Milan van Dril's IN DE OOST will be one of our favorite publications of 2021. The project with behind the scenes photography was released as part of the extensive campaign for the polarizing Dutch war movie De Oost (The East). A first of its kind, in the tradition of the great American anti-war films, De Oost portrays the 1945 - 1949 Indonesian War of Independence through the eyes of a disillusioned Dutch soldier. A subject matter that hadn't made it to the Dutch cinemas yet, because it ended 350 years of Dutch colonial rule in South-East Asia in a rather shameful manner. IN DE OOST presents a selection of analogue imagery by one of our favorite young Dutch photographers, who has created a time capsule of the set that erupted in Indonesia during the first half of 2019. [ Continue reading ]

Before our little hiatus, we shared the incredible ITEN, one of the Distance book series, by Thibaut Grevet. It portrays one of the world’s most emblematic locations related to running and its culture. The first volume of this collection was devoted to the mythical village of Iten in Kenya. A new publication takes us all the way back, now through the lens of photographer Anne-Sophie Soudoplatoff, who shot the ‘Home of Champions’ for Asics. A beautiful series of abstract, poetic images. Capturing team spirit in vivid colours. [ Continue reading ]

In the heat of everything that has been taking place throughout the world it’s encouraging, inspiring and very educational to hear the many voices that need to be heard and understood and see the extraordinary initiatives all over the world in search for more equality. What touched us in particular is See In Black. A project where over 80 black photographers are selling original prints to raise funds for five non-profits that work to dismantle white supremacy and systematic oppression. See In Black’s “Black America Vol. 1” project is a highly-curated stock of images from photographers including Andre Wagner, Flo Ngala, and Renell Medrano that are on sale now. [ Continue reading ]

Greek photographer Yiannis Hadjiaslanis shared his latest project ‘Ascension’ with us. Shot on two visits to Mt. Bromo, in 2017, and 2020. Hadjiaslanis work explores narratives of places, documenting locations in Greece, across the Mediterranean and the African continent, he engages with questions of historical memory, the present conditions and speculated futures of lived environments, and their significance for those who live, create, interact and evolve with them. Whit his latest project Hadjiaslanis explores the Indonesian Mount Bromo, an open and bare landscape covered with ash in million shades of grey. A ‘Sea of Sand’. [ Continue reading ]

Over the course of multiple years, both industrial designers Hank Beyer and Alex Sizemore, explored parts of the American Midwest researching eight material origins and their associated processes and history. Resulting in this highly aesthetic project called For the Rest of Us: A Journey into the Intangible Values of Regional Materials and Personal Computing. They’ve travelled extensively, interviewing dozens of people, collecting artefacts and taking pictures. From each material Beyer and Sizemore created a computer, providing a point of familiarity to an alternative reality. [ Continue reading ]

Last year the Paris running shop Distance published their first book called ITEN by photographer and artistic director Thibaut Grevet, with the aim to produce a singular vision of some of the world’s most emblematic places related to running and its culture. Earlier this year they published their second book, now in collaboration with photographer Wendy Huynh. A beautiful hardcover with 170 pages filled with images shot on Reunion Island during the incredible Grand Raid or Diagonale des fous. We asked Yoann Wenger from Distance for a little Q&A with Wendy on how the book came about. [ Continue reading ]

As my focus is shifting towards running (while training for my first ultra marathon), my colleague Thomas showed me the Distance shops in Paris and Lyon and got totally hooked by what they do, the brands they cary and the projects they initiate. One of these projects is The Distance Book Series by photographer and artistic director Thibaut Grevet with the aim to produce a singular vision of some of the world’s most emblematic places related to running and its culture. The first volume of this collection is devoted to the mythical village of Iten in Kenya. [ Continue reading ]

Last januari we traveled to Barcelona to do a project with the super talented photographer Adrià Cañameras for L’Ascolana, a new-old sneaker brand we are working on at …,staat. While this project is not completely finished to share with the rest of the world, Adrià published a new project he worked on over the past months called Reasonable Blood. [ Continue reading ]

The brutal aesthetics hidden within the familiar of everyday life, the globalized sameness of todays metropolises, and the way these megacities are meticulously planned are central themes in Wolfgang Lehrner's work. As great fans of his immaculate eye, we have shared his beautiful Athens-shot series 'Metro-Polis' here before. Lehrner’s latest ambitious project named 'City Without Name' is another incredible addition to his body of work. Capturing different aspects of everyday life in Mexico City in his unique manner, he takes the spectator from the heart of the city all the way to the periphery and back again; always finding an extraordinary level of abstraction, straight lines, anonymous people on the move through the constructions erupted out of a seemingly infinite mix of glass, steel and concrete. Lehrner captures moments in Mexico City that are so familiar, yet feel as if taking place on a different planet. Evermore questioning the utopian concept of modernity, he portrays a city without distinct limits, always finding a way to mould these uniform and monotone moments into intrinsically captivating images. [ Continue reading ]

