Langovits says old photographs gain deeper meaning over time

Photographer Peeter Langovits says many photographs reveal their true value only years or decades later, when they become witnesses to their era, ERR reported.

In recent years, Langovits has focused on organising and digitising his extensive photo archive. The material he has collected over decades has already produced several photobooks.

“There has been so much material accumulated over the years that I can barely manage it. I have thought that if I am no longer among the living one day, no one will go through this cultural layer that I have recorded except me,” Langovits said on Klassikaraadio’s Delta programme.

He is therefore prioritising photographs taken on film, of which he has thousands. “To be honest, I would have 30 years of work ahead of me,” he said.

As he works through the archive, Langovits looks for photographs that will still speak to people decades after they were taken. In his view, particularly valuable are images from the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, which capture major changes in Estonian society. Some of the material has reached the Estonian Photography Museum, while much of it still awaits sorting.

“It is interesting even to me that you discover a picture again and wonder why you never used it. It is a very good picture with broad general significance. But perhaps at the time I looked at the matter from the other end,” he said.

Langovits’s largest photobook to date focuses on Väike-Õismäe, the neighbourhood where he has lived for decades. The book begins with the first construction piles being driven into the ground and continues through last year.

Living in the neighbourhood allowed him to observe its development calmly. At first, he simply photographed what was happening around him, without a specific plan to turn the images into a book.

“All these things, in context with one another, create a fairly good picture of what has happened around us and how we have lived,” Langovits said. He added that he might have captured some situations differently if he had known they would eventually form a comprehensive overview.

History emerges unexpectedly

Langovits said photography had become a habit he could not give up. He calls it an occupational disease.

“I have this occupational disease. I have to press the button,” he said. “Practically no day goes by when I do not capture at least one frame.”

Even on his way to the interview, he noticed reflections of light on the Hilton hotel and photographed the view of the radio building.

“Tomorrow it will no longer be like this. That is how life goes. But it gives me great pleasure,” he said.

Looking back, Langovits understands that several of his photographs have become important historical documents. He first sensed this while photographing the Baltic Way. He felt it even more strongly when Lenin’s statue was removed in Tallinn.

“I was one of the few photographers who arrived there at the right time. That was when I felt I was in the middle of history,” he said.

While working as a journalist, Langovits often found himself at the centre of events. Some of the social photographs he took as part of his work also appear in the Väike-Õismäe book.

Stylistically, Langovits prefers black-and-white photography. “It seems much more emotional to me, and it has a different effect,” he said.

He is equally drawn to fog. “The perspective is different there. Besides, there is an element of surprise. I do not know who or what will emerge from the fog or what will happen next. At the same time, it creates a slightly mystical atmosphere that is close to my heart,” he said.

Street photography has become more difficult

Langovits said people’s attitudes towards street photography had changed considerably over the years. While photographers were once met with indifference, people are now more cautious. He thinks more carefully before photographing someone.