationale de Photographie de Munich, il tire une série de portraits lors des 1’000 kilomètres du Nürburgring. Il ne quittera plus le monde automobile et ouvrira son propre studio quelques mois plus tard.

The peculiarity of his work lies in his constant search for a link between man and mechanics. This is how we find glamorous, funny, curious or intimate images. He also “invented” the zoom shot, a technique he used to only take a full-face shot of riders’ helmets as they passed the finish line during the practices.

The exhibition of photos taken mainly in the 60’s is an immersion in a world of technology and driving artists who still make admirers dream of driving “with the guts”, when risks were much higher than nowadays. Schlegelmilch retraces highlights in unpublished, often moving photos. Back then, the riders were undoubtedly more chivalrous than they are today. There were more feelings expressed in a less formal way, as well as mutual aid and solidarity between these knights of the wheel. These heroes were also more accessible to ordinary people, and in particular photographers. Many of them became friends with Rainer Schlegelmilch.

RECOGNIZED BY HIS PEERS AND ENGINEERS

Rainer Schlegelmilch, in his constant search for originality, started from 1975 always at one practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix, standing on the same place and photographing all cars the same angle from above. A technique that made it possible to see the evolution of car modifications over the years and that has benefited many racing engineers to study driving dynamics, at a time when telemetry obviously did not exist. Experts have also renamed the curve where the photographer was stationed “Curve Schlegelmilch”.

The industry has also embraced Schlegelmilch’s work. In 2017, Rainer was fortunate that the world’s biggest motorsport picture archive “Motorsport Images” offered him to take care of his lifework and to provide thousands of new scans and tagging in publications for the international motorsport family. Companies like Philip Morris, Mobil, Champion, Shell and Red Bull used pictures of the German photographer to promote their products. German photographer to promote their products. And of course, several car brands, including Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Ferrari, took photos from the collection and edited calendars. Schlegelmilch a lui-même publié un calendrier perpétuel à l’occasion du 10e anniversaire de la mort d’Ayrton Senna. A series of spectacular and poignant photos in tribute to the immense Brazilian pilot.

Schlegelmilch himself published a perpetual calendar to mark the 10th anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s death.

Le public n’est pas oublié. Des tirages géants de quelques photos sont actuellement exposés à l’espace Pre Owned Watches de Bucherer à Genève. Ils seront ensuite déplacés, toujours chez Bucherer, à Zürich. Ralph Jahns est l’initiatieur et l’organisateur de l’exposition.