Lieve Lenka

Lieve Lenka, welcome in this world :) we love you already! xxx

My sister had her 2nd baby last night and...it's a girl! (First in the family :) So we are very proud and happy and she's just so very lovely :))) Lenka Catharina Sophia, sister of Bickel, was born 23 January, 23.03, 2009, father Alex Stok and mother Anouk Rijkers.

With a lot of work to do she completely got my attention last night and today, so I was in no shape of working or producing any art :p
Well folks, will have a try tomorrow, for today I was auntie Mel :)

Carnaval

Youri & Bart star in theatergroup Tiuri. These actors stay in their part as the see Prince Carnaval. They act like two gangsters and "steal" the typical Carnaval hats and capes so when wearing it they yell "alááááf!!" to all Kielegatters.

Carnaval is nearly there. Not only in Brasil but also in Holland we celebrate Carnaval. Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during January and February. Carnival typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations. Carnival is mostly associated with the Roman Catholic religion. (Source: Wikipedia NL)

For the special newspaper called the Kontklopper ("Tap on the but")I was asked to do a couple of shoots with dressed up Kielegatters, the name we use for the people of Breda when it's Carnaval. We aren't called the city of Breda, but the Kielegat, which means as much as the city where people were a 'kiel' (farmer's blouse).



Ger Couvreur owner of the Tapperijke (pub in Breda, where he plays music on the empty bottles like a madman ;-)

Update MeRy

Beautiful Bags your own photo on a funky bag, this is Marieke van Ginneken's daughter Catootje posing proudly with her mummy's new streetbag :-)

Hi, back on track again, but still in pain sometimes. My left leg is hurting when trying to sleep on my side, the nerve is still not well, but...I am getting better bit by bit. For me working 'slow speed' is very weird, as I am always busy busy busy. But I like that, doing a lot of things at one time, as I always have the feeling there's so little time and so much to do. (to create) I can never stop making art, I always want to create new images and obstinate pictures, photographes that make people stop when passing by. I had that happen with the preview of PURE. in Enschede, people were attracted inside when passing the gallery just because of my work. And when a woman started crying when looking at the first 10 photos I was almost shocked: can my photos really do that?? But yeah, it made me proud as well. PURE. is pure, and that's the strength. In these Plastic Fantastic days of Photoshopped women all over the magazines my young mothers are pure and 100% Photoshop-Free, showing pimples, striae and other 'defects'...to me they are just PERFECT :-)

Also perfect was the latest Beautiful Bag I received a couple of days ago, mom Marieke was very proud of her daughter in postpop art style on her new photobag.

PUUR. in de Melkweg

PUUR. (PURE.) in de Melkweg Gallery Amsterdam 1 April - 3 May 2009

The project PURE. Proud young mothers is getting there. After 3 years of hard work I now have collected 75 portraits of naked young mothers, who posed pregnant and/or with child(ren). Being a teenmom life is hard, and their choice (they chose LIFE) isn't always respected.
In Holland teenage pregnancies are the last taboo, as all seems to be possible in NL, having a baby at a younger age (< 25) is almost a sin. But our mothers were 21, so what's so wrong with being a young mother nowadays?? By publishing the photos in a beautiful book called PUUR. Trotse Tienermoeders I hope people will change their minds and, like me, see that motherhood is a beautiful thing, no matter what age the mom is.
Check it Out @ d'JongeHond Miranda Baas text, Paperback, 16 x 24 cm, 120 pages, circa 100 photos ISBN 978-90-89101-03-7, € 19,95

Renaissance Winner :)

My photo Tantetjes Bouqetbooks made it to the last 60 @ renaissancephotography.org ...am not a money-prize-winner but I made it into exhibition @ the Idea Generation Gallery, 11 Chance Street, London E2 7JB from 17 - 23 March. So Tantetje is one of the 60 best (chozen out of 2500!) @ The Renaissance 2009 exhibition :-)

Order your own copy of the photobook Tantetje (auntie) HERE



Other than that am back @ work again after a weird week with severe back aches and leg (nerve) pains. It's still not completely gone, as it's a intervertebral disc at my lower back which is irritated and pressing against my nerves. The week was cold (it's freezing again in Holland bah, no ice to skate on tho) and I was very sleepy! :p ...the drugs I got to ease the pain were making me a sleepyhead and in bed by 10, normally I am like a night owl and like to work untill 1 am.
So I managed to get some work done during businesshours :p but had no more time to e.g. design more new webpages for our websites...
clients come first...even tho our websites need to be filled with 101 new photos! We did a lot of family and pregnancy shoots last few weeks. Also new weddings are being booked and I even got myself a nice photojob in London again. Unfortunately it's cutting close to the exhibition openingday @ the Melkweg Gallery in Amsterdam April 1 so I will be running around like crazy again soon am afraid...