RPS - Benelux Chapter eJournal - Volume 4 Winter 2017 by Royal Photographic Society

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

Acknowledgements

VIEW FROM THE RPS BENELUX CHAPTER ORGANISERS With thanks to Armando we are now getting back on track with our eJournal. We got great feedback from the one issued in December. If you failed to read it then do go to our website pages.

The Royal Photographic Society BeNeLux Chapter Copyright The copyright of photographs and text in this eJournal belong to the author of the article of which they form part, unless otherwise indicated. Cover photo Jan Ros ARPS Proof reading Dawn Black Editor eJournal Armando Jongejan Journal Editorial committee Richard Sylvester Eddie Maes (B) Dawn Black (NL) Simon Hauxwell (L) Janet Haines (NL) Webmaster Tony Roe

The landscape workshop run by Frank Geraedts was a great success even given the cold wind and far from perfect lighting on the day. Those attending all seemed to enjoy learning some new skills, which is what Chapter meetings are all about. Looking forward we have a strong programme for 2017. 4th February 2017 is our Studio Day in Ghent, at the invitation of Didier Verriest ARPS. We will have a model for portrait work and a second lighting set up for a static arrangement. Tickets are now being sold at €18 for the day. Email Janet Haines to find out if there are still places available. Weekend of June 10 & 11 we are planning a Chapter meeting in Ypres, Belgium. This is the area of the many (too many) mass memorials and cemeteries for the soldiers of both World Wars. The programme will include a guided walk round the town, with plenty of free time to take your own photos. Ultimately we would like those attending to put together a panel of 5 images from Ypres, as the following meeting in the autumn Armando will give us feedback on the panels of work. The Study Group (working towards your RPS Distinctions) is moving from Den Haag to a new location in Rotterdam. Those regularly attending the meetings have all been sent the new information and the list of dates for 2017. Everyone is welcome. We will have internet facilities at the new location, so for those of you living too far away to get to the Study Group we are happy to have one ‘virtual’ attendee per meeting. A ‘virtual’ member will use Skype to attend the meeting. This has been trialed very successfully so if you wish to take advantage of it then please contact janet.haines@me.com.

Janet Haines, ARPS Richard Sylvester, LRPS RPS Benelux Chapter Organizers

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER 17 January - 27 February 2017

Benelux Chapter Print Exhibition in Fenton House, Bath - UK

29 January 2017

Next Rockin' Rotterdam Photo Walk (and last Sundays of the month in February, March and April) - Netherlands

4 February 2017

Studio Day in Ghent – Belgium

10 & 11 June 2017

Visit to Ypres – Belgium. In our next eJournal more information obout our BeNeLux-weekend

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

THE BENELUX CHAPTER PRINT EXHIBITION IN FENTON HOUSE by Janet Haines ARPS The exhibition of the BeNeLux Chapter started on 17th January in Fenton House – Bath. Janet brought the photos last December to the UK and the staff members made a nice exhibition with our work. A small impression of our exhibition is shown below. If you go to Bath before 27th February, visit Fenton House! Once the collection is returned to the Chapter it is hoped that we will be able to arrange hangings in locations in each of the BeNeLux countries. If you are able to assist with finding a venue where you live, and are prepared to hang the works, please get in touch with Janet Haines janet.haines@me.com.

Exhibition Period From January 17th to February 27th 2017. Location Fenton House 122 Wells Road Bath, BA2 3AH

right: RPS Journal 01-2017

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

BENELUX CHAPTER - STUDIO EXPERIENCE MEETING IN GHENT -BELGIUM by Janet Haines ARPS One of our professional members, Didier Verriest ARPS, has invited us to his studio in Ghent on 4th February 2017, 10.00 to 16.00 to have a little tuition, advice and hands on experience of studio work. This is a great opportunity whether you are experienced in studio working or a complete beginner. We all have something to learn and share. We will have two lighting set ups; one with a live model for portraiture and the other a static display. You will be able to adjust lighting to suit your ideas and to experiment. Places will be limited to 12 Chapter members only, as we feel we want to give everyone enough shooting time. Book your place early so as to not be disappointed.

Cost Just € 18,-- per person. Payment will be requested at the time of booking. Cancellations will only be refunded up to 10 days prior to the event. To book your Studio eTicket then please contact janet.haines@me.com.

Studio address and travel Drongenstationstraat 53 B-9031 Drongen - Belgium www.argus-photo.be +32 475 23 56 02 The studio is located near the train station of Drongen. There is free car parking near the train station, which is close by to walk from.

