Letting Go by Femke van Veen

April 12, 2013 marceleverts Leave a comment

Letting Go

Dutch artist and photographer Femke van Veen‘s new series is pretty colorful. Her series shows toys. Toys she used to play with. But with aging comes letting go. And that is the title of this series. Letting Go is partly an homage to her younger years and an attempt to let go of her past. Let her past be represented by memories. So for the last time she played with the toys and created this wonderful series. The way she painted the toys in the exact colors of the background is like a representation of her letting go. Let the physical all blend away in the back, fade into the past.

“In order to let go, I had to face my fears. I had to learn that memories will always remain in your head. Even when your belongings are of living their own lives. This is their chance to shine for the last time, before they will be kept safe in my head.“

Femke van Veen’s website: www.femkevanveen.com

Letting Go

Femke van Veen’s website: www.femkevanveen.com

Femke’s World

December 4, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts Leave a comment

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Femke van Veen’s project 365 was featured earlier on PforPHOTO. Last month her 365 blog has reached over 10.000 visitors. On behalf of PforPHOTO I would like to congratulate Femke on this milestone! The project is still ongoing since the 365 days haven’t been reached. So many more wonderful photographs to come. Please check it out if you can find the time. Femke really has a creative mind and knows how to transfer her ideas and experiences into wonderful photographs. Below both the link to her portfolio website and her blog.

365 blog: femkevanveen.blogspot.nl

Femke’s website: www.femkevanveen.com

The Road to the Olympics 2014

November 23, 2012 marceleverts 1 Comment

One way to cover an event is to do it with a bunch of photographers and film crews at the moment it all goes down. Typically this is called journalism. Another way to tell the story is not to tell what is happening, but more why it’s happening. Slow journalism. Dutch photographer Rob Hornstra and writer/filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen are currently working on a series in Sochi, Russia. To cover the events leading up to the Olympic games in 2014. The whole town of Sochi will change in many ways. This is their subject. You can follow their project on www.thesochiproject.org.

Rob Hornstra’s website: www.borotov.nl

The Contrast in Being

November 19, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts 1 Comment

The following series reminded me of a line from the song Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z: “…concrete jungle where dreams are made of…”. But this concrete jungle seems to overtake and isolate it’s creator. Let alone its dreams. The human beings stuck in between the dream and the reality. This wonderful photo series shot by Dutch photographer Job Jonathan Schlingemann gives us a glimpse into this contradicting world. A world between beautiful geometrical shapes of the sky scraping buildings and the tiny, seemingly insignificant but nonetheless driven, people who walk among them. The artist is fascinated by the contrasts he sees:

I am fascinated by this business districts with all its concrete and geometric shapes and in between those huge buildings, the human being. This human being seems driven by a purpose; his function in this world. He seems isolated. The contrast between those two sometimes seems almost poetic.

The photographs are beautifully lit. The photographer really knows how to find that perfect moment to share his fascination. The light and the colors are just marvelous.

Job Jonathan Schlingemann’s website: www.splinter.tv

Cloudy

June 14, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts 4 Comments

Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde puts clouds indoor. I came across his work and was fascinated by the photos of this surreal images of clouds. A wonderful mix of the ordinary, clouds and a room, put together in a situation that could never exist.

Berndnaut Smilde’s website: www.berndnaut.nl

Constructed Landscapes

June 4, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts 2 Comments

Photography has long surpassed the field of merely capturing reality. Ever since Man Ray, artist have used the camera like a painter uses his brush. What we see is never truly what is really going on. Take the work of Edwin Zwakman. This Dutch visual artist creates scenes, inspired by real life, and reconstructs them by memory in his studio. Landscape photography with the control of studio photography. The result is amazing. Life like scenes of what seems to be ordinary Dutch places. Perhaps a take on Dutch constructed landscapes. Every inch of it designed and thought of in an office. Controlled like Edwin does in his studio. Manipulation on a wide scale.

Edwin Zwakman’s website: www.edwinzwakman.nl

Peeping Tom

May 2, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts Leave a comment

A true master of photography is Dutchmen Erwin Olaf. With Anton Corbijn perhaps one of the names a Dutch-non-photography-enthusiast might know. Erwin Olaf is an artist who tries to set a mood and tell a story with his work. He isn’t out to tell his story, per se. He creates a scene in which the viewer can create his or her own story. The photographs are so wonderfully lit that a random crop would probably even produce another wonderful photograph. His latest work is called The Keyhole.

The Keyhole is showcased as a video/photo installation that, at the viewer’s own responsibility, can be watched, or be peeked at, through a keyhole. Erwin Olaf uses film and music to enhance his photographic work. And vice versa. The whole packages brings an extra dimension to this work of art. The Keyhole shows us seven individuals from their backsides. We look at them as if we have caught them doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. The feeling one might get when sneaking a peek at something. The awareness you’ll have of doing something sneaky or even wrong, when looking at something or somebody through a keyhole.

In the video below Erwin talks about his work.

Depth and Softness

April 18, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts Leave a comment

Aernout Overbeeke, Dutch photographer, seems to approach a portrait in a similar way as Arnold Newman did. To portray a person he doesn’t just shoot the person up close and personal but includes his surroundings as well. And often takes a few more steps backwards then Newman did. By doing so Newman created an abstraction where Overbeeke creates an amazing depth in his photographs. And the softness he puts into every image is just beautiful.

Whether it’s his portraitures or his commercial work, the softness and the depth is always recognizable. A signature of a photographer that understands light. By using natural light in combination with strobes he never makes it look like a studio shoot. The natural and strobe lighting give a wonderful mix to create the perfect atmosphere.

Classical aesthetics with contemporary expressions

March 26, 2012February 4, 2013 marceleverts Leave a comment

The experiences Dutchmen Krijn van Noordwijk gained in his previous life as a creative and art directer really transfers seemlesly into his photography. He is able to turn a blank slate into a visually and creative portrait with regards of the person in question. His photography focusses on the person. With funny, quirky and sometimes just simple gestures of the subject, Krijn is able to create visually inspiring portraits. On his Linkedin profile he talks about who inspires him. Among the long list of truly great persons, Donald Duck is not forgotten, are Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer. The way Krijn uses light does remind me of paintings made by the mentioned Dutch Masters.