Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Follow the Icon (4)

A sign of a advertisement lightning sometimes turns out to be an icon for my photography. As a young boy of 5-6 years old I was always gazing at boxes with “Trix-Express” trains in the shopping windows of “Galeries Modernes” at the Vismarkt (Fish Market) in Groningen (NL). Turning around at the hand of my father I saw that huge sign at the opposite of the square. It was for the assurance company RVS. It consisted of a man with a walking pointing at the letters RVS, a small dog and a woman with a black umbrella. That umbrella impressed me very much. Some 30 years later I shoot a series “Umbrellas in the streets of Amsterdam”. Until today I often find umbrellas at my photographic path. Up: This was the advertisement sign, at the top of the walking stick one could see the letters RVS. Middle: Amsterdam, April 1984. Under Amsterdam: 2017/12/10, 5.06 pm.

Three new self-portraits.

The making of self-portraits form a significant part of my life. Here 3 recent examples. Up: Diemen 2017/11/16, 1.45 pm. Middle: Diemen 2017/11/21, 12.05 am Under: Diemen 2017/11/21, 12.18 am.

Follow the Icon (3)

Some time ago I was at the opening of the exhibition of André Kertesz in the Foam museum in Amsterdam. To me Kertesz is the master of very functional form and very functional compositions. Often, he is also a very gifted player with surreal and surrealistic elements in his images. I could not resist to take a photo in his style. I used some elements from a big print of his photograph. His photographs have a bigger impact if they are printed rather small. The small prints were beautifully printed. If you are in Amsterdam, go and see this exhibition. Photo: Amsterdam, 2017/09/14, 5.19 pm.   

Irish notes (7)

Travelling around I often cannot resist the temptation of shooting a self-portrait/selfie. Sometimes a strange mirror in the bathroom is the reason, sometimes a weird lamp in the hotel lobby, sometimes a tree seems to grow out of my head. Up: Derry, 17/8/29, 8.13 am. Middle: Ballina 17/9/4 5.40 pm. Under: Westport, 17/9/7, 1.00 pm.

A Facebook Challence

I was invited for the following by Harrie. Of course I accepted

"Paul challenged me to take and post ONE B&W photo per day of my life for 7 days with NO people and NO theme and to challenge a different person to do the same. Jaap Bijsterbosch, how about you? Do you accept the challenge?" 

On the 3^rd day I wrote this: “This photo was made today, yesterday’s photo in this challenge yesterday, and the 1^st photo the day before yesterday. No archive images!”

After the 7^th day I wrote this: “For me this is the end of this challenge. It taught me again that I’m basically a color photographer. Although I am sometimes finishing off portraits and self-portraits in b and w. So, a portrait as my last one. Not a picture of a human being, but of a doll in a friend’s garden”.

I am a Winner!

Dear Jaap,

CONGRATULATIONS on being a Winner at the 12th Annual Black & White Spider Awards. 8,121 entries were received from 74 countries and your work received a high percentage of votes overall. Certainly, an achievement, well done! The Jury represented the industry's biggest names and tastemakers including The Armory Show, New York; Christie's, London; McCann, Singapore; GQ, New York; Hot Docs Film Festival, Toronto; Y&R, Malaysia; Sharon Calahan, Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville; Bloomsbury Auctions, London; and Donald Schneider Studios, Berlin who reviewed the entries online before making their nominations and honoring 672 title awards and 1034 nominees in 31 categories. The Awards could not have wished for a better group of professionals to work with. Congratulations once again, we wish you a most successful photography year.

Basil O'Brien Creative Director

Irish notes (6)

Sometimes it was raining cats and dogs. Sometimes I walked long enough and my feet were tired (good shoes are essential for a photographer!). On top of a bus is a wonderful spot to get another perspective of street life. Up: Dublin 15/9/13 1.47 pm. Middle: Dublin 13/7/19 4.20 pm. Under: Dublin 17/8/27 5.19 pm.

