More snow in NL :)

18 December, -6 degrees Celsius in the Netherlands. Cartracks near our studio.

View of my window on the morning of 17 December, I love waking up and the world is white :)



view from our studio to Westerparklaan both ways



Breda, "Teletubby Hill" = fun!

Let it snow!

After a very good, dry & warm summer, today, on my husband Hans' birthday, there's snow again in NL :) Last year we had a good period of cold weather as well, the kids could skate once ice etc. Never thought this year we would have a white period as well! :)

I just love the texture of snow, it covers the dark, ugly world and makes i a bright new, light one. Since ever I had my own camera, I've been doing winter landscapes, with a twist.
Like the auto tracks, seen from the appartmentbuilding where I lived when I was studying photography @ the St. Joost Art Academy. I lived in Breda-Noord, de Geeren, and the scenery just outside the block was: flat. Landscapes of farmers, grass meadows with cows (in summer) and narrow roads, real countryside, right there on my doorstep.
Now I live closer to the citycentre, and yeah, I do miss the views, the wide scapes and space, as the city is crowded and poluted.
Snow white landscape, Breda, the Netherlands. Photo taken with my old Pentax camera and Tri-X Kodak film. Those were the days!

Crossing Geeren-Zuid

Crossing Geere...

Urban Exploring us...

By www.MeRy.com

Book Preview

New photobook uploaded: Crossing Geeren-Zuid, stills in 'urban exploring' style which I call Traces Of Silence... have a peak here, preview available & worldwide shipping :)

It was such fun to do a shoot with my F100 Nikon again, I just love the old technique of crossing E6 film, what vivid colors and what nice structure!

World Aids Day

Dec. 1, World Aids Day...in 2005 my photo "River of Blood, River of Life" was auctioned for an orphanage in Suriname and today Twitter turns all #red tweets RED :) STOP AIDS NOW

@joinred It’s World AIDS Day. Turn Twitter RED -literally! Use #red or #laceupsavelives & turn tweets the color red. ONE COLOR UNITES US

Eigenzinnige en creatieve trouwreportage - fotograaf Hans van Nunen

Wedding Photog...

By Hans van Nunen/Art...

Book Preview

My husband and fellow photographer Hans van Nunen of Artstudio23 makes beautiful and obstinate wedding reportages, check out this new, most creative portfolio wedding album of his latest work.

Looking for a nice present?

www.blurb.com/user/store/MeRy71 ...why not buy a reasonable priced photobook?? I've published a number of photobooks with Blurb.com, they're all printed on Premium Paper, online preview,
shipping worldwide

80 pages of fun, over 99 brides Trashed their weddingdresses on 09-09-09 @ the Scheveningen Beach in the Netherlands. Most recent publication about it: www.Boston.com/bigpicture :) we hit #8 in this line-up of "big pictures on the shoreline" November 2009.

Portfolio of my combined photos, old street card photos merge into one new image with close-ups of Dutch flowers.

Tantetje (Auntie) is a portrait of the Dutch house of a 100 year old lady of Breda, the Netherlands.


There's one book that's not available tru Blurb: PURE. Proud young mothers my photobook about young mothers age 16-22, posing nude, pregant or with their baby...they chose LIFE Preview HERE
If you wish I'll send the translation of the texts too -the stories of 9 of the women and facts & figures of teenage pregnancy in the Netherlans- without any extra charge, just leave me a message!

November

Fall, Breda, the Netherlands

The last leafs fell down from the trees...now it's not so colorfull outside anymore, but kinda dark and grey...boring? I dunno. Maybe. I like the sun, but I also like the night. It's the cold I can't stand haha ;)
But so far so good, we haven't had any really bad bad days yet, and snow & ice aren't in NL untill Jan/Feb most likely. No white Xmas for us, that hasn't happen in years.

We do have some Christmas weddings this December, and at the moment I am very busy with the natural redhead shoots. I like portraits. I like people. I like photography. Tho abandoned places are cool too, I just love to explore an abandoned area for 'Traces Of Silence'. Often it's a portrait too, of the people who lived or worked in that area or building...without seeing them in the picture.

If you are looking for a photobook about urban exploring: have a look HERE at my Traces Of Silence book, available worldwide tru Blurb. Online preview available. Excellent Christmas gift. Cadeau tip!

Natural Redheads

Natural redhead Joep posing au naturel :)

At the moment I am busy with a lot of photoshoots with natural redheads, as I am doing a 3rd (and final?) study of making portraits of people with ginger hair. Check MeRy.nl/rood, for more info about this art project.

It started with helping out painter and organisor Bart Rouwenhorst with his Redheadday in 2007, as I did some promotional/publicity shots and I worked on the project Red-On-Red, during the Roodharigendag (Redheadday). Red-On-Red portraits are also available as a photobook.