Food There are no facilities and there is little available to buy in the area, so please bring your own lunch. © Didier Verriest See also page 6 and 7 !

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STUDIO DAY ON SATURDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2017 text and photos by Didier Verriest ARPS Didier Verriest has been providing a diverse range of professional photographic services to private and corporate clients for a long time. He has experience in product photography as well as commercial and promotional material. Photography briefs and studio settings are naturally a part of that job. Studio day on Saturday 4th February Unlike on a walk where you can find your pictures along the way, for a studio shoot you have to plan everything in advance. You begin with an empty place and have to make the set, which is why you have to know what your intention is, otherwise you will end nowhere. A studio shoot has to be well planned; what is the image I want and how do I realise it? Do I have the right photo gear, the right props, the right model and the right lights? The list is endless but the inventory has to be complete before the shot begins. So, we will begin this studio session with a briefing about the shoot, a description of the final image we want and the way to realise it. We shall have two sessions: Firstly we will have a model that we will photograph with studio flash lighting. Secondly there will be a tabletop shot of a product or some flowers for which we will use a continuous light source. Tethered shooting will permit a live image on a computer screen. The demonstration and explanation will take up most of the time but if possible everybody will be able to take some images. Bear in mind that a studio setting has only one camera viewpoint and the model can only work with one photographer at a time. Patience is worth its weight in gold in the studio. We will be using the professional lighting gear present in the studio and not common oncamera flash, so the lightning will be different to your flash and common lights. The advantage and disadvantage of flash versus continuous light will be discussed as well as the use of light modifiers, diffusers, reflectors, black screens and so on. Other possible subjects for the day    

Raw images. Why and how? (Photoshop needed) Color management. Why and how? (This is in fact a full day course) Screen calibration. Why and how? Off-camera flash photography with on-camera flashes

You need to bring your camera, a short tele-lens and a tripod. Don’t forget to charge your batteries and empty your memory cards! On-camera flash is not needed but your camera needs to have a flash-synch socket for an old fashioned synch cable. If you camera doesn't have a flash synch socket please look for a flash-shoe accessory with a socket. A light/flash meter can be useful. There will be soft drinks available but no food, so don't forget your packed lunch. To book your Studio eTicket then please contact janet.haines@me.com.

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Â© Didier Verriest

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

MY LONG ROAD TO ARPS-DISTINCTION text and photos by Jan Ros BMK-EFIAP-ARPS My first encounter with the RPS was in April 2010 during an RPS-Benelux information day organized by Armando Jongejan FRPS, Roy Robertson HonFRPS and Sandy Cleland FRPS. I was impressed by the organization and the possibilities for an assessment. After months of orientation and selection of my black and white negatives, I have digitized a series of mountain landscapes, printed them and sent them to the RPS for the assessment in March 2012. It was not a successful assessment, the series was rejected. Three photos from the series were insufficient. After this experience RPS advised me to go to an advisory day or to have a “one to one counselling meeting”. I have chosen for the last opportunity. Clive Haynes FRPS was assigned to be my mentor coach. The mentor coach In December 2013 I travelled to Worcester with my wife and I met Clive for the first time. For a whole day we discussed a number of series I had brought with me. The rejected series on the mountain scenery, a documentary series about Travellers in the subway of metropoles, and a series about the mud volcanoes in the Buzau region in Romania. Clive advised me to continue the series of mud volcanoes and to make this more artistic for the category Visual Arts. But the photos of the mud volcanoes were not good enough for an assessment and Clive gave me various opinions how I could make better pictures by editing. Another advice that Clive gave me was to go back to Romania and make more photos of the mud volcanoes but with a certain emotion and a vision. At first instance I had the impression it was easy to get the ARPS-distinction, but afterwards it appeared to be a long road and a great learning process. You have to FEEL it! The Genesis feeling Despite the fact that I visited the mud volcanoes area already twice, I decided that I would return to that location especially for this aim. Therefore, in the Spring of 2013 my wife and I travelled to the mud volcanoes for the 3rd time. Before that Clive had given me a valuable advice: "The viewers of your photo’s do not have to SEE the landscape, but they have to FEEL it ". When I was on location I have photographed the scenery at that moment with a "Genesis feeling”. That was what I felt when I walked in this pristine desolate landscape. After returning from Romania, I discussed the results regularly with Clive by e-mail and by phone. After the discussion, I adjusted my panel. In March 2014 I have been present at the assessment in Bath. It was a special experience. The jury was unanimous and I got the predicate ARPS. After a long educational road of 2.5 years I could write ARPS behind my name. It still gives me a feeling of proudness when I look at my series of the mud volcanoes “Vulcanii Noroiosi”. A new photographic journey Now I am thinking about an assessment for the FRPS level. The theme is about traces of communism in former Eastern European countries. I do not know yet what it will look like. It will be a photographic journey for me again, for which I will take the necessary time. It must be a series that makes me happy and I shall have to travel a lot in former communist European countries.

