normal magazin nummer18 sommer

Für das Mercedes Magazin Inter- national machte Daniel Infanger atemberaubende Aufnahmen. Daniel captured breathtaking images for the international Mercedes-Benz Magazine. Den Sänger Stephan Eicher hat Daniel Infanger regel- mässig vor der Linse. Hier für das Cover der CD «Hotel* S». Singer Stephan Eicher is often in front of Daniel’s lens – here for the cover of his album Hotel*S.

Inspired by famous Engelberg photographer Herbert Matter, Daniel Infanger left the village for the big city 25 years ago to learn the art of photography. His work now takes him all over the world, but he is always happy to return to his roots. The door to Room 310 opens. Out steps Engelberg mountain guide Remo Ba ltermia, a white, f luf f y bath towel wrapped around his waist. The corridor is f u ll of cameras, tracks and props. We’re on the set of a promotiona l f ilm shoot for the Hotel Bellevue-Terminus

nised Daniel ’s potentia l and was soon a llow- ing him to thread the f ilm reels and rewind them af terwards – manua lly, of course. Daniel spent the rest of his f ree time experiment- ing in his f riend Ruti ’s makeshif t darkroom at Café Pöstli. Af ter at tending business school, working a few seasons as a ski instruc tor, and travelling ex tensively, Daniel had built up a f u ll por tfolio and applied to work with a Basel-based photographer, who took him on as an assistant. He spent four years learning his craf t and per fec ting his eye for catching the “per fec t ” shot. Then he won f irst prize in a photog- raphy competition held in Geneva on the theme “Swit- zerland and its traditions” and used the prize money to buy the basic equipment he needed to set himself up independently. His work as a photographer and f ilm- maker today varies greatly and includes ad campaigns, images of nature, and human subjec ts. One job for an insurance company took him to Dubai to photograph Roger Federer. With various colleagues, Daniel has twice won the “Most Beautif u l Swiss Books” prize. His images in the illustrated book Engelberg por tray the tourist destination in a new light, while those in 2-Tak t document the moped cu lture of the 70s and 80s. He describes his style as minima list and ca lm, so I imagine he must have enjoyed of f-peak season in Engel- berg as a child. Hotels were a lready an objec t of fascination for young Daniel; he says he used to sneak into locked hotels with f riends and snoop around. Herber t Mat ter’s “Venez en Suisse”poster – which inspired his career and which used to hang on his wa ll when he was a child, between AC/DC and Kim Wilde – still occupies pride of place in his studio.

in Engelberg. With a fellow f ilmmaker f rom Hamburg, Daniel Infanger is hard at work translating his ideas into evocative images. When it comes to f inding loca l models, Daniel has a home

Daniel Infanger was in- spired by Engelberg photog- rapher Herbert Matter.

advantage: the people here know him. He was the f irst drummer in loca l band Jolly and the Fly trap, which still plays to enthusiastic fans across Switzerland today – a lthough no longer with Daniel. It was back in his “Jolly” days that he met Swiss singer Stephan Eicher, whom he f irst photographed in the Kursaa l in 1991 dur- ing the recording of Stephan’s a lbum Engel- berg. The two men became f riends and Daniel is now the photographer of choice for Stephan’s live shows and many of his CD cover images – including for the a lbum Hotel*S, an homage to former Engelberg hotel Hess. It was just opposite the Kursaa l that Daniel ’s passion for mov ing images was born. His mother Rita owned a laundret te in the same building as Engelberg’s cinema. Dan- iel wou ld of ten sneak through the back door and spend the af ternoon watching Spaghet ti Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or Once Upon a Time in the West. The cinema owner, known loca lly as “Kino-Dölf i ”, recog-

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kultur | arts+culture

kultur | arts+culture