What is it, that attracts us so much in raw and unpolished images like these, that capture the world of young adults? Despite that the genre appears in numerous forms, transcending different continents and contrasting cultures, there is always a similar open-mindedness balanced with a certain fragility that comes with youthfulness to be observed. Whether it is to be found in the colorful images of Gilleam Trapenberg or Katja Kremenić, the 78’s captured by Gil Rigoulet, the kids along the 8,000 Miles on a Motorcycle by Robin de Puy or the dark Dystopian Sequences by Alexis Vasilikos. All of these representations are related through a similar energy, inspired by the lack of a strictly demanding moral imperative — they all caption life's randomness in full effect that hits one first as an adolescent…

We just discovered a worthy addition to this list of favorites in the genre, created by the young Kiev-based photographer Nazar Furyk’s, whose ongoing series capturing the hedonistic youth of Ukraine’s provinces is uncompromising raw and beautifully vibrant, sucking one directly into the palpable world he has captured in still frames. [ Continue reading ]

Lisbon-based publisher Pierre von Kleist is one of the creative platforms that we have had a love affair with from the moment when we first discovered their incredible publications. They say love fades over time, but Pierre von Kleist has consistently published top notch projects during the few years that we've been following them, making it safe to say that we feel no different than years ago. Their latest publication, that has been released last week, is named 'Concrete Octopus' and takes off where renown Japanese photographer Osamu Kanemura´s 2002 acclaimed 'Spider's Strategy' left. For the first time, Pierre von Kleist teamed up with Tokyo-based publisher Osiris to create the beautiful new publication with new moody black and white work done between 2011 and 2013. As Kanemura's familiar dark film noir alike signature runs through every page of the book, it fits perfectly that  film critic Chris Fujiwara was given the chance to write the accompanying text included in the book.

It would be strange and misleading, though obviously not wholly inaccurate, to call these photographs “images of the Japan of the present time.” Though they might perhaps have much to say to the social historian, their documentary function is circumscribed by the interest in exploring a visual universe too disunited and incomplete to be recognizable as a cultural or historical form. In these images, the world presents itself with great purity and without provocation or seduction, as though poised in the interval before the repetition of an already forgotten catastrophe. We can't stop gazing at these new mysterious set of images, which underlines both the immaculate eye of Kanemura and the fact that next to being a publisher, Pierre von Kleist has transformed into a label of utmost quality, with everything they put out being deeply inspiring.  [ Continue reading ]

Last weekend, the Westergas area in Amsterdam was completely transformed again for the Unseen Photo Fair. Following two slightly underwhelming editions, this year turned out to be a rather exciting display of photographic work from all over the world. In spite of these fluctuating levels of inspiration to be found in the booths, there's one spot that never ceases to impress us since their debut three years ago: the booth of Antwerp-based IBASHO Gallery. For Unseen 2017 they decided to bring work by our favorite photographer under their representation; Yoshinori Mizutani, who shot the series named 'Amsterdam' during his first visit ever to the city, while the 2015 edition took place (when we were all set to meet him, but he had to cancel because of sickness - hopefully next year!).

We've been fans of Mizutani's work from the moment we discovered his iconic 'Tokyo Parrots' series some years ago and he has been expanding his impressive portfolio with one beautiful series after another ever since. In recent years he has been moving beyond figurative images into the photographic abstract, which brings new layers of depth into his artistic vision and for one resulted in our favorite Plant Journal cover till date. Mizutani's abstract work beautifully touches a similar color palette as his figurative work and therefore still shows a remarkable similar signature, which is rare. With 'Amsterdam' Mizutani focusses on one of the city's most iconic landmarks; the canals, which now a days are structurally polluted by tourists or wealthy boat owners (and their drunken friends) — yet through the lens of Mizutani all of that ugliness is filtered out, in order for abstract colorful representations to remain, revealing some of the most beautiful expressionistic photography of the famous stretches of water that we have ever seen. [ Continue reading ]

Last Saturday, Kennedy Magazine hosted the release of a self-published Travel Diary by Arturo Bamboo. Arthur and Bamboo, living in Berlin and originally from the Netherlands, traveled the Mediterranean capturing intimate snapshots, portraits, legendary places and landscapes shot around various places. [ Continue reading ]

My friend and inspirator on ultra distance cycling; Yorit Kluitman, is about to finish a long time project, his 'Bicycle Landscape: cycling across all 388 Dutch municipalities'. Started back in 2011 and at this moment filling the last gaps, Yorit cycled through all 388 Dutch municipalities, photographing the landscape between cities and villages, exclusive of people and buildings: a cross section of the organized Netherlands.

