At the start of the 20th c., Mārtiņš Buclers became a moderniser of photographic practice and visual thinking in Latvia, an educator of the photographic community and creator of its values and cultural goals.
He perceived the rapid changes that affected almost all areas of Latvian rural and urban life, including building traditions, working methods and tools, clothing and food preparation or festive traditions that have been passed down through the generations. This could be captured by photography, an effective means of preserving the disappearing heritage.
Buclers began popularising photo-ethnography in 1909 through his work and publications. He captured the daily life of rural people in Vidzeme and Kurzeme through photography – unadulterated moments from life, which continued even after the photograph was taken.
In the fast-moving stream of life, the picture tries to bolster, expand the boring, slow-moving word, often even making it superfluous.
Buclers. Bilžu patika. In: Stari. 1907. No. 10.
MĀRTIŅŠ BUCLERS
Mārtiņš Buclers (1866-1944) was a photographer, publisher, entrepreneur, publicist, and teacher. He studied photography at Robert Borchardt’s photography workshop in Riga. In 1897, Buclers opened his own photo shop in Sigulda, and a photo shop in Riga five years later. The shop at Aleksandra (Brīvības) street 36 became an informal gathering and consultation place for Latvian photo enthusiasts. Naturally, Buclers also became one of the founders of the Latvian Photographic Society and, in 1903, the first Latvian entrepreneur in the local photography industry, producing glass plates negatives Record.
Buclers was a teacher and lecturer in photo courses, exhibition jury member, and reviewer of photo exhibitions. His legacy also included ten books on photography and published magazines. Among other topics he also promoted and explained the idea of photo-ethnography.
Photography can be a very important tool in the collection of ethnographic documents … A story will continue to be a dubious document, but the photo, as a document, will have much fewer questionable features.
Buclers. Fotoetnogrāfija. In: Latvijas Saule. 1925. No. 28–30
Everyone must take part!
Documenting the Latvian traditional way of life, clothing, environment, and tools in photography was first expressed by Mārtiņš Buclers at the opening event of the Liepāja Photography Association in 1909.
Three years later, in 1912, Buclers published an article in Stari entitled “While There is Still Time”, inviting every photographer, whether professional or amateur, to get involved in documenting Latvia’s vanishing cultural heritage. Detailed instructions were published on how to photograph landscapes, portraits, tools and techniques, buildings, etc. In addition, photographers were promised 3 roubles for each negative sent to the editorial office, and 1 rouble for a photo.
Both professional and amateur photographers took pictures of their favourite subjects, and some were published in Stari and Ilustrēts Žurnāls. By late 1913, over 1000 photographs were collected in the editorial office. With the outbreak of the World War I, Buclers evacuated to Russia and the magazine ceased operation.
… The collected documents will enable the publishing of albums, like those of other nations for the ethnographic research and bring smaller nations into the choir of other nations. We need to do this work ourselves, we need to show ourselves in the proper light, stand in the ranks of other cultural nations ….
Buclers. Kamēr vēl laiks. In: Stari. 1912. No. 1
Magazine Stari
In 1906, Mārtiņš Buclers began publishing the magazine Stari. Like other post-revolution publications – Domas, Zalktis, Druva – the magazine clearly confirmed the readiness of Latvian national culture to integrate into all areas of modern intellectual life. Stari had a section devoted to photography. Initially, Stari came out two year and readers could learn techniques for taking and developing photographs, the latest trends in the industry, and the activity of associations.
In 1912, after a four-year hiatus, Stari returned to readers as a “magazine to promote practical and artistic photography,” becoming the first Latvian-language periodical entirely dedicated to photography. In the following years, it also became a platform for sharing common ideas, including the promotion of photo-ethnography and sharing the most outstanding works.
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