June 19th and 29th I will be shooting some portraits in Amsterdam (and Zaanstad) and I still have a couple of spots available. PM for prices. ❤️
June 19th and 29th I will be shooting some portraits in Amsterdam (and Zaanstad) and I still have a couple of spots available. PM for prices. ❤️
June 19th and 29th I will be shooting some portraits in Amsterdam (and Zaanstad) and I still have a couple of spots available. PM for prices. ❤️
Emily (6), Twin Falls, Idaho 💕 Drowned in dark thoughts I wander through a big Walmart in Twin Falls, Idaho. It is the intense gaze of a young girl that brings me back to earth. In times of despair, the look of the kid is comforting as well as painful: the ultimate imagination of innocence, which only a child can show. Sitting in a shopping cart, being pushed by her big sister, the world is passing by. I would love to photograph the girl. I nervously approach them, scared of being rejected. “Is your mom here too?”, I ask. “She’s in the restroom, but she will be back soon”, the sister says. Meanwhile, the bright blue eyes of the little girl are staring right through me. I try to keep the conversation going, without appearing to be a creepy stalker. When the mother joins us, the big sister has already found me on Instagram and wants to take a selfie with me. Mom is keeping an appropriate distance and I see her – understandable – concerns. I give her my phone number and await. Not much later I receive the message I was hoping for: “You can come over.” The name of the girl is Emily. Her intellectual disability sometimes makes things harder, but because of the loving presence of big sister Kenzie (15), brother Lucas (8), mom Ashley (40) and dog Piper she can move quite carelessly through life. In contradiction with a lot of struggling parents, her mom has, with the help of school and doctors, paved the way through the complex American bureaucracy with as a result a happy, healthy kid in school. “Without the help, I could not have done it.” Like a little kitten, Emily plays in the grass. Continuously she is approaching me closer and closer, followed by running away or hiding in her pink jacket. Everything is sweet about her. Her light, fine hair, the breadcrumbs on her chin, the small hands which are holding a (still frozen) peanut butter and jelly sandwich, the nearly rolling tear that arises because of the wind and the accompanying booger. An innocent child. Freely she rolls through the grass, and I roll with her. I want nothing more than to forget or not know – it works.
Ik fotografeerde 20 inspirerende mensen voor @actionaid_nl. Waar gaan zij op stemmen en wat is voor hen belangrijk? En vooral ook: waar ga jij op stemmen? Wil jij weten welke partijen werk maken van belangrijke zaken zoals vrouwenrechten, het klimaat en gelijke kansen? Check dan de Feministische Partijwijzer van ActionAid. @actionaid_nl heeft samen met een team van experts 15 partijprogramma’s vol mooie beloftes doorgelicht op maatschappelijke vernieuwing vanuit feministische waarden. Daarbij zijn de partijen beoordeeld op plannen voor gendergelijkheid, duurzame economie, beter klimaat en hun internationale visie. Wil je goed voorbereid naar de stembus? Download de Feministische Partijwijzer nu via de link (zie comments). #feministischepartijwijzer #verkiezingen #echtbelangrijk #gelijkheid @sophiestraat @chellachella @geraldine_kemper @lovaeij @lizekorpie
Ik fotografeerde 20 inspirerende mensen voor @actionaid_nl. Waar gaan zij op stemmen en wat is voor hen belangrijk? En vooral ook: waar ga jij op stemmen? Wil jij weten welke partijen werk maken van belangrijke zaken zoals vrouwenrechten, het klimaat en gelijke kansen? Check dan de Feministische Partijwijzer van ActionAid. @actionaid_nl heeft samen met een team van experts 15 partijprogramma’s vol mooie beloftes doorgelicht op maatschappelijke vernieuwing vanuit feministische waarden. Daarbij zijn de partijen beoordeeld op plannen voor gendergelijkheid, duurzame economie, beter klimaat en hun internationale visie. Wil je goed voorbereid naar de stembus? Download de Feministische Partijwijzer nu via de link (zie comments). #feministischepartijwijzer #verkiezingen #echtbelangrijk #gelijkheid @sophiestraat @chellachella @geraldine_kemper @lovaeij @lizekorpie
