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| Best of Photographers |
Rainer BODE
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Rainer Bode was born on November 30, 1954 in Peine, Germany, near Hannover.
Even as a young boy, he was fascinated by sparkling crystals. Exploring the rich iron deposits in his home town of Peine, or in the nearby Harz Mountains, he sought out, and found, minerals. At 17, he had already bought himself a Rollei SL 66, a medium-sized 6x6 for evidence of his finds; a camera which he has used ever since. Rainer Bode deeply wished to become a miner. This would have forced him to turn his back on Peine, in order to study the techniques of the mining industry in Bochum. In the end, he decided to study photographic design in Dortmund and later founded a publishing house. Since he was 17 years old, Rainer Bode continued to photograph minerals. He learned much from his mentor, Dr. Olaf Medenbach. Today, with nearly 16,000 slides in 6x6 format, Rainer Bode possesses one of the largest photo archives of minerals in the world.
He started his work as an editor in 1978, with the publication of the first edition of Emser Hefte (the notebook for EMS), which was launched in the first Mineral Days of BAD EMS minerals. The Emser Hefte was most interested in the classic mining districts, and was published quarterly, however the series, rich in tradition, came to an end in 1994.
In 1983, with MAGMA, Rainer Bode put a new, larger format, mineral magazine on the market. Renowned experts from all over Europe contributed to this specialized journal, particularly richly illustrated. However, it too was abandoned, after only seven editions. Since 1985, Rainer Bode has lived in Haltern-Flaesheim, approximately 30 km north-east of Essen, where he and his wife, Doris, run a small, specialized publishing house (www.bodeverlag.de) for the world of minerals and the mining industry.
Two to four high-quality, full-colour books are published each year. In addition, the specialized magazine “Mineralien-Welt” (The World of Minerals) (www.mineralien-welt.de) publishes 7,000 copies bi-monthly, and is distributed to, and read in, 45 countries. Since the reunification of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) with the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in 1990, a large format magazine was created. The photos and the production of the magazine were assured by Bode-Verlag, and the articles written by foreign authors.
Having photographed minerals in almost all of the museums in Europe, and many in the United States, Rainer Bode published, in 1984, the book “Mineralien Museen in Westeuropa” (The Mineral Museums of Western Europe). For “Kristallschätze – Mineralien Sammler im Oberpinzgau”, which appeared in November, 2001, the author and the publishing house received the Salzburg prize for cultural action. Rainer Bode is especially proud to have been able to, following the reunification in May, 1990, photograph the uranium mines of Schlema-Hartenstein, in Saxony, and Ronnenberg, in Thüringen.
In the meantime, the last work from the Bode Publishing House focused on minerals in Morocco. It appeared specially, during the Sainte-Marie aux Mines Exhibition, at the end of June, 2003, and was comprised of more than 530 pages, with approximately 700 colour photographs. Rainer Bode has since returned to Morocco three times to meet with collectors and prospectors during expeditions at numerous deposit sites. He was accompanied on his business trips to Morocco by his 17-year-old daughter, Mareike, “who is equally interested in minerals,” as Rainer emphasizes. His other daughter, Kristina (19 years old), participates less in the family publishing business.
Besides his work as editor, Rainer Bode is also the expert in charge of the second-largest mineral exhibition in Germany; the Hamburg trade show, which starts in December, and for which he organizes a prestigious exposition each year. Furthermore, since 1978, he has run his own trade show, all years in April; the Mineral Days of BAD EMS.
His most recent success as a photographer is the booklet “Welcher Edelstein ist das?” (What Precious Stone is this?) published by KOSMOS-Verlag, with 50,000 copies in its first edition. Since then, 30,000 new copies have already been reprinted. |
Rainer Bode presents his most recent book about Morocco to Michel Schwab, organizer of the mineral trade fair at Sainte-Marie aux Mines.
Photo Johannes Keilmann © |
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| Last update 01.13.2004 |
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