Not grey: GDR fashion in photographic focus……

Travelling with the camera … also in the creative fashion sector: the photographer Sigrid Schmidt

In 1989 I worked as a freelance photographer. I myself never had any intention of travelling abroad. I never thought about whether I wanted to leave. I actually always had nice work that suited me and my mentality. I took fashion photos, I also did small photo books for the Brockhaus publishing house, scenic things.

I had an assignment for a youth fashion magazine in Leipzig. A fashion designer and a driver came along. There was a little trolley in which the clothes were hung and where the girls could change. We had photographed the first series in the city and then I broke a lens. I ran into this industrial shop in Hainstraße. There was a big photo shop there and they had this lens. They knew me well and I bought it straight away. We then continued working. And I hand in my slides at the publishing house and the colleague calls me and says: “Mrs Schmidt, this time everything is out of focus. Come and see us quickly. We then had to redo the whole booklet. I felt so bad. That had never happened to me before in my life. It was just the photos with the new lens. I sent the lens to Jena for repair. And they honoured the warranty and repaired the lens. I then tested it at my leisure, which I hadn’t been able to do before. There are certain things you have to photograph to check the resolution. The lens was okay. It then became my favourite lens. Then we sent the costs for all the retakes to Carl-Zeiss-Jena. They rejected it, of course. I got a really nasty letter saying that as a professional I should check my setting parameters. And that I was accusing the working class of producing rubbish. The Artists’ Association had a legal advisor and he knew all the artists’ problems. I sent him this correspondence and he sorted it out. We then got our money. But today I know that it’s no different now. You’re pushed into a corner at first…