N E W S L E T T E R

Picture Series

Volker Crone
About the End of Darkness

A testing field for the IGB (Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries) at the Westhavelland nature park. The twelve lanterns are being used to test the ecological effects of ordinary street lighting.
Sterile apple plants at a genetic engineering laboratory.
A cross at the summit of a mountain.
An ILES (Illuminating Lake Ecosystems) experiment carried out by the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries. In the middle of Lake Stechlin, the effects of skyglow from small and large cities on the ecosystem of inland waters is being tested in these cylindrical mesocosms.
The lead scientist of Synlight (artificial sunlight) at the research facility.
The picture of the daytime, shown on an LED advertising board.
A metropolis by night.
A livestock farm. The red light calms the animals at night.
A passenger plane landing.
Phototherapy in the neonatal intensive care unit. The blue light degrades bilirubin, making it water-soluble. The liver of a premature child is not capable of this. Bilirubin is a breakdown product of haemoglobin; undissolved, it accumulates first in the skin, then in the eyes and eventually the brain, where it can cause life-threatening damage.
The spectroscope at the Thuringian State Observatory in Tautenburg. In the quest for exoplanets, this spectroscope transforms the light of foreign suns into usable information. The observatory is one of the last in Germany that can take active part in this research. It is located in a dark sky park.
A large city from a distance. The cloud is the smoke from a power plant.
The starry sky, outshone by the glow of an illuminated advertising board.
A large discotheque.
33.6 grammes of tungsten. This is the element that made electric light possible for mass use.

On the night of 17 January 1994, the power went out after an earthquake in the megalopolis of Los Angeles. Shortly thereafter, the city’s emergency call centres received many calls. The callers reported that they had seen huge, extraordinary silvery clouds in the night sky. The sudden darkness and complete absence of electric light had made the Milky Way visible. The invention of gas lamps and, later, electric lighting allowed artificial illumination to penetrate all areas of life. Since then, society has increasingly moved away from natural circadian rhythms. As always, night stands for the evil and the hidden. In contrast, light symbolises awareness, protection and knowledge. The night sky is constantly dimmed by light emissions; a clear view of the sky is not possible. With this photoessay, Volker Crone questions the constant availability of light.

  • Artificiality
  • Optimisation
  • Science
3 Questions
1. The door opener: Can you describe a formative moment in your career as a visual journalist?

One defining moment I particularly cherish as a photographer is the moment of recognition. There is one nearly every time. You learn a bit more, or learn something completely new about the thing you’re working on, about the people you’re working with or about yourself. Sometimes you learn that certain things don’t look or happen in any way you had anticipated. That is the exciting moment when you have to leave your set list behind so you can respond to what is actually happening.

2. The decisive moment: When did you first encounter your topic and why did you decide to cover it photographically?

For a long time, I’ve been interested in how artificial light changes the mood and character of our living spaces both overnight and as a general rule. But I didn’t start working on it until I had understood the ecological and social relevance of the subject. The camera is the most suitable tool, for me and for this topic, as taking photos is nothing more than recording light.

3. The future: What could the visual journalism of the future be like?

I would like the visual journalism of the future to be ethically enlightened, responsible, moral and critical (even of itself). It should be steered much less by economic considerations. The boundaries of photographic narratability and the pictorial worlds created by visual journalism should constantly be re-examined. The photographs produced in this way will then look the way the photographer thinks they should look.

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The section from the video shows the photographer during an examination in a sleep laboratory.

The photographer Volker Crone explains his motivation for doing an examination in the sleep laboratory for his work.

The data sheet shows the scientific results of Volker Crone’s sleep.

Curated by Jan Nasemann

© for all photos by the photographers
© for videos Lumix Festival Hanover, if not indicated otherwise.

*1988 in Papenburg, Germany
After working as a postman, night porter and assembly-line worker, and breaking off his study of Philosophy, Volker Crone studied Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts. His conceptual, documentary-photographic work won both the Newcomer Award at the Photo Festival Horizonte Zingst and the BFF Promotional Award in 2018. In 2019, Crone was awarded the Acatech PUNKT Prize for technique photography.

www.volkercrone.de
@volcro

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