Mono in Stereo

Leica World in Wetzlar is starting out the new year with a very special event: starting at 7pm on January 16, Ralph Gibson will talk about his life as a photographer and report on his experiences with the Leica M Monochrom.

Born in L.A. in 1939, Ralph Gibson studied photography in the US Navy and at the San Francisco Art Institute. He worked as an assistant to Dorothea Lange and Robert Frank, and founded Lustrum Press in 1969.

For a long time, Gibson was convinced that digital photography would never measure up to analogue. That all changed when Duncan Meeder, owner of the Leica Store Lisse/Henny Hoogeveen near Amsterdam, visited him in 2013 and made him an offer: a Ralph Gibson Edition of the Leica M Monochrom, a Portfolio, Prints and a book – with pictures taken with the Monochrom.

Gibson accepted the offer and shortly afterwards began photographing with a digital camera for the first time ever. In the ensuing months he produced the Mono series, taken with the M Monochrom in ten different countries – a journey around the world in contrasting black and white.

Taking part in the event is free, but the number of participants is limited. Those interested can register by email at lecture@leica-camera.com.

See also Ralph Gibson's series in the LFI 2/2014