Axel Hoedt: Dusk undermines the carnival as cliché: Hoedt's (born 1966) photographs of celebrations in the villages of Austria and Switzerland deliver no debauchery, but instead offer revelers in earnest poses, static against a bright background, juxtaposing classic studio photography, Polaroid snapshots and still-life imagery.
Published by Steidl. Contributions by Heike Geissler.
It is carnival time in south-western Germany, and on the streets of Endingen and Sachsenheim, Kissleg and Singen, Wilfingen and Triberg, the elaborate costumes of the Swabian-Alemannic tradition are broken out for the parades. In this volume, eschewing the clichés and conventions of carnival iconography, the fashion and portrait photographer Axel Hoedt depicts the carnival revelers and their costumes posed in front of bright backgrounds, in a forest or in front of buildings, mingling classic studio shots, Polaroid snapshots and still life images.
Axel Hoedt: Once a Year