“I gave myself six years to cycle across all municipalities. Within this time-frame I will be visiting as many different areas as possible. Equipped with a camera, I research the functionality, the rhythm, the composition, the lines, the form and the order of the Dutch landscape.” [ Continue reading ]

It's a special year for, what we feel is, one of the most inspiring people working in fashion today; Jean Touitou, and his ever-relevant brainchild A.P.C. (designed with a collective spirit — hence: “Atelier de Production et de Création”). Started as a reaction to the loudness of the Eighties, Touitou created his minimalist fashion brand exactly 30 years ago. To eventually grew into an unprecedented platform, which beyond its own brand has backed smaller counterparts like Louis W., Vanessa Seward and Outdoor Voices. To this day, A.P.C. continues to be an important voice, despite the fact that the fashion ecosystem has changed completely throughout the last two decades shaped by globalization. Where other minimalist icons have silently lost relevance or left (into the art world, for instance) somewhere during the last decade — Touitou and his team continue to cater to a worldwide cult following through clean designed lines and a consistent price point. To celebrate the extraordinary milestone, a new sub-collection named 'Hiver ’87' was created, which is just about to drop at the different stores worldwide, but beyond fashion Touitou also took on the ambitious task to truly reflect (during the course of the last 1,5 years) on 30 years of A.P.C. in a deeply compelling book named 'A.P.C. Transmission', holding 544 pages (published by Phaidon) that will be released on the 7th of September. [ Continue reading ]

We mentioned his name in last week's post on Rushemy Botter, who found the key inspiration for his 'Fish or Fight' collection on Curaçao  — freshly graduated Gilleam Trapenberg was born and bred in the Caribbean on the former Dutch colony (now part of the Kingdom) from where he came to The Netherlands after high school to study photography six years ago. Or basically, according to Gilleam, he came to study anything in The Netherlands despite his deep love for his home, and he knew photography would be the only direction he was really interested in to pull through. After applying to several academies, he ended up in The Hague at the Royal Academy of the Arts and last month he said his final goodbye to the school with our favorite graduation project of 2017 named 'Big Papi'. With the project he aims to represents the concept of masculinity in the Caribbean, shot over the course of the last two years in which he visited Curaçao, but also other Caribbean islands like St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent, The Grenadines and St. Maarten. His perspective on the thematic resulted in a series comprised of remarkably captivating photographs in a beautiful cohesive color palette, forming a narrative one hardly sees or hears in The Netherlands, but (like Rushemy's collection) the country needs more than anything in the current political and cultural climate... [ Continue reading ]

At a moment when the world is facing the world’s largest refugee and migration crisis since the Second World War, the latest deeply inspirational publication by Irish photographic artist Richard Mosse named 'Incoming', deals with this contemporary major humanitarian and political plight, the displacement of millions due to war, persecution and climate change. With illuminating texts by Mosse and the philosopher Giorgio Agamben, the 576-page book, published by the ever-inspirational MACK Books, combines film stills from the artist’s latest video work made in collaboration with electronic composer Ben Frost and cinematographer Trevor Tweeten – a haunting and searing multi-channel film installation, accompanied by a visceral soundtrack. Journeys made by refugees and migrants across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe are captured with a new weapons-grade surveillance technology that can detect the human body from 30.3km. Blind to skin color, this camera technology registers only the contours of relative heat difference within a given scene, foregrounding the fragile human body’s struggle for survival in hostile environments, resulting in imagery that leaves an everlasting impression on us.