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Statement ARPS Visual Art, 12th March 2014

“VULCANII NOROIOSI“ Nature in all its grandeur refreshes me, its offers repose and it is the inspiration for my landscape photography. The essential aspects for my personal expression are revealed through the random ‘artistic creations’ of nature, the cadences of light and the elusive sense atmosphere, to which I apply carefully considered interpretations and printing in colour. In the series my intention is to display the monumental and artistic character of the landscapes of the Mud Volcanoes, “Vulcanii Noroiosi”, in Romania. The beauty they show speaks of purity. There’s no evidence of human intervention in this almost alien landscape. It’s like magic. (Word count = 100)

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

Â© Jan Ros

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

Â© Jan Ros

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

Â© Jan Ros

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

Â© Jan Ros

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

Â© Jan Ros

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

Â© Jan Ros

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

THE MEOPTA FLEXARET VI ABATTLESHIP CONSTRUCTION text and photos by Eddie Maes LRPS It has been almost accidentally that I started collecting historical and classic cameras, back in 1970. It has been an ongoing passion, and the usability of an ancient camera, however elaborate (and sometimes absolutely “crafty”) it may be, is certainly one of the rewarding aspects. Most photographers will remember the Meopta brand (a Czechoslovakian producer, before the federation divided) for its basic but workhorse enlargers Opemus, Axomat and Magnifax, coming in different sizes. Much less known in the west were the cameras Meopta produced; it seems that they were distributed essentially on the markets east of the Iron Curtain... And let precisely that iron be one of the major characteristics of Meopta's line of Flexaret TLR cameras. Indeed, when you pick up a Flexaret you are immediately striken by the weight of the camera: the one at hand here weights 970 grams, let's call it one kilogram, without film. That is not as much as a late Rolleiflex TLR with 2.8 Planar lens, but 100 to 150 gram heavier than the more common Rolleiflexes or Rolleicords. The camera is indeed heavy and stable to handle, and controls have a feel of reliability. The camera family started with the Optiflex (the company was called Optikotechnika before it became state owned) and Flexette TLR cameras in 1938 and 1939. Only in 1948 Meopta launched the Flexaret name with a new model. Details of lens and shutter varied widely within the different model II to VII. The camera shown here (Fig. 1) is a Flexaret VI, almost the last of the line, produced 19611967. New in this model (and in model VII) is the addition of “automat” to the name shield. This refers to the introduction of an EV (exposure value) scale on the shutter and aperture settings (Fig. 2). Aperture and shutter are mechanically coupled so that changing shutter speed automatically adjusts aperture as well. Light meters from the 19fifties onward often offer such EV number scales, which can then be immediately transferred to the camera. The model VII (the last one, 1968) has just one extra feature: a sliding button next to the lens that allows arming the shutter without film transport, making possible double exposures.

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Another major feature had been introduced in model number IVa in 1953. It became possible to load the camera with 35mm film in standard 135 cassettes, by installing an accessory, consisting of an additional pressure plate and frame window, and some mechanical extensions of the axes of the spools. A vertical 24x36 frame was imprinted on the viewfinder ground glass for this and a dedicated 36 units frame counter was added. Of course, the 80 mm lens remained unchanged, and was not a standard lens for the format. Focusing of the camera works by moving the front element containing the viewfinder and taking lenses and the shutter (Fig. 3). It is done by moving a large focusing handle below the lens, which is also engraved with depth-of-focus information and travels in front of the distance scales (Fig. 4). Again, this mechanism feels very robust, with a stable position once set. One drawback of the construction is that the focusing handle must be returned to its middle position (approximately 2 meter setting) to be able to close the leather carrying case. Thus, opening the case never finds the camera ready and set at infinity focus, which must have taken some getting used to.

The two black and white photographs were taken with this camera at the fishing port of Yaffo - Israel, on the day I bought it in a second-hand shop, together with one roll of Ilford FP4 roll film, back in 1977.