Ik fotografeerde 20 inspirerende mensen voor @actionaid_nl. Waar gaan zij op stemmen en wat is voor hen belangrijk? En vooral ook: waar ga jij op stemmen? Wil jij weten welke partijen werk maken van belangrijke zaken zoals vrouwenrechten, het klimaat en gelijke kansen? Check dan de Feministische Partijwijzer van ActionAid. @actionaid_nl heeft samen met een team van experts 15 partijprogramma’s vol mooie beloftes doorgelicht op maatschappelijke vernieuwing vanuit feministische waarden. Daarbij zijn de partijen beoordeeld op plannen voor gendergelijkheid, duurzame economie, beter klimaat en hun internationale visie. Wil je goed voorbereid naar de stembus? Download de Feministische Partijwijzer nu via de link (zie comments). #feministischepartijwijzer #verkiezingen #echtbelangrijk #gelijkheid @sophiestraat @chellachella @geraldine_kemper @lovaeij @lizekorpie
Ik fotografeerde 20 inspirerende mensen voor @actionaid_nl. Waar gaan zij op stemmen en wat is voor hen belangrijk? En vooral ook: waar ga jij op stemmen? Wil jij weten welke partijen werk maken van belangrijke zaken zoals vrouwenrechten, het klimaat en gelijke kansen? Check dan de Feministische Partijwijzer van ActionAid. @actionaid_nl heeft samen met een team van experts 15 partijprogramma’s vol mooie beloftes doorgelicht op maatschappelijke vernieuwing vanuit feministische waarden. Daarbij zijn de partijen beoordeeld op plannen voor gendergelijkheid, duurzame economie, beter klimaat en hun internationale visie. Wil je goed voorbereid naar de stembus? Download de Feministische Partijwijzer nu via de link (zie comments). #feministischepartijwijzer #verkiezingen #echtbelangrijk #gelijkheid @sophiestraat @chellachella @geraldine_kemper @lovaeij @lizekorpie
Ik fotografeerde 20 inspirerende mensen voor @actionaid_nl. Waar gaan zij op stemmen en wat is voor hen belangrijk? En vooral ook: waar ga jij op stemmen? Wil jij weten welke partijen werk maken van belangrijke zaken zoals vrouwenrechten, het klimaat en gelijke kansen? Check dan de Feministische Partijwijzer van ActionAid. @actionaid_nl heeft samen met een team van experts 15 partijprogramma’s vol mooie beloftes doorgelicht op maatschappelijke vernieuwing vanuit feministische waarden. Daarbij zijn de partijen beoordeeld op plannen voor gendergelijkheid, duurzame economie, beter klimaat en hun internationale visie. Wil je goed voorbereid naar de stembus? Download de Feministische Partijwijzer nu via de link (zie comments). #feministischepartijwijzer #verkiezingen #echtbelangrijk #gelijkheid @sophiestraat @chellachella @geraldine_kemper @lovaeij @lizekorpie
Daniel Boussevain voor Volkskrant Magazine. ❤️ @astridschilders @de_volkskrant @volkskrantmagazine @uitgeverijpluim @anhnguyaen Met dank aan: Met dank aan: De Stichting Veteraan Autobussen 🚍
Tomorrow a very special episode of The Americans with this little guy. Do you remember Leuxian? #2015 #ifthisistrue #devolkskrant #deamerikanen #theamericans
Tomorrow a very special episode of The Americans with this little guy. Do you remember Leuxian? #2015 #ifthisistrue #devolkskrant #deamerikanen #theamericans
Hi Bernie! 🙋🏽♀️ #diezeit #berniesanders
Hi Bernie! 🙋🏽♀️ #diezeit #berniesanders
Bibi 🍬
Jeffrey photographed in 2023 and 2019. ❤️
Jeffrey photographed in 2023 and 2019. ❤️
Jeffrey photographed in 2023 and 2019. ❤️
LEUXIAN WITH AN X. ❤️ -> swipe. On the 23rd of March in 2022 I receive an email from Amanda who lives in Utah. In 2019 her husband Andy and herself adopted a boy with the uncommon name Leuxian. Searching for more information about the origin of his name she finds pictures of a two-year-old toddler photographed by me. “Do you remember anything of the encounter with him? We know very little about his past.” In 2015 I indeed photographed a boy with the name Leuxian. He lives in a decayed motel surrounded by hardly anything good. I remember him walking outside in his diaper, and shortly after burning himself on the hot exhaust of my motor cycle. He doesn’t blink. He is only two years old, and already has a tough skin. In the following years I return several times to the motel looking for the young child. Never do I find him. Until last year’s email. My motherly heart is – in regards to