Petrus Cornelius Jacobus "Obie" Oberholzer (born 1947) is a South African
photographer
A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographers
As in other ...
.
Oberholzer was born on a small farm outside
Pretoria, South Africa
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...
. He studied
graphic design at
Stellenbosch University
Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...
in the late 1960s, and photography at the Bavarian State Institute of Photography in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, in the early 1970s. He returned to Germany in 1979 for his master's degree in photography.
In between he worked for the Deutsche Condor Film, as a commercial photographer and as a lecturer at the
Natal Technikon. He has published numerous (and popular) coffee table books documenting his exploits through the African interior.
Oberholzer worked as professor of photography in the Fine Art Department of
Rhodes University
Rhodes University is a public research university located in Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the province's oldest ...
. He travels extensively producing quirky pictorial travel books. He works exclusively on
medium format
Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&nbs ...
film and consults for a major film producer. He is a member of the German Photo Agency Bilderberg.
Published works
*''Ariesfontein to Zuurfontein. A Pictorial Journey'' (1988)
*''Southern Circle. Another Pictorial Journey'' (1989)
*''To Hell n Gone'' (1991)
*''Beyond Bagamoyo. A Journey from Cape to Cairo'' (1998)
*''The Hotazel Years'' (2000)
*''Raconteur Road. Shots into Africa'' (2002)
*''The Hotazel Years. 30 Years of Photographing Southern Africa'' (2002)
*''Round the Bend. Travels Around Southern Africa'' (2006)
*''Long Ago Way. In the Footsteps of Alphons Hustinx'' (2008)
*''Limburgs Momento Mori'' (2010)
*''Diesel and Dust'' (2012)
*''Karoo. Long Time Passing'' (2014)
*''Cooking in the photographer's house'' – written by Lynn Oberholzer (2015)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberholzer, Obie
1947 births
Living people
South African photographers