Like ripples on the water

Actually, photographer Chresten Kruchov, from Rudkøbing, does not think that organising the Langeland Photographers’ Autumn Exhibition, which began in 2019, has been particularly difficult.

Of course, it has been a bit like detective work and has required quite a few conversations and the assessment of photographs. But above all, he finds it has been interesting… rewarding… and fun to track down talented photographers on the island.

“My wife, Dorthe Møller, and I bought the house in Rudkøbing in 2002, but didn’t move permanently to Langeland until 2017. By then, I had already set up Galleri Vognporten,” he says of his photo gallery, which, as the name suggests, is located in the former carriage entrance of his home at Jens Winthers Vej 3 in Rudkøbing.

Furthermore, as a part-time resident of Langeland for several years, he had taken part in the Artists’ Open Doors event and had thus made contact with a number of the island’s other visual artists.

“But it struck me as odd that there were so few photographers taking part in ‘Open Doors’. Not least because I’d realised there were actually a great many good photographers on Langeland,” he says.

From that realisation came the idea of bringing together and exhibiting photography.

15 photographers

In the four years he has now been organising the Langeland Photographers’ Autumn Exhibition, he has decided that the maximum number of exhibitors is around 15. Once you’re part of the group, you’re in. But if you’re unable to attend, Chresten Kruchov pulls out his list of even more interested photographers, who are then given the opportunity to take part. In 2022, there were thus a couple of new participants.

“One of the first people I got in touch with was Marianne Skovby Christensen from Rudkøbing. She had actually photographed my wife and me when we got married. My wife was born here on Langeland in Haugbølle and, in addition to her twin brother, has many other relatives living here on the island.”

Marianne Skovby did, however, inform us that she no longer took photographs but had taken up painting. So she referred us to her husband, Leif Christensen, known on Langeland as ‘Foto-Leif’. He was keen to join the newly formed photography group and had suggestions for several others. So did the artist Alfio Bonanno from Rudkøbing, who is best known for his Land Art sculptures but also excels at photography, and who also knew the photographer John Rasmussen from Lindelse. Furthermore, I received help from the painter Keld Nielsen in finding photographers.

And so the word about the photography group spread quickly and effectively, like ripples on water.
 

The very best photograph

Chresten Kruchov himself acts as curator for the Langeland Photographers’ Autumn Exhibition:

“One of the great things about the exhibition is that we never have a theme. My condition for taking part is that the photographer submits the very best photographs. It doesn’t matter if the picture is an older one – as long as it hasn’t been exhibited before”.

“I’ve included some older photos myself,” continues Chresten Kruchov, who, with photo series dating back to the late 1960s, has seen a renewed interest in, amongst other things, old street photos. Viewing street photographs from that era has turned them into works of art that younger people, in particular, find especially interesting.

And Chresten Kruchov has plenty of photographs. Thousands of them – both positives (developed photographs) and negatives – fill his darkroom on the other side of his home’s atrium courtyard.

50-year-old photographs on display

“I started taking photographs at a very early age, but it was for my confirmation that I was given my first really good camera, an Altex NB, which was an East German model from Dresden,” he says, pointing to a couple of photographs in the exhibition that were taken over 50 years ago but still appeal to today’s audience. One shows a girl eating an ice cream – the other, three children from Algeria.

“When I finished school, I began to be able to make a living from my photography. I worked as a photographer’s assistant for various photographers and cinematographers, and I started out by copying their style,” admits Chresten Kruchov, who subsequently found his own visual language and niche.

In his early twenties, he joined the publishing house Munksgaard, producing book covers, photographic illustrations and slide series.

But as the young photographer, by his own account, always had his camera hanging round his neck and his portfolio folder under his arm, containing examples of his photographs, he also secured work with other publishers.

“My mum, of course, thought I should have ‘a proper education’ – ‘something to fall back on’,” adds Chresten Kruchov, who therefore decided to train as a teacher so that he could combine his passion for photography with teaching.

A headteacher with a passion for photography

That was a good strategy. He taught and took photographs. He became fascinated by pedagogy and was able to take photographs for textbooks at the same time. He went on to gain a Master’s degree in Education and became a researcher at the Danish School of Education, later serving as principal, first at Zahle Teacher Training College and subsequently at the Centre for Higher Education – whilst also being involved in educational projects where he could take photographs.

“All my life I have taken photographs as part of my work, but I have also created artistic photographs on the side, some of which have been published in photo books. But when I turned 65 in 2011, I decided to retire and become a full-time photographer. Because if I was to get the most out of it, it was essential that I didn’t do anything else…”

From street photography to nature photography

It’s a decision he hasn’t regretted.

“My heart still lies very much with street photography, but since we moved to Langeland, I’ve also become very taken with nature,” explains Chresten Kruchov, showing examples from the series “The Sky Above Rudkøbing”, which consists of edited photographs of the sky rendered in colour against a black-and-white foreground, as well as the brand-new series ‘Around the Coast of Langeland’, in which, amongst other things, Oehlenschläger’s beech tree at Stengade reflects its crown in the blue waves… though here, too, in black and white.

‘The fact that there are so many painters and photographers on Langeland is undoubtedly because the island has so much to offer. I think interest in photography has grown thanks to the easier access afforded by digital cameras, but also because many people now want to pursue photography more professionally,” says Chresten Kruchov.

The Langeland Photographers’ Autumn Exhibition at Nowhuset takes place every year throughout October and into early November. Opening hours can be found at nowhuset.dk.

Galleri Vognporten at Jens Winthers vej 3 in Rudkøbing is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, as well as “whenever the mood takes me”, as Chresten Kruchov puts it, adding that if the gallery is closed, his telephone number is displayed on the sign, so all you need to do is make an appointment.