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