I abandoned the Modern men project for a while. I made the book and ordered it, but it wasn’t exactly what I hoped it would be.

I want to make a book which is less defined in subject-matter. Maybe mix in landscapes and still-lives.

What the book should be about is hard for me to define, but then again the question is: should I define it in a specific way at all?

I don’t want to present a straightforward feeling or approach in my work. It’s just not me and it’s not what my creativity should be about either.

So there it is. I’m having a lot of ideas in my head so that’s definitely not a problem. Let’s just open them up and see where it leads me.

My second selfpublished artists-book entitled “Modern men” will be out soon. It’s a photographic essay about men in rural and urban landscapes. detachement from environment and vulnerability are the underlying themes of the book. The first edition consists of 50 handnumbered, signed copies and contains an original print of 19×23 cm.

this picture will be up for auction:

it’s for a good cause, there’ll be lot’s of interesting photos being sold (Ruud van Empel, Jasper de Beyer,Berend Strik and lots of others)!

link:  YIPart 2010

As I was browsing through my archives, I found this picture of a priest.

I’d always thought it was good with the nice lighting and all, but I never did anything with it.   Besides it was shot on some very grainy film and I never use that anymore so I didn’t think it would fit in any of my series.   But still this man in the picture…. He seems  detached from his environment and yet so at peace with it.    For me it looks like he’s given up the fight but surrenders with dignity.   Maybe I’m putting too much into something which isn’t even there or visible for anybody else, after all the man is just standing there,  but that for me is part of the beauty of photography.   That you can make up your own stories and are free to interpret images any way you like.   This is the basis of my work; I want to make “open” pictures which are very realistic in the sense that they are made in the “real world” so to speak, but at the same time contain many different realities for different people.   I don’t want to make documentaries even though I use a documentary style in my images.   For me it’s not about “documenting” a certain place and the people who live there, added with some still-lives of the things that are supposed to tell us something about that place.   Even though I named one of my projects: “VEGAS”, it’s not even about Vegas for me.   Life just directed me that way and I found beautiful light and space.   It could’ve been anywhere else in the world.   So there it is.    In a way I want to detach myself from storytelling and giving you all the answers, or  like William Eggleston said much better offcourse :  ”I’m at war with the obvious”.   I wouldn’t be able to say it better and it still holds true for my work.

The CBK in Amsterdam is showing 5 of my works from 6th of september. If you want to visit here’s the link. There’s no formal opening, but it’s worth your while. 3 of the works from the Seelevel collection and 2 of the Shopping Miracles-series.
www.cbkamsterdam.nl

edit: I looked on their site and the show is not on there, but it definately will be there!

Ten copies of Vegas are left.

My work is showing at Fort Vijfhuizen.

Dutch collector Frans Oomen has included my work.

http://www.kunstfort.nl/en/speed-bump

everyone read this article by Paul Graham ; it’s about the kind of photography i love and is often overlooked nowadays by the artworld , while it’s still so massively important.

http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/writings_by.html

Only 6000 copies ever made, one printrun.

It’s the absolute best book on the famous streetphotographer Helen Levitt who passed away recently.

If you see this one, buy it immediately!

This book isn’t out of print or anything, it’s just one of those rare gems which you can buy for say 25 euro’s?

It’s one of the best Friedlander books out there. This guy is a photography-GOD!

He manages to still make groundbreaking work and just won’t retire;-)

It reads like a roadmovie and it’s just, well..sticks and stones photographed throughout the U.S.

Beautiful printing, thick and in my humble opinion one of the best photographybooks period.