HvdK

Aged to Perfection – N.

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One of my favorite series is the one called Aged to Perfection. Why? Well, I get to photograph women of my own age and that is fascinating on many levels. First of all; with a lot of years of experience behind me, I find it almost too easy to photograph younger women and men, because they often look so perfect and in shape that they are works of art themselves.

What is interesting is that I receive a lot of praise in the media for my photographs of ‘older’ women, yet I have never sold one single photograph in that series. No, that is not true, I sold one in 2006. And it is not just praise I receive either. In 2004 somebody threw a brick through a gallery window in an attempt to destroy one of my photographs of an older woman. The person who threw the brick was a young female, who later claimed that her action was justified because ‘older women should keep their clothes on’.

On another occasion, Facebook deleted my whole profile because of two photographs in this same series. They don’t do that if you simply post two nude pictures. That is called ‘obscenity’ by Facebook clerks. I was ‘charged’ with ‘harassment’ instead – which is a reason good enough for them to delete the whole profile instead of just the two pictures.

Bill Haley – 1979

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I am often asked if I have more photographs of the photo session with Bill Haley from 1979 and if there are any real vintage silver prints available. As for the latter, unfortunately not. I know there must be some afloat at magazines who never returned them, but I only have the negatives and one or two silver prints I would like to keep to myself.

Of all my negatives only about 10% has been scanned for digital printing. But apart from the square portrait of Bill Haley showcased on this site, I do have this other one posted below and I have set the limited edition to 50.

I like it a lot. He is relaxed. The security people were sent to wait outside. He is wearing his off-stage glasses, rarely seen on publicity pictures.

Vintage Photograph – 1976

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I regularly post photographs on Facebook, and I am not too worried about their Terms of Service, although I must admit I do not like to see one of my photographs on a commercial medium with the credit line: © Facebook. Still, this has to do a lot more with the mentality of the editors involved than Facebook’s TOS. It is not hard to properly credit a photograph, if you know where you downloaded it. And if I don’t want people to use my photographs, I should not have posted them online in the first place.

I do post photographs online, because I don’t want them to sit in my archives without being seen. I am not that kind of collector. I want my photographs to be seen and enjoyed. I’d rather have 40.000 views a day on a high traffic site than shipping my works to a gallery on the other side of the world to be seen by a much smaller audience.

The insights delivered by Internet statistics tell me a lot more about my work than a well-written article praising me for photographs that I know are enjoyed by a very small audience consisting of people who would never have the courage to put one of my pictures on display in their own living room.

I noticed that the vintage prints are doing very well on large platforms, so I will occasionally put one up for sale in a limited edition, hoping you are willing to support my photography — like this particular photograph showing a transvestite bathing in a very Seventies bathroom.

Print WAM sequence

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This is the largest print available of one of my photographs. Actual image size: width 95,5 cm height 49,8 cm or 37.4″ x 19.3″. The color in the snapshot of this print is a bit off. Original photograph is currently at the front page of hansvanderkamp.com.

There are currently two prints. One is reserved and the other print is for sale.

Original photograph, print colors match.

Dollification

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I was a boy of about twelve years of age when the school teacher handed out test forms. Most of the questions on the form were of a simple mathematic nature, and there were some questions that seemed to have some psychological relevance too.

One question in particular I remember very well: ‘Who would you like to be?’

I had to reread the question twice because I had anticipated something like: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’

Biting on my pencil I paused for a while and then I jotted down: “Me, but somewhere else, away from here.”

They sent me to a school psychologist for that answer and there I learned that most kids had filled in the name of their rock or pop idol. At least half of them wanted to be John Lennon.

None of these kids became a legend like John Lennon. Neither did I, but I ended up away from there, just as I had hoped.

Not being who you are or what you are has always fascinated me and this may very well explain why I have photographed so many transvestites, transgenders and transsexuals. And last but not the least, people who are into dollification. For the last decade dollification has been my most important photographic subject and checking my now finished site I realize I forgot to add a gallery with dolls.

WAM

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The current front page of this site is dedicated to WAM – Wet and Messy. The fluid can be yogurt, milk, honey, fluid rubber, anything goes. Yes, it is a fetish, and I had never heard of it until Selma walked into the studio and asked for yogurt.

The picture posted here is a variation on the one featured on the front page, showing three different poses.

Ralph Gibson

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While working on this site, I go through my archives a lot. There are quite a few pictures archived. I have been photographing for four decades now. Sometimes I am lucky, and I find a photograph that I thought was lost, like this portrait of one of the best photographers of our time: Ralph Gibson. I am really not sure when it was taken, but I believe it was 1981.
Location: His Soho loft where Lustrum Press resided.

[ Photographer Ralph Gibson on Wikipedia ] – [ His website ]

Rockers – rare vintage color photograph

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The Rockers series was shot in 1977 and 1978. There are more than a thousand negatives in my archives, and they are all shot in black & white as you can see on the [ Rockers portfolio ] page.

While going through my archives I recently found a return envelope, coming from the French magazine Photographiques and then it all came back to me. I had shot two rolls of 120 film in color because they had asked for a cover in color. Of those two films – each containing twelve pictures – I selected three. In the end Photographiques published all prints in black & white without informing me. Only decades later I found out that they were actually published because my son Max came across the issue on Ebay while searching for my work.

I decided to remaster the negatives because of slight damages in the background and put at least one of these prints up for sale as a limited edition museum quality print. The edition is limited to 50 prints. All prints are signed and numbered on the back of the photograph.