Gerhard Launer

Gerhard Launer (born 8 January 1949 in Werneck) is one of the best known aerial photographers in Germany.

Gerhard Launer (2007)

Life

Launer was born in 1949 in Werneck. From early on he received violin lessons and was invited at the age of nine by the world-renowned violin soloist and teacher Tibor Varga to spend three months with him at his home in Switzerland. At the age of fourteen he enrolled at the Conservatory Würzburg to study violin. An accident forced him to give up on his goal to become a musician.

While working for his degree in Graphic Design, he obtained his private pilot license. Later he added the professional pilot license and so combined his two interests, photography and flying and became a professional Aerial Photographer.

His passion is to capture nature’s art in features and structures that are discernible only from the air and to present these in his photos to the public in books and calendars. In 1996 he won first and second prize at the Frankfurt Book Fair, awarded by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, with his calendars Structures and Wind, Water, Waves. In 2003 Gerhard Launer was featured in the television show Galileo on ProSieben to explain how aerial photography is done. In the spring of 2004 the Knesebeck Publishing House released his first book titled Germany from Above – Day by Day. More books were published. In May 2005 the magazine Stern featured Gerhard Launer with his photo series Beautiful Germany.

Gerhard Launer WFL-GmbH

Gerhard Launer WFL-GmbH, which specializes in aerial photography (axonometric projection), is based in Rottendorf near Würzburg. Gerhard Launer with his two airplanes and special aerial photography cameras (analog: Lindhof-Aerotechnica, film format 4x5 inch; Hasselblad H2D, resolution 39 Mio Pixel) took photos of nearly all the towns, cities, villages, landscapes and sites of interest in Germany. In addition he has in his archives aerial photos from many countries, including the USA. He employs digital processing and prepares his photos in his own laboratory.

Works

Books
  • Germany from Above – Day by Day: Publisher Knesebeck, Munich 2004, Gerhard Launer and Rainer Greubel, 365 color plates, ISBN 978-3-89660-209-1.
  • Bavaria from Above: Publisher Knesebeck, Munich 2005, Gerhard Launer, 100 color plates, ISBN 978-3-89660-320-3.
  • Hesse from Above: Publisher Knesebeck, Munich 2005, Gerhard Launer, 100 color plates, ISBN 978-3-89660-320-3.
  • Flights – The Rems-Murr-District from Above: Publisher Silberburg, Gerhard Launer and Teja Banzhaf, 96p, ISBN 978-3-87407-674-6.
  • Northern Germany from Above: Publisher Knesebeck, Munich 2007,Gerhard Launer, 100 color plates
  • Germany from Above, narrated for children: Publisher Knesebeck, Munich 2007, Gerhard Launer and Manfred Mai, ISBN 978-3-89660-461-3.
  • Germany. Views from Above: Publisher Ellert &Richter, Hamburg 2010, Gerhard Launer, 91 color plates, in three languages, ISBN 978-3-8319-0411-2.
  • World Heritage – natural site – Mudflats. Views from Above. Publisher Ellert & Richter, Hamburg 2010, Gerhard Launer and Holger Schulz, 69 color plates, ISBN 978-3-8319-0413-6.

Calendars
  • Wind, Water, Waves: Aerographie ’97, Publisher Dipla, 1997, Gerhard Launer, ISBN 3-932008-75-8.
  • Structures: Aerographie ’97, Publisher Dipla, 1997, Gerhard Launer
  • Calendar Girls: Scheiner Druck and Gerhard Launer, 2004, Benefit Calendar.
  • Germany from the Air: Heye, 2005, ISBN 3-8318-2025-2.
  • The World from Above: Publisher Palazzi, 2005
  • Germany from Above: Publisher Knesebeck, 2006.
  • Germany from Above: Publisher Knesebeck, 2007.
  • Germany from Above: Publisher Knesebeck, 2008.
  • Bavaria from Above: Publisher Knesebeck, 2006.

Media
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