Fred Mayer (28 January 1933 – 25 November 2021) was a Swiss/German photographer. His works included photographs for several news agencies such as ATP, DPA, ADP,

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

and

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

, as well as various portfolios. He further published several books, many in cooperation with his wife, Ilse Günther.

Private life

In 1956, Mayer married the Keystone-photographer Ilse Günther. She died on 5 October 2021.

Career

Fred Mayer began his career in photography with an internship at Otto Pfeifer's studio. Pfeifer is one of Switzerland's most influential photographers. After his internship, Mayer started to work as an independent correspondent for Swiss magazines such as the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In 1965, his collaboration with Magnum Photos started. For

, Mayer travelled to Indonesia, where he shot a documentation about the former President Sukarno. His other works included pictures of King Hussein of Jordania and portfolios from all around the world, from Vatican to Bali.

Important works and achievements

Mayer and his wife published more than 30 books on a variety of topics. ''Kleinstaat und Weltkirche: Vatikan'' was published in 1979. Mayer later commented on the book by saying that he naively went to the Vatican and asked if he could take pictures. Being allowed to do so, he started to take pictures and later got published by the Swiss Orell Füssli Verlag. He further published books about various countries, the Russian orthodox church, Chakkar Polo, Japanese theatre and the Chinese Opera. In 2011, Mayer published ''Homage to Hermann Hesse and his Siddhartha'', based on the novel '' Siddhartha'' by the German author

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...

. For this photographic essay, Mayer was nominated for the Best of ASMP Award 2011. He further received a Lifetime Award from SBF, the Swiss Professional Photographers and Photo Designers Society.

References

External links

Fred Mayer's website

2011 ASMP Awards, list of nominees
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Fred Swiss photographers 1933 births 2021 deaths