New location
This year, Haute Photographie took place at a new and inspiring location in Amsterdam Noord, the creative heart of the city. Close to the NDSM ferry, in a neighbourhood bustling with cafés & restaurants, next to the water (we are in Holland aren’t we) and cultural venues. The new location, Pre-Reserved Studio C, is the perfect place for Haute to present more than 50 photographers. We received information on about 35 of them, and present you a selection. – in two parts.
Independent Photographers
Aspiring, as always, to support promising and talented artists, Haute will focus on independent photographers even more this edition. Presenting more than 15 independent photographers, the aspect of ‘future’ in our motto “past, present, future” is more evident than ever. At Haute, we are aware of the great number of artists trying to break through the thick walls of the art world. By offering them this platform to present themselves, we hope to be a contribution to the progression of their career. The best thing about this for you? You can meet them all at the fair.
Books, magazines and special editions
Books and special editions play an important role during this year’s Haute Photographie, with Artibooks hosting the book market. This renowned online bookstore and representative of Taschen Books will showcase numerous independent publications by international photographers, as well as works by well-known names. Haute Photographie offers visitors the chance to explore the latest books and discover several special editions. In addition, GUP Magazine will present an overview of notable publications from the past 17.5 years.
The independent photographers:
This year about 15 independent (international) photographers present themselves at Haute! First name is Sebastiao Salgado
1 Sebastiāo Salgado (1944)
Sebastiāo Salgado ( Brazil) became a photographer in 1973, after leaving his career as economist. Already from the start, his photography stood out in a consistent high level and his picture stories immediately became world famous. The outstanding features were published in the world’s leading magazines and newspapers. Several important books are published from his photographic projects. In his book Workers for instance, he covers the hardworking people who are responsible for building civilizations but who do not get any credit or recognition for it. Salgado is particularly recognized for his social documentary photography of workers in less developed nations. His photographic work is still being considered of the highest level and his series also inspired many young photographers to start a career as a documentary photographer.
After working for the French photo agency’s Sygma and Gamma, he joined Magnum Photo’s in 1979. He left Magnum in 1994 and formed with his wife Lélia Wanick Salgado his own agency, the Paris based Amazonas Images.
2 Eddy van Gestel (1964)
Photographer Eddy Van Gestel lives and works in Belgium and Africa. He gained international fame through his coffee table books “A Continent in the Picture”, “To the Rhythm of the Sun”, “Africa XL”, “Terra Africana”, “African Queen”, “Just Imagine” and he Series ‘Privados’ we show at Haute: ‘PRIVADOS’ (2023);
Van Bennekom provides you with a unique glimpse of his voyage, Privados. He exhibits a collection photographs that capture his artistic vision, through private ambiances influenced by nostalgic mid-century aesthetics. Van Bennekom, originally schooled as an architect, shares his passion for photography in Privados.All photographs were taken during the summer of ‘22, using soft color film and vintage cameras.
The artist thoroughly examines the fusion between organic, physical and architectural fragments by capturing their finest, elegant details. Van Bennekom empowers all the women involved, approaching their physique as a landscape or architectural sculpture. During his research, the artist guides you through the similarities of private gems from around the globe, which sparked his artistic senses.
Untouched or desolate settings, and mid-century houses, strengthen the sense of privacy that Privados presents. All these elements contribute a feeling of intimacy, inspiring the viewer to fantasize and dream about the wonders of life. Van Bennekom utilizes private ambiances for his work as an architect and photographer, from which he begins to draw or design. In this way, Van Bennekom consistently creates a nostalgic dreamworld, translated in his timeless photographs or architectural designs, for wich you can only long. “Pure Black”.
Over the years his style has become more serene and restrained, stripped of any excess, complex perspectives and difficult angles. The portraits he is shooting have one thing in common: they draw their graphic strength from their simplicity. To him photography is a quest for a magical and mysterious world, where there’s a very fine line between reality and impression. This is certainly true for this collection of photographs, which highlights the unsurpassed beauty of African women.
