In the age of more-photos-than-minutes-in-an-hour, a professional photographer has to explain things over and over again. ‘An art photo is completely different from a news photo or a snapshot on Instagram. It is the difference between representing reality and creating reality.’
Maartje Roos and Jenny Boot had known each other for some time, but worked together for the first time this spring. Boot: ‘We were in class together at the photo academy. Later, we occasionally bumped into each other by chance, and now the gallery has asked us to work together for the exhibition “De Verlichting” (The Enlightenment).’ I think that, in terms of light, we think and act similarly in our work. I imagine the women I photograph living in the places in Maartje's photos.
HYPNOTIC WOMEN
Roos photographs spaces with a wonderfully warm feeling: fields, rooms, barns. The viewer spies figures who happen to be in those places. They are having breakfast, reading a book or feeding their baby at dusk. Boots' photographs show hypnotic women, often looking straight into the camera, claiming the space around them and filling it with their fascinating presence.
Her portraits sometimes arise from an idea she has in her head, but often it is the other way around. ‘For me, a photograph often starts with a beautiful model. I often find that the so-called “perfect” model is a bit expressionless. In my work, their expression and pose is actually very important.’
PAINTING IN PHOTOGRAPHY
Boot used to paint. ‘I wasn't very good. Still, I think I did bring things from painting to my photography. I always paid very close attention to still lifes, the way they shine. One shade is made up of many colours and by adding a small white dot, for example, you can create the illusion of shine.’
Light is very important in both Roos' and Boots' work. It creates a wonderful feeling that is difficult to evoke with an artificial filter. ‘I use as few resources as possible, preferably natural light. If you have one slanted skylight that casts the light onto the model, you get the same light as the portrait painters of old.’ She laughs. ‘Like Rembrandt.’ And Rembrandt certainly had no Instagram filters to help him.
With The Enlightenment, we are already a century past him in history. ‘In that period, intellect and nature became very important. Nature is more Maartje's thing of course; I am actually very inspired by clothing. It has always been that way for me, like those big lace collars, for example.’
PHOTOS: WHAT IS ART?
The World Press Photo 2016 exhibition is currently underway at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. The pictures hanging there are often deeply moving. One might wonder if such photos do not contain more authenticity than the staged portraits in Fotogalerie Lichtzone (Light Zone Photo Gallery). Boot is adamant: ‘That is completely different. A news photo should reflect reality, while an art photo creates reality. Incidentally, news photos and documentaries are often less neutral than you might think. As soon as a camera appears, people are aware of it and start behaving differently.’
In Boots' work, that influence on the image by the photographer is all but concealed. She readily admits it: ‘The model has to sense what I mean, what I want to put in. In the end, that says more about me than about the model.’ This makes for sensitive, charged photos. Like the image of a kneeling woman, bent over. A dead swan lies draped over her, tied to her back with a bow like on a kimono. ‘I was inspired by an Asian model. The woman carries the swan with her. This is a burden, but for me it also symbolises the closeness with my parents. The pictures are actually all self-portraits.’
The exhibition ‘De Verlichting’ was on display at Fotogalerie Lichtzone until 1 May 2016.