They were sitting on a bench in my father’s idyllic village. I asked if I could take a picture of them. Of course I first had to explain what my intention was. “In honor of the birthday of a famous Dutch street photographer, we were invited to take a picture in his style as a tribute. So we try to take a picture the way he would take a picture.” “You look like a serious photographer,” She said. “So go ahead. But first you have to take a picture of us with my cell phone.” It was their wedding day; they enjoyed the sun, the beautiful surroundings and especially each other.
Floating away into the wonderful world of Jugenstil and Art deco. That is another way to go back in time. I love this period of more than a century ago, when books were written with words that had a life of their own and paintings offered a dreamy world where miracles were just about to happen. This portrait was taken almost two years ago, and needed the time to grow into this aquarel style
Peter Westenbrink from Utrecht is an extraordinary artist. Right now his art is flying in orbit around the globe in the International Space Station, where a box contains numerous small pieces of art, made by artists like Peter.
He asked me to make a poster of him and his art. The concept he created himself, in the style of his other works (take a look at his website www.boutkunst.nl). I merely did the handwork: the photography and the editing in Photoshop.
The objects are a reference to the first word he learned to read at school. The teacher had these wooden tablets with images and a word, like the one on the picture (which in reality is approximately 50 cm in length), and the first one was: Moon! He transformed that idea in a piece of art the size of 1 cubic centimetre, the maximum size. All art in the space station will return to earth later this year, and after that another mission awaits. The aim is to go to the very moon itself, to create the first art exhibition on the moon. Lots of arrangements still have to be made with NASA and all, but the goal is clear. You can see it hanging in the sky every day.
Addendum Just got a message from Peter: “Coincidentally, the work of art (along with 63 more) returned to Earth today (January 11). At 11:19 a.m. our time, the space capsule splashed into the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida. The attached photo was taken at the landing site, shortly before landing on 4 parachutes. You see the spacecraft falling from the sky like a fireball (heat is released due to the friction with air particles in the atmosphere).”
Af en toe komt iemand met een leuke vraag. “Ik wil graag zo’n portret met bloemen op mijn hoofd. Maar dan wel met mijn eigen gezicht, want ik wil geen vreemde in mijn huis.”
Et voilá. Een portret in de stijl van de oude meesters.
Ik ben benieuwd: Hoe zou jij jezelf terug willen zien?
“Het is leuk om mijn harde kant op de foto’s naar buiten te laten komen. Ik heb namelijk een heel zacht karakter. Ik ben catwalkcoach voor modellen en organiseer ook mijn eigen modellen wedstrijden. Ook treed ik op als gastheer. Leuk werk waarbij ik over de hele wereld reis. Binnenkort mag ik weer naar Colombia voor een modellenwedstrijd.
Ik help modellen op allerlei manieren om hun weg te vinden, met evenementen, advies en producten. De juiste mindset is daarbij belangrijk. Mijn motto is: What you do, the way you think, makes you beautiful.
Ik zie veel mensen die zijn gericht op succes of roem. Dat vind ik niet zo’n goede motivatie om richting te geven aan wat je doet. Het belangrijkste is om te doen wat je leuk vindt. Daarna is het vooral een kwestie van vooral doorgaan en volhouden. Je hebt ook een beetje geluk nodig. Toeval bepaalt wat er op je pad komt, en als jij er klaar voor bent kun jij de kansen pakken als ze langs komen.
De Portrettenmaker 