In 2008 my husband and fellow photographer Hans van Nunen of our studio Artstudio23 Artstudio23 in Breda, the Netherlands, worked with me on the project Medusa, which also available as a book. As Blurb is shipping worldwide, I reckon these books make an excellent and affordable Christmas gifts :)

This year I was too busy to work during the Redheadday, so at the moment I have people coming to the studio. It actually works 10 times better, more relaxed and faster. Yes, I did 100 women in 2 hours in 2007, but...at this moment we can chat a bit more model-to-photographer and we have less stressed photoshoots than during the redheaddays. So it works for the best this way!

Results (again a photobook) will be available in spring 2010.

Now available: final version of my photobook 09-09-09 99 brides Trash the Dress!

Trash The Dres...

99 brides "trashed...

By MeRy/Melanie Rijke...

Book Preview

Available worldwide: the photobook of the mass Trash the Dress by photographer MeRy (Melanie Rijkers) on 09-09-09. Over 99 brides trashing their wedding dresses for an artistic shoot by Artstudio23 Breda on the beach of Scheveningen.

U can order the book HERE or preview HERE or use Blurb.com
search for MeRy71 :) there's more photos on Hyves as well

Beautiful Valerie

Lovely Valerie posing for me in postpop art style

I met Valerie for another project, about the integration of eldery people. She was one of the grandchildren who listened to a story told by a grandparent. I did a series of portraits for the brochure and also the portraits were printed big size on the bus which shows the film shot from them telling/listening to each other.

Photobook 09-09-09 published

Hi, am so proud: on 20-09-2009 (we put the day before the month in NL) I managed to publish the photobook about our big event on 09-09-09: Trash The Dress with over 99 brides in the Northsea, Scheveningen, the Netherlands. U can order the book HERE or preview HERE or use Blurb.com
search for MeRy71 :) there's more photos on Hyves as well

99 brides trashed their wedding dress on 09-09-09 Scheveningen Beach, the Netherlands

www.trashthedress.nl
(will have the album online soon here) xM

Red! already Honorable Mention IPA 2009

Red-On-Red IPA 2009 award???

Hey this is so funny, nowadays they keep sending you e-mails when your photo has passed another round while judging it @ the IPA 2009 (International Photography Awards, by the Lucy Foundation) My portraits of natural redheads dressed in red (Red-On-Red) has passed the 2nd round and now has entered the final and last round!! Fingers crossed everyone!! ...let's hope the jury finds it ok to be a prizewinner :) :) :)

If you want to know more about my series check www.mery.nl/rood

You can order the book Red-On-Red HERE
and the photobook of Medusa (with fellow photographer Hans van Nunen, shot @ the redheadday 2008) HERE.

Hello Melanie Rijkers,

Congratulations. Your entry 'Red!' has advanced through the second round and is now in the third and final round of the jurying process. Your entry is now an official Honorable Mention of the 2009 International Photography Awards.
In addition, your entry is now competing for a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place title. All winners will be announced on Tuesday, August 18th.
Congratulations again. Stay Tuned and thank you for participating in the 2009 International Photography Awards.

Sincerely,

International Photography Awards

No more photos

No more photography on latest cd-covers

Last week it suddenly hit me when I was re-organising my mp3's: the albums I am listening to at the moment are without any photography on the cover. Placebo used to have weird body/people photography and ofcourse 'our' Anton (Corbijn) was the house photographer of Depeche Mode (and many more bands like e.g. U2) Corbijn always made arty pictures of what once was 'just a synthesizer popband' but nowadays is the best live "oldy" act ever ;)

(Seen them in Rotterdam a few years ago, pics HERE )
Also the Pet Shop Boys recently stated in a Dutch TV-guide "That they never are out of fashion". Conclusion: Album cover photography is?? (out of fashion) :S

Dark-ness

Door, Sommelsdijk, Zeeland, June 22, 2009

Two weeks ago I returned to the lovely village Sommelsdijk, to finish my series for the Woningbouw Vereniging's newest buildings. Social housing but with flair. They ordered a series on canvas, and want to add summer pics, to the winter ones I did half a year ago.

I like going back to places, see what's changed, or what's not. Like the demolition in Breda-Noord, I am definately gonna go back there in autumn, when the building starts. It's like the Peelland College in Deurne, my old secondary school. They moved from an old building after 40 years (!) to a brand new one, and I took photos of Traces Of Silence just before they started a new semester in December 2005. Now my old school is turned into the Alfrink College, also leaving an old, worn out building empty in Deurne, the Netherlands. (next book! :)

Order your copy here here (shipping worldwide!) or have a look at the first pages online here here

Now I only want the sun to come back, as it's summer here, but a rainy week s far. Last weeks were gordeous, and hopefully I can do some more 'bright blue sky' photos next week again :) Love, M

Black Beauty

Black Beauty in the eveningsun @ the wedding of Landa & Colin :)