Richard Mosse's 'Incoming' marks a highly inspirational new chapter in the body of work of the photographic artist in which he tackles another extremely relevant thematic in a haunting artistic form that is among the most interesting being produced in this day and age. [ Continue reading ]

Three weeks ago, the Japan Museum SieboldHuis in Leiden, in the west of the Netherlands, opened the exhibition 'The Constructed Landscape', for the first time ever presenting this body of beautiful work by the highly talented Japanese photographer Shibata Toshio in The Netherlands. Known for his captivating landscape photography, Shibata captures signature images of large-scale highways and civil engineering constructions in uninhabited regions in deeply captivating photographic works. Civil engineering structures such as dams, lakes and bridges play a central role in his work. His perspective takes the viewer beyond the functionality of these structures and shows them the aesthetics of the infrastructure. His compositions illustrate how nature — weather, corrosion, erosion, water currents and landslides — reclaims damage done by human intervention. Shibata’s photos, taken with a large-format camera exude an atmosphere of fantasy void of references to time, place and scale. His works have been praised for their timeless, abstract and picturesque qualities — making his body of work among the most interesting in its genre. Specifically featured in this edition of the exhibition is a series of bridges in the Benelux as seen from various different perspectives.

For those in and around The Netherlands: don't miss this extraordinary exhibition before it closes on the 3th of September! [ Continue reading ]

New York City-based technical fashion brand Outlier has been one of the spearheading companies that have set a complete new standard in direct-to-client business from the moment of their foundation in 2008, partly due to their open and direct dialogue with its customers through Reddit, for which we hold them in the highest esteem. Over the years we have kept an eye on their expanding brand and slowly but surely growing collection, in which they have explored both technical innovations and new aesthetic directions beyond 'classical' techwear, but last month they took it to the next level with the release of their extraordinary collaboration with 2017 Hyéres winning photographer (and former dancer) Luis Alberto Rodriguez for their Summer 2017 campaign.

The incredible series named 'Meditations on the Materials' features the contemporary dancer Oskar Landström and artist Moley Talhaoui and is among the strongest lookbooks we have seen in a while. Shot in Kivik, Sweden, the very talented Rodriguez and the just as gifted stylist Paul Maximilian Schlosser, bring a professional dancers eye to imagery, fashion and fabric. New shapes and forms emerge from the movements of the models and raw materials hide within themselves, under the open sky. The result is an utmost intriguing series opening a complete new chapter of narrativity in the world of Outlier's perfectly crafted pieces; reminding us of both the American settlers' aesthetic and Yohji Yamamoto's oversized draping. We can only hope that this is the beginning of a new phase in which Outlier adds new exciting facets to its brand grounded on indisputable leading technical expertise. Continuing to explore new cultural roots in their communication through similar collaborations with extraordinary talents like Rodriguez to create a new richness in the narrative and affect around its beautiful future-proof clothing for them to reach an even larger audience in the years to come. [ Continue reading ]

We've been big fans of Australian photographer Akila Berjaoui's sensual photography from the moment whe we discovered her beautiful series 'Lake Como', some years ago. Since then, she has been steadily continuing her worldwide travels with her analogue cameras, showing her beautiful signature in every new series that she produces. Last month, Berjaoui celebrated a new important milestone in her blooming career, when together with Prestel Publishing she officially presented her very first book to the world named 'The last days of Summer'.

The new book proves to be the most elegant platform on printed paper for Berjaoui's work till date, adding a significant new chapter to her ongoing artistic love affair with sandy beaches, sun, water and beautiful woman. In 'The last days of Summer', the spectator is taken to her hometown of Sydney and subsequently to bathing hotspots in Italy, France, and Brazil, amongst other places. Taken over the summers of 2015 to 2016, Berjaoui’s sun-streamed photographs of bathing beauty is brought to life in her familiar lush color palette that reminds of late 70s and early 80s photography. Her photographs have the power to veritably evoke the feeling of an earlier time; every detail is rich in the romance of 20th century travel, right down to the beach umbrellas, miniature but elegant swimwear and hidden Italian coves that are still cherished by the few who are able to keep a secret; in her work Berjaoui paints a sunny dreamworld on film. Beyond the surroundings, through her eye for beautiful framing, the eye-pleasing subjects in front of her camera always seem at total ease, with a hint of sexual tension lingering in the air. Curves are always soft and sandy tan lines both playful and honest — overal the visual narrative (and title) of 'The last days of Summer' transcends an undertone of nostalgia referring to a more heartfelt and colorful (pre-selfie!) era.

