Hallmark Symposium

         The Hallmark Symposium this week was presented by German photographer Joachim Schmid. Joachim was unlike many photographers I have seen because of his method of presenting works. At the opening of the lecture, he stated his fascination with books, saying, "They are democratic, economical, and effectively display information." His love for books was highly reflective of his works, as well.
        Starting his career as a graphic designer, Joachim said that he understands the psyche of simplicity. This was evident once he began to display his works. The majority of his creations included simply faced book covers with few words and no graphics, filled with photographs which correlated to the central theme of the book. An example of a book title and theme would be, "This is Cool". It would be filled with pictures, often taken by others, which were found captioned similarly to the title of the book.  One strange appeal about Joachim was his admittance to not taking most of the photographs which he displays. but that a majority of the images he found while browsing the internet.