„… there was always someone taking photos …“

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Private photo albums from East Germany between 1980 and 2000 reveal little change in their images—only fashion, hairstyles, and cars evolve. While individuals who vacationed on the Baltic in the eighties may have shifted to Mallorca in the nineties, the significant societal and political transformations occurring during this period remain largely invisible in snapshots of everyday life, such as children’s first school days and family gatherings. “There was always someone taking photos …” reflects on a project initiated in 2020 that explores these private albums, enriched by interviews with contemporary witnesses. The essays in this collection analyze private photography as a social practice, examining how images were created, organized, and perceived, while also considering how political contexts influenced these representations. Contributors include Marie Egger, a curator at HU Berlin's Department of Art and Visual History; Marit Herrmann, a curator working on the catalogue raisonné of Ute and Werner Mahler; Judith Riemer, a photo historian researching albums from the 1920s and 1930s; and Friedrich Tietjen, a Leipzig-based writer, curator, and university lecturer.