Substack and newsletter

I have created a substack which is also a blog similar as this one. Only it has a very handy feature which also sends out newsletter at the same time.

Not everyone will want to use Substack. So my regular news will still be visible here. But if you are a Substacker. Or fancy that newsletter push every once in a while. Go on and subscribe to it.

You can find it here:

Pure Gampi

One moment I suddenly had a memory about when I was a kid. There was a place where I always would like to come. It was a small patch of forest at the edge of the place I grew up in. At the entrance there were animals similar to a petting zoo. The peacocks that roamed around I always thought they were so beautiful.

I spend an endless amount of time in that specific part of the forest. With my friends, alone. And in the far distance I could still hear them howl and wail. The peacocks are gone. I am gone. Both of us will never come back. Yet many moons later, in a way, I can still hear them.

Also I wanted to show more of the beauty of the print itself that is why I included some videos on my Insta. It is hard to convey how beautiful a print looks over a screen. But still, I am very proud of them.

The paper I used is hand made pure Gampi paper. And printed as a Palladium toned van Dyke brown.

The Gampi paper needs to be handled delicately when processing. It is incredibly archival and strong when it is dry, but when wet it needs to handled with care. To move it from bath to bath I made hooks from wood which normally is used for kites to make sure the paper doesn’t get damaged.

The emulsion I used is Palladium toned van Dyke brown instead of pure Platinum Palladium. The palladium replaces the silver particles the give it more archival stability as well. This will ensure the print doesn’t fade away over time.

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More work on Tosa Hakkinshi

I have been having so much fun lately with Tosa Hakkinshi paper.

It is super fragile when handling it. But when it is dry it is super sturdy. It has incredible detail detail and sharpness. The structure is also gorgeous to look at.

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Palladium toned van Dyke brown

Palladium toned van Dyke brown on Tosa Hakkinshi paper 25x31CM

Eye of Photography Magazine

Happy to see my work at the front page of the French, Eye of Photography Magazine. That is definitely good to see.

You can find it here.

New platinum palladium print

While working on this print I had the realisation that I actually have never heard te sound of my father’s voice. It is interesting how, when working on a project or series, it lets you think in ways one has never thought before. It feels that by the more I experiment things are falling into place. And even the grey that you see the moment you close your eyes right before you sleep seems like an idea to pursue.

The photo of this print though has not necessarily to do with sound or the grey of my eyes before bed. But more of the dream like state I was in when taking one of my many walks to think. It goes together with a horse which I am working on.

A long incoherent word salad just to say: World, I am making progress.

42 x 28 CM Platinum Palladium print on Ruscombe Herschel Platinotype.

I wish the world could see the print for real. I think it is beautiful. :)

Portrait of Steef

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New Platinum Palladium print

Definitely falling more and more in love with this process and paper… Feels good to see something come to life which first was just an idea…

Work in progress

Platinum Palladium work print of the photograph named: “Sun (Son)” During the grey days I had the idea of photographing the sun when it was ready to come out again. So created some sunglasses for my camera from solar film and watercolour paper. Now it’s ready to print.

Closing words for 2024...

Frame straightened. Perfectly aligned with the other ones on the wall. Bit out centre to the left though. Or maybe a little bit more… The balance needs to be just right. Otherwise the other ones feel sad and neglected.

Could be a metaphor. But at least these photographs I brought back from Italy are hanging on my wall now… A mixture of Maria Callas and scenes from Teatro alla Scala are filling my hallway wall with grace, a pinch of melancholia, and paper I still need to bring to the recycle bin because it was too stuffed. So basically me after Christmas.

It made me want to write… Finally… And again…

Björk was playing in the background while fireworks are being lit right outside. Fireworks in a city where it is supposed to be prohibited.

A breeze enters my heart because the door to it was slightly open. Maybe it should have closed it since my feelings got infused with a little bit of rage. Words that arrived in a knapsack which were so ungentlemanlike. How could they know…

I will
remain
a gentleman

A video of Mazen al-Hamada passed by on my timeline on Instagram. How can a man that smuggled baby formula now be an angel… Maybe that is because many listened, but no one really understands…

Listen. See. With eyes wide open… What the hell are we doing on the brink of tumbling into 2025…

A tear gently leaves the cosiness of my right eye. Stay there, I tell you.

No! Get out… Why is it that society tells us when we cry we are weak. And man-up because holding back our feelings is the “manliest” thing you can do. As so they say… I say get out! Be naked! Flow free. Like a river of no regrets and let the world feel your stream that will smother this toxic mess and will be a bringer of life and empathy. Be brave…

Wear that heart on that sleeve. That sleeve that is full of holes but stitched together with golden threads and let the world know that this is not how it ends!

Scream…
Scream
Scream!

Even while I am screaming
I will remain
a gentleman

To the world I just want to say: please change... To the one in my dreams; don’t ever do. I love you just the way you are.

I shall be a rock for now. That bonded with that river. Shaped, split, and full of force. Daring to make the flow go both directions.

I slowly close the door to my heart. But no worries, there is not even a lock. I forced it out, so I can peak outside whenever I feel like it. It will open again, when the world decides to be kinder. Home, abroad… And wherever the fuck it is needed.

Cherish your artists… They are so much needed right now… A line breaks in poetry is not just a line break. And my art… Is, just that, too…

(Happy) 2025…

~ Cristian

New print. New work. New process.