30 May was already a hot day (weekend) but now we really are getting temps above 30 degrees Celcius man! We in NL say: 'the mares fall of the roof' (coz of the heat) so tomorrow's wedding will eb a hot hot hot one. Lucky for me we start early, so I have good hope the reportage will be done by the time they all are sticky & sweaty ;)
Also due to the heat I can't work my 80 hours, it's just too hot. Am not killing myself in this heat, and try to work early mornings and late afternoons only. Tomorrow I can't avoid the heat of the middle of the day, but...on Saturday no jobs for me so I can finally relax.
As a photographer you hardly have a whole weekend off, as a lot of ppl want to come when they are free: weekends. Also my husband and I work a lot in the evening, at the moment he'd lecturing a photography course in our studio, so work work work. Yes, there is a crisis, and yes, ppl look for different ways to get (cheaper) photography, but we are busy as ever.
Digital photography also demands a lot of desktop time, retouching the files and convert them from RAW into Jpegs. Almost all our clients want photos on cd-rom, which we only deliver highest quality and retouched.
Empty houses - for Social housing company Singelveste/Alleewonen Breda (NL)

London Wedding pics online

Finally Landa & Colin's wedding pics from London online here :)

A-na-log

A-na-log. Do you remember? To have to put a film in your camera? And when finished to have to get the film developed, wait for 1 hour or 3 days and get your photos and negatives back. Do you still have them somewhere?

I do. Boxes of them, loads! My children's births ('99 and '02) but also all my professional wedding series, I always did them with professional films by Fuji (Reala and NPH) & Kodak (B/W T400cn and Ektachrome) untill a few years ago. I used color and b/w at the same time, meaning I had to use two cameras, as I wanted to be able to change from black & white to color whenever I felt like it. Also there weren't many 'wanna-be' wedding photographers: it was too hard to get a decent picture, and what if none of the photos came out right!!!

I was surprised to see the latest (Dutch) Hide & Chic cover: Audrey Hepburn (1965) by Douglas Kirkland 100% Photoshop free! Great!!! Ladies, and especially the ones younger then 25: this is what moviestars honestly look like. As there weren't many ways to get rid of the wrinkles, pores or facial hair it's all visible. Ofcourse people used softfocus lenzes but in this case Kirkland made a very very sharp set of photos of Audrey. (btw she's part Dutch did you know that? ;)

No 'plastic fantastic' face, but a real person like you and me, flesh and blood. I just love these photos!

To have to work on film as a photographer, that's pure art man. "Everybody can take photos". But not everybody can take a good photo :) Photography still is a profession, almost a craft. Who of the new generation photographers can and will be able to do e.g. a wedding on film? I just love the old chemical proces (C41) I even worked in 1 Hour Super Photo as well when I was a student :) And the black & white home developing and printing proces: I just loved being in the dark room. But true: it's far better for your health to work behind the screen, I admit ;)
© Picture Desk, Douglas Kirkland/Corbis, Hollandse Hoogte

Back from sunny UK again

Sunny Theatresquare, Stratford, London UK

Passing one of the 2012 stadiums, Stratford area, London UK

Back again from the UK :) Colin & Landa got married in London, they had a party with 'carribean food' and the whole lot, so very nice job to do, but very exhausting too ;) Lucky for me I had two extra days to walk around the city a bit. I had to travel along the building site of the new stadiums for the olympics in 2012, and I like to make a series there man! So nice to see the area being build up, old buildings are being demolished and as this kind of photography is my specialty...I'd like to work there some more. So far no commissioned '2012'-job whatsoever, pity!! :(

I do a lot of abandoned places, as I now am busy with the Geeren in Breda. I started with portraits of the people who had to get out of their homes, and last week I am doing interior stills of the houses. Traces Of Silence again, and I just love it. I like doing series like this, like my Tantetje (Auntie) book. Auntie lives in this house for over 60 years now, and it reflects her, and is almost a portrait. Check my Blurbbook Tantetje here worldwide shipping available!

PURE. the book

Great news this week about my photobook PUUR. Trotse tienermoeders (PURE. Proud young mothers) It's in 3rd position on the bestsellers list @ Bol.com, a Dutch online big bookstore :)))


Also the book has reached the attention of America, as I got a lovely e-mail of Jonny & his wife, who saw my book in the window of Selexyz Scheltema (a big bookstore in Amsterdam). They took photos to remember the book and author, so they could e-mail me, how very sweet!


Am working on a translation of the book, it's a photobook, so lucky for me there aren't too much texts, only 9 interviews with some of my models and a foreword and lil bit of facts & figures at the end of the book. I can easily translate the most important texts and send it with the book. So...if you are interested in your own copy of this artbook: only 19,95 EURO (+ 10,00 shipping & handling)
The books contains 79 nude portraits of proud young mothers, age 16-22, pregnant or with their babies. Mothers who chose LIFE and didn't want an abortion, which in the Netherlands isn't a fuzz at all.

Those women are brave, strong but also prejudiced and looked down on. My goal was to show their pride, that they chose with their hearts and wanted their child just as much as the (older) mothers in our country. There's more English text in www.MeRy.nl/puur to explain my project.

But now am on my way to the UK again, another wedding, in London this time. Talk to you later, enjoy the weekend, am off! :) xMx