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TO BROADEN MY KNOWLEDGE AND MEET NEW FELLOW PHOTOGRAPHERS text and photos by André Bergmans My name is André Bergmans (1953, Geldrop, - The Netherlands) and I was an amateur analogue photographer in the early seventies and only relatively recently I picked up this hobby again. For the past six years I have been a member of the photo club in Heiloo (NorthHolland), my current hometown, and the Dutch association of photo clubs, Fotobond. I have a professional life as an ICT professional for Canon Europe and I am the founder of the Canon Photo club in Amstelveen, where colleagues meet as photographers. Recently I joined the RPS and the Digital Imaging Group to broaden my knowledge and meet new fellow photographers. What does this bring to me and how do I feel as a newbie?

© André Bergmans Overseas members can enjoy most benefits that the RPS has to offer as the chapter has regional meetings and events. It just involves a bit of traveling for some of us. The Benelux chapter has at least ten different nationalities as far as I could count which brings something extra to the group. This is apart from the fact that many members in the chapter have such a rich experience in photography that I can only learn from them. The RPS Journal, the DIG newsletter and the Benelux newsletter are sources of inspirations and new ideas. It also is interesting how others went through the process for a distinction and experience the same as I do. I am working on a LRPS distinction panel but without the support of the Benelux Chapter it might become a lonely journey. The journey as such is worth the effort. Putting your photos in a panel makes you look at your work in a different and more critical way. All of a sudden the images have to ‘fit in’. Honestly speaking the RPS in general is far more critical towards the technical aspects than I experienced in the Dutch Fotobond. This is also what I experience when posting images on the panel group of the DIG special interest group. Some of my images were seriously criticised on technical aspects I never even heard of…. On the other hand, I sometimes ask myself when looking at images: ‘What is the message; what do you try to tell me and why did you make this image in the first place?’ The

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017

latter is a result of years of brainwashing in Dutch photography. A top-photo should have it all I think. So far I have not developed a special style or even a special field of interest, but it gradually reveals that I prefer working on a fixed topic for a longer period and working towards a series of photos. There is a preference for photography that is not straightforward but creates a slightly new world by selecting, adding and deleting, combining and altering. This is where the RPS Benelux Chapter Photography Project “Rockin’ Rotterdam” nicely kicks in. The aim is to take one creative photo in every street in Rotterdam. My contribution was to make a setup of the database to do the administration. Besides that, I claimed a postcode, which I will explore for the project. In the end it is a nice way to show the work that we have made either in an exhibition or a book.

For me photography is also about meeting people and discovering nearby and faraway places and to dig into topics unknown so far. The RPS Benelux Chapter is an excellent group to achieve that goal.

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CONTEMPORARY GROUP (A SIG) by Armando Jongejan FRPS In our first eJournal I wrote an article about Contemporary Photography. This time I write about the international Contemporary Group (CG), one of the 14 Special Interest Groups (SIGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S), Janet wrote about the SIGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in issue 3 of our eJournal. But first what is Contemporary Photography?

Contemporary Photography Photography that conveys ideas, stimulates thought and encourages interpretation; photographs 'about' rather than 'of' Source: RPS Contemporary Group

The Contemporary Group has 423 member worldwide. This group is for photographers interested in working on projects or series with a themed purpose. To get those members involved they have their own webpages on the RPS website, a Facebook page with very active members and they have a nice magazine four times a year. First the website If you visit the website of the CG you find a lot of information with upcoming events, like the CG Advisory Days and Assessment Days. Blogs, Events, Forums, Galleries and several regional contemporary groups, like the East Anglia, Midlands and Scotland. Since I become a member of the RPS I became a member of the CG too. The first year is even for free.

CG Website at: http://www.rps.org/Home/Special%20Interest%20Groups/Contemporary

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After the first year you have to pay for this SIG, like for all SIGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Four times a year you receive a great printed Magazine. Just for an impression I show you a few covers of the magazines. If you like, you are able to see some of these and other RPS publication at ISSUU: https://issuu.com/search?q=rps+contemporary.

Contact the RPS membership and SIGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Interested to become a CG member or a member of one of the other Special Interest Groups? The membership team are able to help and can be contacted on +(44)1225 325733 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday GMT or email to membership@rps.org. Looking forward to see your series in the magazine, website or Facebook pages!

