PUBLICATION CENTER

What will be the next big thing in photography? You can get a sense of things to come by following some of the events and exhibits planned for the Photokina: World of Imaging Show Sept. 23 to 28 in Cologne, Germany.

For example, Photokina’s Solution Center for Computer-Generated Imaging (CGI) will demonstrate practical principles and strategies for using “virtual photography”—a combination of processes for achieving photorealistic visualization.

Virtual photography takes conventional image production and processing to whole new levels of complexity by integrating new advances in cameras, lab equipment, image processing, and 3D programs. Originally developed for product design and development, virtual photography makes it possible to visualize abstract content in entirely new forms.It is increasingly being used in advertising communication.

According to officials at Koelnmesse, one of the show’s organizers, “Users of computer-generated imaging don’t think of their work as competing with photography. Instead, they regard it as the opportunity to expand photographic processes and open up new applications.”

Photokina  attendees will see a practical step-by-step demonstration. First, an object will be displayed as a polygon model. Then, the necessary high-dynamic-range image and backplane image will be added from a database during the composing process. Photokina organizers note that this kind of image design will demand new modes of thought and expression and will increasingly redefine what expertise is required for success as a photo designer.

In Photokina’s Impressions XXL Projection Arena, visitors will see why digital-projection is gaining ground as an output medium. The arena, designed in the style of the Coliseum in Rome, will highlight recent advances in digital projection and show the fascinating effects of displaying images on a large scale in glowing, natural colors at the highest possible image resolution. As the show organizers point out, “The emotional effect of good images in enhanced by impressive presentation: The bigger the image is, the more striking it is.”

The 2008 Visual Gallery at Photokina will be the focal point of exhibitions and events “by professionals for professionals.” Headlining this year’s Visual Gallery will be photographs by actor and director Dennis Hopper. Before gaining fame in the 1969 film Easy Rider, Hopper had spent six years photographing the civil-rights movement and creating portraits of artists such as David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claus Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol.

The 2008 Visual Gallery will also include works by photojournalist Thomas Hoepker and from the Cicero Galley for Political Photography, MAPHO (the Museum for Architectural Photography), and the German Association of Freelance Photographers. The history of photography will be celebrated with a display of photographs from the U.S. Civil War. The gallery will display some of the best pictures from the 7,200 original plates still kept in the Library of Congress.