Manuhiri
“My pictures show a selection of legendary athletes as ‘transient visitors’, who are fading into the landscape. This fading symbolizes the temporary nature of our existence, and the loss that happens over time.” Klaus explains.
“My intention is to increase our awareness of our environment. To make us think of the topics and issues surrounding economic sustainability and motivate us all to be more environmentally responsible. A human being’s time on Earth is limited. Compared to the timescales of the rest of the universe, our lives are nothing but a blink of the eye. Yet because of infiltration by humanity, nature and its elements are more threatened than ever before,” he warns.
With image quality a big priority, Klaus has shot the project using large-format equipment by ALPA and Phase One that capture extraordinary detail. He has also visited some truly remarkable locations, such as the sandstone Elbsandstein mountains in Northern Bohemia, Germany. “These landscapes were formed millions of years ago, and will outlive us by the same length of time if we can just take care of them,” he says. “The name of the project, ‘Manuhiri’ means ‘guest’ or ‘visitor’ in the Polynesic language, and that is central to what I’m trying to show in these photographs: planet Earth is our home, but it’s also a place where we should leave nothing but footprints behind.”