As an engineer, I was responsible for digitization projects in my main job. Photography has accompanied me since my youth.
Photographic path
My photographic journey began with a Praktica SLR camera with interchangeable lenses, which was sold in West Germany under the name Porst – a piece of technology that I still own today.
Many experiences followed: Working in a black and white lab, color negative and slide film, some Polaroid – and finally the switch to digital photography when the first cameras were really convincing.
Gaze and posture
For many years, my main job was as an engineer for digitization projects.
The eye for structures, precision and design that I honed there can also be found in my photography: in symmetries, lines, repetitions, technical details – but also in my interest in how places, things and moments affect us.
Today I have the freedom to concentrate more on what has always fascinated me photographically: Moments, impressions and moods.
I take targeted photographs when light, situation and inner attention come together. I am interested in pictures that create little stories – sometimes clear and reduced, sometimes emotional and spontaneous.
In addition to landscapes, architecture and special places, I also photograph people. I am particularly fond of the quiet, concentrated moments of my grandchildren when they are completely absorbed in their play – unposed, alive and already gone in the next moment.
Capturing the moment – and being able to see the result immediately on the display – always remains a source of fascination.
– Manfred Hohlweg
One camera with two stories
The Porst reflex CX-4 is based on a Praktica camera and was manufactured by VEB Pentacon in the GDR for Foto Porst in West Germany.
For me, it is first and foremost a personal camera. My first SLR camera. For decades, it accompanied me on youth camps, trips, family moments and later also on professional assignments.
As a teenager, I was initially only allowed to borrow them – together with interchangeable lenses for 35 mm, 50 mm and 135 mm. Pocket money was tight, film and photographic material were expensive. Later, my older brother must have noticed how much I enjoyed photography. I was allowed to keep the camera.
I used it to take early black and white photos, slides and many pictures that are irretrievable today. I particularly liked using the Agfa CT18, which was popular with amateurs back then.
Sometimes this camera is still with me today.
One example of this is the article Early summer in the morning.
Technology, memory and origin
But this camera is not just a memento for me.
It also points to a political and historical reality that was barely visible for a long time: cameras from the GDR were coveted products in the West. At the same time, the history of VEB Pentacon also included prison labor in the GDR.
Historian Steffen Alisch describes in the Deutschland Archiv of the Federal Agency for Civic Education that VEB Pentacon Dresden ran a production facility on the grounds of the Cottbus prison between 1964 and 1990. Prisoners who were mainly imprisoned for political reasons worked there on housing parts for Praktica cameras, among other things.
This historical classification does not change my personal memory of the camera. But it expands it. An object can be part of one’s own biography – and at the same time part of a larger, even burdened history.
That’s why I keep this camera not only as a technical object, but also as an opportunity to take a closer look at its origin, production and the traces that things carry with them.
You can find out more about the Porst reflex CX-4 and cameras from this period on the website of the German Camera Museum in 91287 Plech, for example.
For historical context, I recommend the article by Steffen Alisch at the Federal Agency for Civic Education: “Zwangsarbeit im Fokus. Prison labor in the state-owned enterprise (VEB) Pentacon Dresden”.
Source: Steffen Alisch, “Zwangsarbeit im Fokus. Die Haftarbeit im Volkseigenen Betrieb (VEB) Pentacon Dresden”, Deutschland Archiv / bpb.de, 16.06.2017. The text is published by bpb under license CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DE.
Contact us
For questions, exchanges or comments, you can reach me at info@photo-hohlweg.com.
Transparency in the use of AI tools
For the work on this website, I occasionally use AI-supported tools such as ChatGPT.
I use it as a supporting tool: for structuring thoughts, for linguistic smoothing and revision, as a sparring partner for ideas, for research, for support with code issues and for checking texts or pages.
I am responsible for the photographic work, themes, image selection, content decisions and published versions. I have checked, edited and am responsible for all content.