With summer all over The Netherlands at the moment, there's no better time than now to order 'The last days of Summer', which finally captures some of our favorite photography in between two book covers to truly reveal its extraordinary beauty in the best possible form. [ Continue reading ]

We continue to be far from as active here as we would love to be, mostly because of our schedules at ...,staat and New Amsterdam Film Company demanding most of our time, but after some time completely off the grid in (Upstate) New York and California for the both of us in May; we are really picking up the pace again. Starting it up with an incredibly stunning new book by Swedish photographer Mårten Lange published by MACK, that was presented to the world some hours ago at the gallery space of Webber in London. Named 'The Mechanism', the extraordinary publication presents a remarkably melancholic series of monochromatic photographs that form a futuristic narrative about contemporary life. Bringing together anonymous images made in multiple cities, the work deals with themes of technology, economic systems, surveillance and (dystopian?) urban society. Lange attempts to trace the effects of technological developments on human experiences, using architectural tropes to build a narrative loaded with the threats and promises of the future. Cutting back and forth between close-up views and cityscapes, the beautifully designed book offers a filmic sequence of photographs that is at once affective and estranging. We have been familiar with the impeccable work of Lange before, after just discovering 'The Mechanism' we have a new instant favorite. Make sure to order it before this book sells out! [ Continue reading ]

Exactly two months ago we travelled to Milan (unexpectedly as a road trip, due to a storm in Amsterdam) to visit our friend Roel. Looking back at that weekend in February once more; it is safe to conclude that it turned out to be a greatly inspirational (Jos Brink-themed) couple of days, in which we were able to see some of nature's most beautiful hidden treasures in the marble quarries of Carrara ánd some of humankind's more interesting creations when we visited the sweaty Pinacoteca di Brera; the Pirelli HangarBicocca to, for the first time, see Anselm Kiefer's mysterious towers up close; and (finally!) Rem Koolhaas' Fondazione Prada Foundation, where we had the chance to experience the deeply haunting and still extremely relevant 'Kienholz:Five Car Stud' exhibition and sat down with Boglioli's former Creative Director Davide Marello for an enlightening conversation on the state of Italian tailored menswear fashion. The low, late winter sun was out, the sky was blue and the air was cool: this is that rather perfect Saturday at the incredible Fondazione Prada Foundation in captures by Joachim. [ Continue reading ]

When the thrilling 'Tokyo Compression' series by German master photographer Michael Wolf was first presented in 2010, like the rest of the world, we were stunned by its captivating oppressive beauty. In the years that passed, the Asia dwelling photographer kept expanding the series, next to all of the other long-lasting chapters that portray the DNA of different Asian mega cities like Tokyo (and for instance Hong Kong, where the photographer has lived a significant part of his life) as sublime fine-grained puzzles full of mystery and unfamiliar beauty. In total, Wolf worked on'Tokyo Compression' from 2010 until 2013, with three publications as a result, that are among our favorites and part of the most interesting publications of its kind.

Today, we encountered not only one, but three reasons to shine light on this highly inspirational work once again: firstly, the arrival of the definite finale of the 'Tokyo Compression' series in printed form, with yesterday's release of the fourth book named 'The Final Cut' by German publisher Peperoni Books. Secondly, we discovered that some months ago the body of work was nominated for this year's prestigious Prix Pictet and most importantly; as a result of all this renewed interest, the series will be exhibited throughout the world once more in 2017. After it was shown at Blue Lotus Gallery in Hong Kong in the first months of the year, to our great pleasure, a 'Tokyo Compression' exhibition will open for the public in two days in our homebase Amsterdam, where it will be shown next to 'Hong Kong Coat Hangers' at the Wouter van Leeuwen Gallery until the 20th of May. Within that period another part of 'Tokyo Compression' will travel to London, were it will be on display at the Victoria and Albert alongside the other 11 nominees of the Prix Pictet until the 28th of May.

We are extremely excited by this fourth coming of one of our favorite series of all time, so we decided to share some of our favorites below. When in Amsterdam or London: don't miss the opportunity to see Wolf's magic first hand in the coming two months as this seems to be the final chance to do so! [ Continue reading ]

The highly talented Paris-based Romain Laprade is among a select group of photographers, succeeding throughout his ever-expanding body of still imagery work to create highly exiting depictions that are nothing short of cinematic: working in a deep warm color palette full of atmosphere and class. From the moment we caught his work of numerous modernist and post modern buildings (most recently the extraordinary Villa Noailles in Hyères) on Instagram, we have truly enjoyed his exquisite perspective on the world around us and kept track of his portfolio with every new entry. The photographer predominantly finds the inspiration for his imagery by mindfully observing his environment, both in the city, in nature and the exchange between the two. Laprade finds the most aesthetic details in the ordinary or on the other hand captures remarkable architectural creations in the most aesthetic frames. In all of these captures there is an interaction: between the borders of the frame; shades of the colors; rays of light; shadow and textures. These elements, that make up his remarkable signature, prove to be a guarantee for engaging images, having catapulted Laprade to one of our favorite photographers working today from the moment we first caught it. Enjoy some of our favorite images below. [ Continue reading ]