Oktoberfest as you haven’t seen it before

A Munich native, Photocircle photographer Franz Sussbauer is not only shooting Bavaria with his camera, but also places as diverse as Laos, South Korea or Finland. Besides photography, his interests are modern art and architecture. For Photocircle, he has captured people, cities and landscapes, and created a series of surreal beauty called „Schlafende Wiesn“ (Sleeping Oktoberfest). On our Photocircle blog, he recalls the journey behind it.

“I shot the series „Schlafende Wiesn“ in 2013. But I already had the idea for it a year beforehand, when I was strolling over the festival area one morning. I instantly had a certain perspective in mind. I knew I’d need a particular lighting, bright, yet not blinding – with no direct sunlight that is. Fog would be ideal, because it sort of creates a giant soft box. Luckily, the likelihood of getting such an atmosphere in autumn is pretty high.

Another element of my idea was that I wanted to shoot the fairground and the rides without any people around. The world’s biggest fun fair – quiet and deserted. That’s why I wanted to take my pictures with a neutral density filter, with which you can extend the exposure time considerably. It even made those people, who were around at this time of the day, disappear.

On the first day of Oktoberfest, it’s completely impossible to take these kinds of pictures, as it’s super busy from the onset. Final preparations are being made, and from 6 o’clock in the morning there are enormous queues in front of the tents – although they only sell beer from 12.

So on the first Sunday of Oktoberfest, I headed out early in the morning for an inspection. The weather was absolutely not what I had hoped for, but I wanted to get a feel for the scenery.

It’s incredible what the “Theresienwiese” looked like that morning. Huge piles of garbage, left-over drunkards and so on – initially, I was frustrated. That wasn’t how I wanted to portray the rides, stalls and tents. My shots were supposed to seem distant, somewhat surreal and inapproachable. The opposite of regular festival business – and I had no use for that dirt and rubbish I saw there. I was really close to simply giving up on the idea altogether.

But then I saw the city’s garbage collection service and road sweepers starting to remove the filth from the area. After the guys were done, only a thin water film was left on the asphalt, slightly mirroring the surroundings – perfect, I thought to myself, this is the perfect timing for me to take my photographs.

Then I had to wait for the right lighting. When it was time, I got these shots.

You can buy Franz Sussbauer’s photo series “Schlafende Wiesn” exclusively from Photocircle. The highlight: with your purchase of pictures from this series, the photographer and Photocircle will help Syrian refugees in Jordan.

The bright colors of these pictures look best behind glossy Acrylic Glass – that way, you can give your favorite works a finishing touch.