3 Ernst Yperlaan (1960)
Just as Breitner once made his tranquil cityscapes of iconic places, this series by Ersnt Yperlaan (1960) looks back to such a time without “modernist noise”. The stripping of many human elements and symbols from our consumer society creates a timeless alienation, giving the Amsterdam locations the iconic shine they deserve. This creates an alienating magical-realistic image of apparently Amsterdam clichés.
About Ernst:
A series of events, coincidences and decisions condensed into a two-dimensional plane is popularly called “a photograph”. It is a cutaway from “real life” captured and executed in a version of a renewed reality and coloured in by the photographer.
“In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more than reality”. Alfred Sieglitz
This “new reality” comes to us daily in the form of hundreds of photographs in attempts to touch, amaze, shock and sometimes manipulate us. Never before have so many photos been made as there are now, and they are so easy to make and distribute.
Today, technology’s role in this is unprecedented and while I also abhor it, it is also a blessing. The bits and bytes that seem so far away from my penchant for aesthetics simultaneously give me a great tool to excite and challenge me. How wonderful, after so many years in this profession, to still be able to immerse myself in this and to stand out in the current storm of visual language and create “my reality” in time and space.
4 Rienk de Vries (1971)
Growing up in the open countryside Rienk de Vries (Hallum NL, 1971) developed a strong connection with nature and with questions concerning the origin and brevity of life.
In his youth he did spend many hours staring out of his bedroom window, gazing at the stars in the heavens above. And during the day Rienk strolled across the meadows and learned that there is wonderment in the tiniest and the biggest.
In his photography you can see that he is continuously looking for the link between the vast and the intimate, so they almost become one in his photography.
In one of the series ‘Gravity Fields’ we’ll show at Haute, you’ll see what Rienk means by looking for the link between the vast and the intimate.
Gravity Fields is about the wonderment and the questions about the origin and brevity of life. The link between the vast and the microscopic: the universe, the sky and the creatures that move in it and from the ‘bridge’ as it were, between heaven and earth.
5 van Bennekom (1981)
Van Bennekom is an International creative brand specialized in Architecture & Photography and is informed by hedonistic and nostalgic aesthetics. By listening very carefully to the clients needs, Van Bennekom is translating these with an innovative and experimental approach into a high-end result. Van Bennekom wants to trigger personal feelings for his clients, by designing them spaces and details that touches their senses or photograph where they feel connected with or attracted to.
Van Bennekom graduated as an Architect and naturally discovered Photography by traveling around the world with his analog cameras, by creating his own nostalgic dreamworld. Van Bennekom managed to extract the essence of a moment so precisely that it seems that he is pointing his camera at something that can’t be named, but can only be felt.
About the Series ‘Privados’ we show at Haute: ‘PRIVADOS’ (2023);
Van Bennekom provides you with a unique glimpse of his voyage, Privados. He exhibits a collection photographs that capture his artistic vision, through private ambiances influenced by nostalgic mid-century aesthetics. Van Bennekom, originally schooled as an architect, shares his passion for photography in Privados.All photographs were taken during the summer of ‘22, using soft color film and vintage cameras.
The artist thoroughly examines the fusion between organic, physical and architectural fragments by capturing their finest, elegant details. Van Bennekom empowers all the women involved, approaching their physique as a landscape or architectural sculpture. During his research, the artist guides you through the similarities of private gems from around the globe, which sparked his artistic senses.
Untouched or desolate settings, and mid-century houses, strengthen the sense of privacy that Privados presents. All these elements contribute a feeling of intimacy, inspiring the viewer to fantasize and dream about the wonders of life. Van Bennekom utilizes private ambiances for his work as an architect and photographer, from which he begins to draw or design. In this way, Van Bennekom consistently creates a nostalgic dreamworld, translated in his timeless photographs or architectural designs, for wich you can only long.
