Good things come to those who wait: Reinhard photographer dynasty honored
No less than 18 years ago, a letter from a Hergiswil reader drew the attention of the government authorities of the Canton of Obwalden to the fact that it would be appropriate to finally award the Obwalden Culture Prize to the Sachsler photographers Sepp and Daniel Reinhard and posthumously to Josef Reinhard (their father and grandfather respectively).
It took until last Saturday to make this award ceremony a reality. "The Obwalden government took enough time to examine the letter to the editor," smiles Christian Schäli, Obwalden's Director of Education, at the presentation of the Culture Prize to Josef and Daniel Reinhard. The Reinhard photographer dynasty with Josef Reinhard (1901 - 1975), Sepp Reinhard (* 1931) - known throughout Obwalden as "Katastrophen-Reinhard" - and Daniel Reinhard (* 1960) have ensured that the country and its people have been documented photographically for decades. And since the 1950s, the name "Reinhard" has been a fixture in motor racing. Father and son have photographed more than 700 of the just over 1000 Formula 1 Grand Prix races, and Daniel Reinhard was accepted into the illustrious "500 Club" of Formula 1 zampano Bernie Ecclestone years ago - an honor that only a few journalists and photographers receive.
Sepp and Daniel Reinhard's life's work is surrounded by endless anecdotes, such as the fact that Sepp Reinhard spent years developing radar photos for the Obwalden cantonal police and was amazed one day when a photo with the VW and its number OW 777 slowly emerged from one of the negatives in the developing bath...
A fraction of the Reinhard photos will be on display in the windows of the stores grouped around the village square in Sarnen over the next few weeks. The Hofmatt Gallery in Sarnen is showing a small, representative cross-section of the work of the three Reinhard generations until November 17, 2019. In his acceptance speech, Daniel Reinhard made it clear: "There will no longer be a fourth generation of Reinhard in photography, our two children have a completely different focus." Thomas Suter
