Georg Gerster is considered as one of the true masters of Aerial photography and the best way to prove this is to have one look at the series he made for Swissair. This is sheer brilliance and all posters feature a photograph which you must study first to understand. In many subjects there is a form of abstraction , but the reality is it is just a compostion from a photograph taken from high above the subject. He started this way of Photography in 1963 and visited over 100 countries to make his fantastic photographs. He is considered as one of the pioneers in this metier and will be remembered for many “classic’ aerial photographs
Between 1971 and 1996 the swiss master of aerial photography Gerster created 60 poster for swissair, together with graphic designer Emil Schulthess, Hans Frei or Karl Gerstner.
He was born in Winterthur, Switzerland, on April 30th, 1928 and studied classical languages at his local grammar school, before reading German and English at Zurich University, where he also received his doctorate. From 1950 to 1956 he was science editor of the Zurich Weltwoche. Since 1956 he has been a freelance journalist specializing in science reporting and aerial photography. He has undertaken extensive visits to every part of the world, including Antarctica.
By pursuing this line of reasoning, Georg Gerster has turned aerial photography into something more probing, something that, with luck, may prove a contemplative, philosophical instrument encouraging greater reflection.
His way of viewing the world has caught on and found many imitators. Georg Gerster consoles himself with the thought that imitation is still the sincerest form of flattery.
For two decades Georg Gerster’s aerial photographs for Swissair’s posters and calendars had contributed substantially to the airline’s image.
Gerster worked on a regular basis for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and the Washington-based National Geographic Magazine. Today he works for the Swiss online news platform Journal21. Further his works are known among Photography- and Artlovers and are part of several Art Portfolios.
Georg Gerster died 90 years old, outside Zurich on February 8th, 2019.