6 Nienke Wind (1983)
Dutch photographer Nienke Wind is thriving in creating romantic, outstanding atmospheres. She started out in fashion photography, to later in time fall in love with the documentary style. Using her expertise in both, she found her dreamy signature by merging the two styles. This evolved in a portfolio of portraits of cool characters, using hazy colours together with strong black and white analogues that turn your head around.
7 Jésula Toussaint Visser aka Zuzou (2000)
“Portraits of a she and who she could be”
She who is actually Jésula Toussaint Visser aka Zuzou, focusses mainly on self-portraiture as a common thread through her work. Where she found that for her, self-portraiture symbolizes a freedom that carries a relentless brittleness to it. In addition to a certain strength that lies in the confronting nature of continuous reinventing, for it not to matter whether intentional or not.
Her works find themselves somewhat curious about what’s to come while being a visual, rather personal, remnant of her past ways of being. Context forms a dominant yet playful factor in which, like her life, it is of significant importance.”
8 Ray Vázquez (1988)
Ray Vázquez (b. 1988, Mexico) is a visual artist exploring the complexity of minimalism. Through a meticulous use of lighting, symmetry and reduction, he draws attention to the overlooked beauty of the everyday world. His images evoke memory and sensation, transcendence over emptiness.
Much of his art highlights the “story in the details” and the everyday beauty that often goes unnoticed in our lives. As a result, his images emphasize the dramatic beauty of everyday shapes and textures, telling a story through light, shadow, and the captivating tones of grayscale.
After spending a decade honing his photography skills, he started his career as an emerging artist in late 2021. His work combines a passion for minimalism, music, and ethnography. He has a talent for reducing a scene down to its most relevant elements to create gripping images.
Talent
Every year, haute Photographie strives to present and sponsor the presentation of one or more talents to serve as a stepping stone for their carreer. This year we will present three talents; Chantal Convertini, Cooper Seykens and Alex Ploeger.
9 Chantal Convertini (1992)
New Talent and initiator of the intimate Of Corse project, Chantal Convertini (1992), will show her pictures from this series at Haute. In September 2021, Chantal Convertini rented a house in Corsica and invited eight other colleagues whom, until then, she had known only on Instagram to join her for a project. The experiment transformed itself into a minor miracle, as the group bonded not only on the photographic level but also as human beings. Hundreds of photographs were taken in the space of a few days: self-portraits, nudes, group pictures, details and landscapes. Much emerged out of the moment and the mood; and the photos also show the mutual trust growing with each passing day.
10 Cooper Seykens (1991)
The next Talent that will be presented for the first time at Haute is Cooper Seykens (1991). Cooper’s career began with making black-and-white street portraits during the time he traveled around the United States with his father. All at the age of 17. The images he captured during these travels were the ones that defined the beginning of his career. People wanted him to apply the same style, essence, and mannerisms of this travel photography in the portraits he made of famous people living in the Netherlands. At the age of 19, he decided to study at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. His photographs reflect intimate moments that reveal expressive aspects and new perspectives of the subjects. He captures these precious moments by always creating an open and pleasant environment that makes people feel more confident and self-assured. His most recent series he shot on the streets of Mexico, where he is living for parts of the year.
11 Alex Ploeger
Alex Ploeger is a lens-based artist from the Netherlands who recently graduated from the Photo Academy in Amsterdam. She explores the fusion of nature and the human body by experimenting with different techniques and materials. Her ongoing project ‘A Woman’s Face’ is based on research and personal reflection. By using her own body as a canvas, the internal struggle with herself becomes visible. It shows the pain of not accepting. By sharing her journey, Alex invites viewers to reflect on their own narratives and emotions and to embrace vulnerability.
Location:
Pre-Reserved Studio C,
Tt. Vasumweg 38A,
1033SC Amsterdam.
www.haute-photography.com
John Devos
Correspondent L’Œil de la Photographie/Eye of Photographie
john.devos01(a)gmail.com