Leuxian – finally reassured. Nowadays Leuxian lives in a good, decent neighborhood in Midvale, Utah together with his adoptive parents and his little foster brother. The New-Mexican roots of Amanda are tangible everywhere. It is a warm, colorful house with dogs, cats and mountains of toys. I am looking at Leuxian who has grown to be almost as tall as his new mom. He is dancing light-footedly through the street with his basketball. The bouncing of the ball is echoing against the big concrete wall which is placed in the middle of the neighborhood. “Why did they build that wall?”, I ask Amanda. Above the wall a traffic light is silently rocking back and forth, coming from the time in which sky-high walls weren’t necessary. A story about teenagers in cars who blocked driveways, and something about a busy road follows. The wall keeps the danger away. While she is telling me this, she rolls her eyes. At the end of the day we eat large scoops of ice cream. Leuxians favorite flavor is chocolate. In no time he eats two ice cream cones. His face is covered with sticky stains that remind me of the photograph from eight years ago. Amanda sees is too. “There is one big difference”, Amanda says quietly. “He can be dirty now, because now he has a mommy that cleans him afterwards.”
LEUXIAN WITH AN X. ❤️ -> swipe. On the 23rd of March in 2022 I receive an email from Amanda who lives in Utah. In 2019 her husband Andy and herself adopted a boy with the uncommon name Leuxian. Searching for more information about the origin of his name she finds pictures of a two-year-old toddler photographed by me. “Do you remember anything of the encounter with him? We know very little about his past.” In 2015 I indeed photographed a boy with the name Leuxian. He lives in a decayed motel surrounded by hardly anything good. I remember him walking outside in his diaper, and shortly after burning himself on the hot exhaust of my motor cycle. He doesn’t blink. He is only two years old, and already has a tough skin. In the following years I return several times to the motel looking for the young child. Never do I find him. Until last year’s email. My motherly heart is – in regards to Leuxian – finally reassured. Nowadays Leuxian lives in a good, decent neighborhood in Midvale, Utah together with his adoptive parents and his little foster brother. The New-Mexican roots of Amanda are tangible everywhere. It is a warm, colorful house with dogs, cats and mountains of toys. I am looking at Leuxian who has grown to be almost as tall as his new mom. He is dancing light-footedly through the street with his basketball. The bouncing of the ball is echoing against the big concrete wall which is placed in the middle of the neighborhood. “Why did they build that wall?”, I ask Amanda. Above the wall a traffic light is silently rocking back and forth, coming from the time in which sky-high walls weren’t necessary. A story about teenagers in cars who blocked driveways, and something about a busy road follows. The wall keeps the danger away. While she is telling me this, she rolls her eyes. At the end of the day we eat large scoops of ice cream. Leuxians favorite flavor is chocolate. In no time he eats two ice cream cones. His face is covered with sticky stains that remind me of the photograph from eight years ago. Amanda sees is too. “There is one big difference”, Amanda says quietly. “He can be dirty now, because now he has a mommy that cleans him afterwards.”
Many American states have a slogan that they show off on their license plates. For example, Live Free or Die (New Hampshire), Lone Star State (Texas) and The First State (Delaware). The one of Idaho has something cartoonlike: Famous Potatoes. Although Idahoans are very serious concerning their potatoes (it is their biggest export product), I can’t help but laugh about it. With Famous Potatoes in the back of my mind and slightly squinted eyes I take a second look at the town. With my new vision everything looks more interesting: I imagine the inhabitants being famous actors, writers and artists. As well as Michael. The way he chews his gum with grotesque jaw movements, his combed back hair, his confident attitude, he could pass as an older version of Matthew McConaughey.