Left: example Facebook page CG

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ROCKIN’ ROTTERDAM LATEST NEWS by Janet Haines ARPS The Chapter winter project has gotten off to a great start with two radio interviews conducted with member Jeroen Dorrestein. This caught the attention of Rotterdam residents, several of whom have gone on to become regular photographers for us.

So far we have held one public meeting attracting around 20 people who covered the central postcode areas. Additionally the ‘Own a Postcode’ scheme, where individuals, groups or clubs can take ownership of an entire postcode area, has proven to be really popular. Already some have completed their areas and provided some great creative images. That is what it is all about – one creative image in every street in the Rotterdam postcodes 30XX: all 4000+ of them. Currently we are in negotiation for a Rockin’ Rotterdam exhibition. With high hopes that we can pull this off we will, of course, let you all know as soon as anything is finalised. In the meantime why not join us at one of our regular monthly photo walks and get your images up on the website or on Facebook (last Sundays of the month | January - April).

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MY EXPERIENCES TO BECOME A DISTINCTON PANEL MEMBER by Armando Jongejan FRPS On 25th January 2016 I was invited to become a member of the Conceptual and Contemporary Panel (C&C). I got an email from Andy Moore LRPS (the Distinctions Manager of the RPS) “At a recent Distinctions Advisory Board meeting, your name was put forward as a potential panel member.” I accepted this invitation and it was special to be invited. Afterwards I understood that I was supported by Ray Spence FRPS and Roy Robertson HonFRPS, both members of the Distinction Advisory Board (DAB) and the Fellowship Board. Training period To become a member I had to go through a training period of an Introduction Day (into the processes, standards and responsibilities), an Advisory Day and one Assessment Day. If the Society and I were happy after that, I would be a full member of the C&C Panel. We had an informal BeNeLux Advisory Day in Brussels on 13th February 2016 before the Introduction Day. Roy Robertson was the formal member during this day and I was invited to comment as a trainee Panel member. I think it is important to learn from each other (UK and overseas). The Induction Day was in May in Bath. It gave me the opportunity to see what the RPS staff members are doing and I got the explanation of the process and requirements of a panel member. I must say I enjoyed it very much. The Introduction Day was well organized and it was good how the staff members planned everything. Roger Reynolds HonFRPS was one of the DAB members and he gave a perfect overview of the role of a panel member, how to apply, to advise members, the applications, terms and conditions, the different panels and so on. We were with about 10 new panel members for Natural History, C&C, Applied and some other panels. The Advisory Day was organized in September in Southampton. Well, I was not able to say anything… just the two Official Advisors were allowed to give their opinion. I understand, but as you perhaps know, I want to talk too…! But I must say it was nice to meet about 60 members from the South of the UK. The role of the advisors was to advise how members should evolve their own styles, while achieving appropriate technical quality. Some for L, A or even F-level. They gave constructive feedback to the members. It must be positive but critical, fair and decisive comments and with empathy. The participants must have the possibility to learn and we (the panel members / advisors) must inspire! The third and final day was the Assessment Day, a few weeks later in Bath with the other C&C panel members. Although my vote did not count (I was not a member yet) it was really great. I enjoyed the way the panel members spoke and discussed the images. It was decent, with a lot of respect for the photos, the photographers and the models. I was really impressed. Result After almost one year of preparation, in December the Council of the RPS ratified that I will become a panel member in 2017. I also see my membership of the C&C Panel as an opportunity to promote the RPS in the Benelux and the other way around. To meet different photographers, it expands my horizons. And yes it can be awkward. Not everyone will pass, but generally, it is interesting and in my opinion worthwhile. I’m looking forward to joining my first official Assessment Day in April 2017!

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“COLOURED CONCRETE” VIENNA PROVIDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR ALL text and photos by Paul Schot Paul Schot has just completed an exhibition of his work “Coloured Concrete” in November 2016, as part of the “Eyes On” month of photography festival in Vienna. Vienna’s effort to provide affordable housing for all newcomers, wherever they are from is commendable. The town council has been promoting new housing projects since World War I. But the prize winning architecture, over its lifespan often given a new lease of life with patterns of coloured paint, fails to remedy the shortcomings of housing estates found in many of the world’s big cities; they are filled with the emptiness of anonymity.