Happy to show a work print of new work I have been slowly but steadily creating.

In spring I entertained the idea in my head that I wanted to work in a different way and have more freedom. Self imposed rules that were only applied forcefully in my own head made me feel so restrained. I wanted go get out of that. So I started learning another process.

Platinum / Palladium it became. Saved up some money and an endless amount of patience. I build my own exposure unit. Gathered books and supplies. Even a brush from Japan.

Definitely not abandoning the silver process because I still love that. But everything has its time and place. No more self imposed restrictions of tools or process. The Dutch greyness we have this time of year also comes in handy. Who would have known…

The entirety of the project/ series will become more clear later.

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Duncan Miller Gallery's Group Show

Happy to inform everyone that one of my pieces named “A river…” can be viewed during the Square Print group showing at Duncan Miller Gallery located at Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles. December 7th, from 18:00 until 20:00.

Unfortunately I won’t be there. But a part of me is. It would be wonderful if you can have a look.

The exact address is:

10959 Venice Boulevard

Los Angeles, California

United States

90034

My swan went around 74 countries

If you are a subscriber to the YourDailyPhotograph newsletter you might have seen it passing by. My swan…

Printed beautifully on Ise Wash Basewo paper, and part of their Square print sale.

It feels actually amazing to have it seen by people who are actively collecting fine art, spanning 74 countries… Crazy come to think of it. The internet is an amazing thing. :)

If you would ask ten year old me that I would be doing stuff like this nowadays he would say you are crazy. So many goals to achieve though… Anyways, I digress.

So, the newsletter went live. If you are a collector sign up to that wonderful platform. I you like my print, buy it. It would mean the world to me.

You can catch it here before it sells out. Only five of them are out there, and signed of course.

YourDailyPhotograph Square Print Sale

Thrilled to say I’m part of YourDailyPhotograph’s Square Print Sale with this piece “A river…”.

YourDailyPhotograph is a service for collectors of Fine Art Photography and is run by Duncan Miller Gallery located in Los Angeles.

Collect the 7x7” inch (18x18 CM) archival pigment print on Ise Washi Basewo paper. The print is signed print on the front and is available in an edition of 5 for $100,- Dollar.

You can get these limited made prints here.

Cyanotype

Cyanotype on 54 grams Tosa Shi paper.

I totally forgot I made this cyanotype a while back. I left it in my drying book for my gelatin silver prints and found it again when I needed to flatten some new ones. I like it even more now.

Experimental Gelatin Silver prints

Lately my words have not been flowing so much. That is fine… Sometimes you just need photographs without much words.

Anyways… Here is a set of 4 experimental Gelatin Silver photographs, toned, and painted on. Sizes 14x21.5 CM.

Hopefully they will brighten your day.

I am ready to photograph humans again...

For a long time I wasn’t interested in photographing humans. I don’t know why that was… I pondered and pondered, wondered and wondered, until I could make sense of it.

I so far have yet to find an answer.

But in a way aren’t all photographs you take portraits? Portraits of nature, the elements, portraits of feelings. I have to admit, it made things infinitely harder. Somehow I have an tendency for that. I also don’t consider myself as a landscape photographer, or solely a portrait photographer. Just a photographer. Nothing more, nothing less.

One day I will maybe go more in depth about the last personal project I finished “I started writing you this letter in autumn…” Maybe if I will ever give a talk or something. But for now it is time for new beginnings.

A new personal project which I am pretty excited about to work on. And alongside my interpretation of portrait and fashion photography.

To get things moving again, mainly in my overly strangely working brain. I did my first session with a dear friend of mine, Kirsten. It is always a pleasure to have her in front of my camera. No pressure, just fun. It is definitely good to see that we both have grown a lot. Same goes for the camera as well, since my little 35mm Nikon which I started out photographing with eventually became by now a 4x5 large format camera.

We shots some other frames too. But as soon as we progressed during the session I realized I wanted to create a diptych. I prefer to see these two photographs together. But realized that they work individually as well.

For now… I am ready to photograph humans again. That it may become a fruitful time.

~ Cristian

“When I see you again…”

As I lie in my bed, my heart and mind are fighting an endless battle with my soul. I find solace in listening to a song that I suddenly started humming in the shower.

It’s hard not to get lost in a maze of words friends say, but are of those only lovers speak. Until you see a shooting star and all I could wish for was you.

Your laughter and pain is tugging at me. My end of the thread feels full of tension. And when you cry, I cry. It’s a comforting thought that your cookies are safe, and I hid the ones that belong to all the meanies.

In this moment of sleep I will transcend distance and time and we will tell mesmerizing stories from when we were young. Or hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Whichever comes first… Dreams that act like a road full of autumn leaves that only we can walk.

The morning starts with a cup of coffee that will be drank in the company of birds. A pigeon says hello while my last sip reminds me of the footprints you left in my soul. I will give you flowers when I see you again. I hope you think they are beautiful.

I went to the forest and everyone knew your name

I went to the forest and everyone knew your name. The deers, the foxes… During the evening the stars and the moon… The branches and the leaves whispered letters that sound like you, and etch you in my thoughts. So every time when I hear the wind sing, they can’t float away.

Last night's thunderstorm and something with rain.