Alan (74), Green River, Utah Not knowing why I ended up here in desolated Utah, I roam around a couple of motels to calm my nervous heart. As a child of hotel owners, the presence of a motel nearby works as a pacifier for a baby; comforting and it mostly always brings me joy. From the Motel-6 parking lot I see a man in the distance digging through a laundry basket from the waist down, only his legs sticking out, his toes barely touching the ground. I jump out of the car and skip towards the scene. “Hi!” The man climbs out of the laundry basket and to my surprise I see a cowboy-ish character. The corners of my mouth curl up. The man is built small, has big honest eyes and a deep black moustache. He is wearing jeans with an oversized tucked in blouse, like most cowboys do. On his leather belt shines a buckle with a horse’s head. “I live in Chihuahua, Mexico. I am only here temporarily.” This last sentence I hear more frequently. Temporarily here often means years if not forever. “My daughter lives here.” While we are speaking the little man picks up large piles of good smelling sheets out of the dryer. I suppress the urge to grab the pile from him and dive into it; there is nothing better than letting yourself fall into a warm, freshly washed mountain of blankets. “Since I was nine years old I rode wild horses. I tamed them.” Alans eyes light up. “The horses always threw me off, but I was never afraid. It was my life. As I got older, I ended up getting physical problems.” He shows me a big scar on his chest. “My veins clogged up time after time. I escaped from dying.” After a couple of intense surgeries he had to give up the heavy workload that is a part of caring for the land and the horses. And now he is here with his daughter in Green River. Doing loads of laundry to get by. “I am not sad or angry. I am always content.” I want to believe him. “I thank God on my knees that He hasn’t yet brought me to paradise.” Later, when I try to call Alan, he appears to have gone missing. He even didn’t pick up his last pay check. The big little cowboy has flown off.
Alan (74), Green River, Utah Not knowing why I ended up here in desolated Utah, I roam around a couple of motels to calm my nervous heart. As a child of hotel owners, the presence of a motel nearby works as a pacifier for a baby; comforting and it mostly always brings me joy. From the Motel-6 parking lot I see a man in the distance digging through a laundry basket from the waist down, only his legs sticking out, his toes barely touching the ground. I jump out of the car and skip towards the scene. “Hi!” The man climbs out of the laundry basket and to my surprise I see a cowboy-ish character. The corners of my mouth curl up. The man is built small, has big honest eyes and a deep black moustache. He is wearing jeans with an oversized tucked in blouse, like most cowboys do. On his leather belt shines a buckle with a horse’s head. “I live in Chihuahua, Mexico. I am only here temporarily.” This last sentence I hear more frequently. Temporarily here often means years if not forever. “My daughter lives here.” While we are speaking the little man picks up large piles of good smelling sheets out of the dryer. I suppress the urge to grab the pile from him and dive into it; there is nothing better than letting yourself fall into a warm, freshly washed mountain of blankets. “Since I was nine years old I rode wild horses. I tamed them.” Alans eyes light up. “The horses always threw me off, but I was never afraid. It was my life. As I got older, I ended up getting physical problems.” He shows me a big scar on his chest. “My veins clogged up time after time. I escaped from dying.” After a couple of intense surgeries he had to give up the heavy workload that is a part of caring for the land and the horses. And now he is here with his daughter in Green River. Doing loads of laundry to get by. “I am not sad or angry. I am always content.” I want to believe him. “I thank God on my knees that He hasn’t yet brought me to paradise.” Later, when I try to call Alan, he appears to have gone missing. He even didn’t pick up his last pay check. The big little cowboy has flown off.
I got to know Jeffrey about four years ago as a curious, bright youngster with an enormous head of hair that danced just as frivolous in the wind as he danced through life. He wanted to become a farmer and live off the land. He and Kodie spent most of the day fishing, crossing on motorbikes and hunting bobcats. The two boys lived without boundaries or rules in their own paradise. They played cowboy with real bullets and nobody said a word. Now that adult life arises, it appears to be harder than he thought it would be. His mischievous smile occurs now and then, but is often overruled by a gnawing sense of loneliness. His appearance has also changed. He has grown, and has become stronger. His hair is tide tightly together and he marked his body with scares of shapes and words. “As a kind of tattoos.” “Do you feel this is the right place for you to be?” Heartfeltly I hope for a yes for reasons I don’t dare to say out loud. “Yes, here I can be whoever I want to be. Nobody intervenes with me.” Then I ask him the question that has been on my mind all day and of which I already know the answer. “Do you trust yourself with a gun?” “Not really, no. When I get angry I might use that gun. I know that for a fact.”
