The following article was reproduced, verbatim, with the express permission of the publisher, Kodak Canada Inc.. Previously featured in Imaging News (Fall 1999), this article was reformatted for the Internet.

An eye for fashion

Hans-Ulrich Lichtenberg follows his instincts

Hans-Ulrich Lichtenberg has been a presence on the Toronto professional photography scene since moving to Canada from his native Switzerland in 1969. During that time he has applied his talents to a wide range of photography, from medical to commercial to fashion. Yet there has always been a common thread running through his work.

When you come right down to it, I suppose you could call me a people photographer," he states. While I have, of course, done some product and architectural work, the bulk of my work has been people, in one form or another.”

Space-age photography

Hans-Ulrich Lichtenberg

“This poster shows the difference anti-reflective coating makes to a spectacle lens, so everything had to be crisp and the subtleties of the lighting and colour reproduced perfectly. Both shots were taken with a Hasselblad with a 150 mm lens. It was shot with Kodak Ektachrome E100S at f/11.5 at 1/125. We used the Kodak Premier system to do a bit of enhancement and position the images and type. The film’s performance was excellent. This poster was blown up to bus shelter size...about 48" x 66" from a 2 1/4 original and the sharpness was superb.”

"When Lichtenberg says, “one form or another”, he is speaking quite literally. His first job in Canada was as a medical photographer for Toronto's renowned Hospital for Sick Children, or Sick Kids, as it is more commonly known. His responsibilities at Sick Kids included photographing the faces of children undergoing reconstructive and other facial surgery. In this capacity, Lichtenberg was part of the development of what, at the time (the early 70s), was a radical photographic application in this area. Working with Hasselblad, Kodak and NASA, the team at Sick Kids developed a process called biostereometrics. "This process used stereoscopic photographs of trauma victims to form the basis of a type of geographical plotting, which, in turn, was used to help create an accurate foam model which the surgeons used as a guide," Lichtenberg explains. “NASA was involved because they had certain relevant experience. They used to photograph the faces of astronauts before and after they went into space.”

This unusual work with its insights into the structure of the face it provided served Lichtenberg well when he eventually opened his own commercial studio, Zoom Professional Photography, in the mid 70s. Zoom’s specialty was shooting people with the emphasis on fashion and beauty-related images.

Lichtenberg soon built up a regular clientele. This included commercial work for clients such as Simpsons, Big Steel, Fairweathers and Nine West. There was also a fair share of editorial fashion work. In fact, between Flare and Chatelaine alone, Lichtenberg’s work has been featured on 28 covers.

His expertise in beauty-related photography eventually brought Lichtenberg to the attention of Hakim Optical. Today, most of Zoom's work is for the 80 plus store optical chain.

”I shot this with a Nikon F3 and a 105mm lens on Kodak E-100VS film. The model was lit entirely by bounce lights. The shot was taken at 1/60 at f/11. This was essentially a film test. The E100VS impressed me with its ability to deliver excellent colours in dull and indirect lighting situations. The shadow detail was amazing. The grain structure is also excellent.”

"Hakim is a firm believer in the power of photography," Lichtenberg states. "They use my images of models wearing their products in their advertising, on posters and billboards, in newspapers and on the 2.5 million flyers they produce every two moths. They also use actual photographic prints in each of their stores."

An instinct for fashion
Much of the work is done in the in-house studio in Toronto’s Yorkville district, although a move to more editorial, on-location approach is underway. Whether in the studio or on-location,

”This was part of a test series for a new campaign for Hakim. The idea was to use black and white images of models with spot coloured glasses. This was taken with a Hasselblad and a 150mm lens. The image was taken with flash sync at 1/125 at f/22. I produced the print myself by hand. The film used was Kodak T400CN. It provides excellent contrast value and is never flat. I haven’t used any other black and white film since this came onto the market.”

Lichtenberg is intimately involved in all aspects, coordinating the clothing, hairstyles, and generally employing what he refers to as his “fashion instinct” in each session. He is even involved in the post photography aspect, for example, art directing the posters.

As busy as this works keeps him, Lichtenberg has a professional life beyond Zoom. He also works with highly respected Hudson Taylor Photography, shooting Toronto's high society. Working as the second and sometimes principal photographer he has produced portraits of local luminaries such as designer Alfred Sung and ballet dancer Karen Kain. In this portraiture, as in his work fo Hakim, Lichtenberg’s fashion instinct comes in handy.

It is an instinct developed by years in the Canadian fashion photography industry - an industry that Hans-Ulrich Lichtenberg believe is sadly under-rated. “I'm convinced that we have some of the best talent in the world here in Canada.” he states. “We have tremendous photographers, stylists, make-up artists and models. Many times I feel that we just don’t give ourselves enough credit.