Irish Notes (5)

Sometimes a rambling photographer is confronted by situations where huge colorful areas form a big chance to capture an image with a lightly alienating meaning. In Ireland people often use strong colors in painting houses and walls. Maybe as a therapy against the often-grey light.   But if there is sunlight, the light has often a very intense quality.  Up: Derry, 17/8/28 4.58 pm, Middle: Monkstown 17/8/26 11.26 am, Under: Cork, 12/9/15, 10.30 am.

Irish Notes (4)

Some impressions from the Botanic Gardens in Belfast. (http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/leisure/parks-openspaces/Park-6614.aspx). As a photographer I am always trying to make an own reality from the reality of these premises, by carefully selecting the elements I capture. I do not show you everything that was there. Up: Belfast 17/9/2 11.28 am. Middle: Belfast 17/9/2 11.36 am. Under: Belfast 17/9/2 11.26 am.

Irish Notes (3)

Interesting to see how letters and text can play a role within a photographic image. Sometimes as the main subject matter, sometimes as text in a kind of image from a comic strip, sometimes the capture of what is happening in the photograph is a kind of  illustration of the text in the same photograph. To make it perfectly clear, these texts were not added by means of photoshop. (Upper picture: Dublin 2017/08/25 4.15 pm, middle: Belfast 2016/09/08 2.56 pm, underneath: Sligo 2015/o9/06 4.53 pm).

Irish Notes (2)

Some details from the Irish scenery.

Irish Notes (1)

As you may know I recently made a trip through Ireland. No need to say I had my camera on me. I used the device as a kind of sketch book. Sometimes I used just one take for a situation, sometimes I shot quite a lot. And of course, many sketches didn’t work out at all. But some did I think. My main subject matters were: people in the streets, pieces of landscape, and shopping windows. Some self-portraits were also made.

Up: Dublin 17/8/26 10.34 am, Middle: Dublin 17/9/09 3.57 pm, Under: Dublin 17/8/26 10.03 am.

Three more self-portraits (or selfies wtf)

Up: Dronten, 10/08/2017, 1.29 pm
Middle: Bakkum 17/07/2017 3.40 pm
Under: Bakkum 3.29 pm

New Book: IRELAND ON MY MIND.

After almost 30 years it is a strange experience putting these photographs into a book. Frankly, when I went to Ireland in 1988 I had not a clear idea what to expect. Ireland was a faraway country to me. Don’t forget there was no internet in 1988 to get information. Of course, I went into some brochures to get an idea of the landscape and the way the towns looked, and I read some books about the history of the country, but still it was a step into the unknown.

I never forget the day I arrived in Dublin. I was standing at the bridge over the Liffey and I felt immediately at home. The city felt very familiar to me.  This feeling of familiarity never left me during the trips through the country. Whether I was in Galway, or Cork, or at the West Coast, I always felt a kind at home: I had fallen in love with Ireland.

I wandered with my camera through the country as a curious lover. Going to festivals, cycling around, sitting in trains and buses, sometimes accompanied by wife Petra and my mother-in-law, the love for the country never disappeared. Ireland was always on my mind.

After some 25 years I came back in Ireland. The country had changed, I had changed. But my love for the country was still there. But that’s going to be another project. Ireland was still on my mind. It will always be.

Finders Keepers

Rambling around in Ireland many years ago on a photo trip I ran out of film one day. Normally working with Ilford HP5 I only could obtain Kodak Tri-x at the local photo store.

At home, I first developed my HP5. I had only shot to rolls of Tri-x , but I could just find one. After a while I forgot about the lost Tri-x.

Many years later I moved to another dark room. Cleaning the old one I found a roll of Tri-x in a dark corner. No idea what it would contain. It was the first roll I developed in in the new dark room. I was very surprised to see images of Ireland. The photo with the man feeding the seagulls is one of them. The other two are from well-kept negatives of other Irish films.

Up: Dun Laoghaire 1988, Middle Dublin 1990, Under Bundoran 1990.

Puck Fair

At the end of the summer I want to go to Ireland for a photo trip. It’s a good reason to go through b&w photo’s I made some 30 years ago in this country. These were made at the “Puck Fair” in Killorgin.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_Fair) . First day cattle market, second day horse market, third day just drinking. There were hardly any tourists. The animals freely moved in the streets, between the public. And had a standstill in front of the hairdresser.