These photos are in part documentary, in part subjective. They consciously hold the middle ground between a realistic portrayal of modern Viennese architecture and a personal statement. They constitute a comment on a way of living where human occupation is only visible in minimalistic traces of activity, an environment dominated by economical, efficient blocks. The work strives to hold up a mirror, stimulate reflection. Will these types of estates be adequate as our homes? Or should we encourage town councils and architects worldwide to take the need for living quarters in which humanity might thrive and develop from a social perspective even more into account? Paul Schot has been taking photographs for over 35 years, mostly in his home country, the Netherlands. From 2009 to 2016 he was living in Vienna, Austria, a very productive time for Paul as photographer. His photos were published in the American magazine B&W in 2011, winning Paul a merit award for his portfolio. With a photo from the Neusiedlersee area Paul won the British Photographer of the Year Competition of the magazine B+W Photography in the Category Land in that year. In Vienna itself other things drew the photographer’s eye, for a buddhist there are many captivating images to be found, emotions mostly evoked by the impermanence of things.

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Vienna has a long history and a lot of things have an inherent quality of transience, disappearing, changing into something new but not quite fixed. Nothing is real, but in Vienna this sometimes becomes more apparent to the eye. This resulted in a series of old Viennese shopfronts, successfully exhibited in the Netherlands and partly published in Paul’s first book, “A Year Alone in Vienna” in 2012, the book winning the Fotobuch Award 2012 from the Austrian VÖAV. The year 2013 was a particularly busy year. The photographer’s discovery of Venice - a place of fading colours, again a place of transience, although it still carefully maintains its balance at the water's edge – a very popular destination among the Viennese, resulted in September

Of that year in a solo exhibition in the Vienna International Center. Meanwhile the photographer was hard at work completing a series of photos on the Western Front of the First World War, an ongoing interest for the previous seven years, to be completed on the Centenary of the War. The result was published as a book in January 2014, “Set in Stone”, Commemorating The First World War (ISBN 978-3-200-03485-3, available through Amazon.uk.co or through the website of the photographer). The book contains 100 pages of photos for 100 years of commemoration, with photos from the Belgian coast to the mountains of the Vosges, all in the personal, emotional style of the photographer, once more pointing to the transience and emptiness of the world. In 2015 Paul won the competition of the Viennese Heeresgeschichtliches Museum for best photography of World War I monuments. In January 2015 Paul completed “Coloured Concrete” (ISBN 978-3-200-03919-3, available through the website of the photographer) the work shown here. Paul joined the Benelux Chapter of the RPS on his return to the Netherlands. His work will be presented as a panel to gain the RPS Associateship in April 2017. See also www.paulschot.com.

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ROBBENEILAND / ROBBEN ISLAND text and photos by Armando Jongejan FRPS Every year I want to make a small photobook. I started with this series in 2009 (Creebridge Caravan Park, a former Prisoners of War Camp – RPS BeNeLux eJournal Issue 1, Autumn 2015) and since that moment I try to make at least one book a year. You understand: after ten years you have ten small photobooks and ten different series. Each book contains 15 to almost 40 photographs. After ten years I want to make one big book. Perhaps they will be published, like my other books of Monastic life but otherwise just as a printing on demand book. I try to photograph my series under the same light conditions, with the same visual awareness, and its effect on moods cropping the images, my personal input and understanding about my subjects. Those ten series must have a signature. My signature! You understand it is about, rather than of: Contemporary Photography. This series is about a very special and historical place: Robbeneiland / Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town in South Africa. It has a long history and since the mid-1600s, when the Dutch settled at the Cape, Robben Island has been used primarily as a prison. From the 17th to the 20th centuries, Robben Island served as a place of banishment, isolation and imprisonment. Indigenous African leaders, Muslim leaders from the East Indies, Dutch and British soldiers and civilians, women, and anti-apartheid activists (including South Africa's first democratic President, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela) have been imprisoned on the Island. Mandela (1918 - 2013) was imprisoned on Robben Island in 1964 where he remained for the next eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison. His prison number was 46664. The prison conditions were very basic. Confined to a small cell, the floor his bed, a bucket for a toilet, he was allowed to meet one visitor a year for 30 minutes. He could write and receive one letter every six months. After several years at Robben Island Mandela got his own prison garden in the courtyard near his cell. Since 1997 Robben Island has been a museum and a heritage site. Robben Island Museum has been described as the ’university of life’, for it is here where strategies for a future society based on tolerance, respect and non-racialism were nurtured and implemented by political prisoners. Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison in Paarl on 11 February 1990. As a leader of the African National Congress (ANC), Mandela was inaugurated on 10 May 1994 as the first black President of South-Africa. See also the book http://www.blurb.com/books/3772001-robbeneiland-robben-island.

BeNeLux Chapter eJournal - number 4 - Winter 2017