His reports were as colourful as his life, full of energy and exuberant joie de vivre. He was a brilliant storyteller, and sometimes it was hard to tell whether the narrative reflected a real part of his life or had spontaneously sprung from his bubbling imagination. The people who experienced this were largely indifferent: weighing truth against fiction was far too profane in the face of this captivating narrative art.
Harald the circumnavigator
He told me a lot on our cruises about his three-year circumnavigation of the globe, which he undertook together with his American friend Neil Hollander. One of the happiest moments of his life was that during this trip, as the owner of a banana farm in Costa Rica, he not only fell in love with a hot-blooded Latin American woman, but also generated cash for a well-funded return to Europe.
A visual testimony to this journey is the book published by our publishing house in 1983: "So lange sie noch segeln. The last working sailors" with a foreword by Thor Heyerdal.
Harald as a book author
In this book, Harald's signature as a photographer becomes clear. Unlike his narrative appearances, there is no staging, no artificial backdrop, no make-up and no dramaturgical interventions. With his camera, he felt exclusively committed to the truth and was therefore a true representative of reportage photography.
In the early years of our collaboration, photography was still analogue and DIA films were expensive. Unlike the editors-in-chief, Harald didn't care how many films he shot per day of reporting (it was between ten and 20!), and so the editors-in-chief prescribed "a maximum of two films per day", which corresponded to 72 images. The ultimate punishment for Harald.
Pioneer of digital photography
Fortunately, photography soon went digital and Harald was able to let off steam again. How often did I see him lying prone on his bunk in front of his laptop at night, sifting through the day's haul, deleting "rubbish" and making an initial selection of images. Because the memory capacity was still very limited.
Despite working all night, Harald was already on his feet again by sunrise. I called that "senile bed escape". But Harald sought the atmosphere of early light in harbours, on canals and rivers or on the coast. I never saw a sunset from Harald.
But he had no time for that on board: in the evening he stood at the two-burner cooker and conjured up the most delicious "dinner for two" in these modest surroundings.
Harald as on-board chef
"The cook is the captain" claims Harald together with Neil Hollander in the book, which was first published by our publishing house in 1980. The fact that I was allowed to try a good half of the "200 recipes against hunger and thirst for skippers, sailors and sailor's brides on water and on land" is one of the best moments of my many trips with Harald. And it goes without saying that the bon vivant, who was born in Trier and lives in Koblenz, preferred to drink a Mosel Riesling with it.
But I realised that the chef is the captain when I had to clean up the totally filthy pantry after the meal.
We will miss you, Harald!
