René Koster Photography

1900

“Night has the abillity to provoke a sense of isolation. I want to display a world that seems to only consist of one single blossom tree with its delicate flowers. Some branches are extracted from sight, while others are revealed, affecting the shape and appearance of the blossom tree. 

In this project I refer to the work of the 19th century Romantic landscape painters.  Their personal concept  of nature, creating a new one, appeals to me.  Whereas the Romantic artists preferred wide landscapes I let the blossom tree with its exquisite details represent the greatness of the untameable nature. This is my interpretation of the Sublime of nature; I want to transform nature in order to reveal inner values.   

The beauty and frailness of the blossom in contrast with the  rough branches, often irregularly shaped; I understand why so many artists before me found the blossom tree the perfect subject matter. I find blossom trees in unexpected places like industrial areas. Working at night, I use the dark to to conceal the surroundings.  

I want the blossom trees in my work to become part of a drama without the necessity of a drama actually taking place. It is only the impression of a tragedy that matters to me. I isolate nature by only showing a detail, striving for a feeling of endless untamed nature.

Personally I feel no need to have the photographs form a series. This allows me to approach each photowork individually; sometimes resulting in black and white, at the same time other photoworks have been executed in color. Even the intensity of the colors may vary; seeking for ways to show nature as the most sublime object.”

Theseries “1900”  is a group of portraits. Intrigued by a photograph showing an unknown period in a close relative’s live, I decided this would be the start of a new project. Filling in this void in my family history, I tried to create a photo document with memories of a fictive past.

Award for Portraiture - London Photographic Association

project 1900

The series “1900”  is a group of portraits. Intrigued by a photograph showing an unknown period in a close relative’s live, I decided this would be the start of a new project. Filling in this void in my family history, I tried to create a photo document with memories of a fictive past.

Award for Portraiture - London Photographic Association

project 1900

Award for Portraiture - London Photographic Association

project 1900

Meet Captain Lou Rudd. 

From November 2018 – January 2019 he will attempt to become the first person in history to complete a solo crossing of Antarctica, unsupported and unassisted. 

He will travel for 70 days over a distance of 1,500km, from Union Glacier to the Ross Ice Shelf via the South Pole.

During his early military career Rudd spent time amongst the ancient, glacier-carved landscapes of Norway’s interior. It was here that he discovered his love for cold environments and peaceful isolation. He also learnt to trek long distances carrying heavy weights – an early introduction to the harsh realities of a polar journey. 

In 2011 Lou led a team through the Scott/Amundsen Centenary Race, organised by Henry Worsley. A hundred years earlier, in 1911, Captain Scott was beaten to the South Pole by the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen.

At the end of 2016, Lou also launched the SPEAR17 expedition and led a 6-man British Army team of Reservists on a 1,770-mile traverse of Antarctica. It was a group of polar novices, some of whom had never skied before. Their route, from Hercules Inlet to the Ross Ice Shelf, was very similar to that of the Spirit of Endurance. 

From here on we’ll be following Lou’s journey closely, giving you regular updates from the world of vast ice fields, frozen volcanoes and mile-deep crevasses.

Featured On:

The New Yorker

Nationalgeographic.com

A Downed Plane

A downed plane, a Dutch village and the art of remembering.

How one community has kept alive of eight American airmen for 75 year.

For The Washington Post

' Wij gaan altijd ongeacht het weer. Of het nou potdicht zit van de mist of er een zware storm waait.'

Redderbazen. Ze geven leiding aan een bijzondere groep mensen, die ongeacht de weersomstandigheden uitvaren om een schip in nood te helpen. Wie zijn deze aanvoerders van de KNRM, die hun eigen leven en de levens van hun bemanning op het spel zetten om anderen te redden? In de zoektocht naar hun drijfveer sprak Nautique met vijf reddingbootschippers

' Wij gaan altijd ongeacht het weer. Of het nou potdicht zit van de mist of er een zware storm waait.'

Redderbazen. Ze geven leiding aan een bijzondere groep mensen, die ongeacht de weersomstandigheden uitvaren om een schip in nood te helpen. Wie zijn deze aanvoerders van de KNRM, die hun eigen leven en de levens van hun bemanning op het spel zetten om anderen te redden? In de zoektocht naar hun drijfveer sprak Nautique met vijf reddingbootschippers

The Project ‘Antarctica’ shows a series of photographs of a voyage to the South Pole. I travelled with a sailing ship which was built in 1911; the same period the last great expeditions left for the unknown continent.

Thoughts of frozen ships trapped in ice-covered seas cross my mind, images of the photographers who joined these expeditions to report of the unexplored. Fascinated by their stories I head for the same circumstances as those of the early twentieth century. A journey of longing, to a time that once was. An heroic saga; filled with hardship and adventure, in an infinite, barren land.

This series of photographs, taken with modern equipment, is a reference to the past. Personally, I feel no need for the photographs to look as if they have been created with techniques of the early 1900’s. This is why I have deliberately chosen to work in colour; allowing the greyscales of the landscape to emphasize the blue captured in ice. In my search for the right images, I have tried to avoid as many elements of the present time as possible; things that would remind me of everyday life.The calm misty weather gives me a sense of desolation and makes the world feel smaller. The slow rate of travelling by sailing ship influences my way of taking photographs: searching for stillness, harmony and tragedy in the landscape. In search of beauty, the beauty of emptiness and cold. 

Work from the Antarctica series was chosen as runner up by The Travel Photographer of The Year juryand was published in the TPOTY Journey Twobook.  This work along with an additional selection from the Antarctica series was shown during the Landscape Diversity exhibition at Art Gallery Contemporary Matters in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

 Werk uit de serie Antarctica heeft een tweede plaats behaald bij de Travel Photographer of the Year en is gepubliceerd in het TPOTY Journey Two book. Dit werk aangevuld met een selectie uit de serie Antarctica was te zien tijdens de Landscape Diversity tentoonstelling in galerie Contemporary Matters in Haarlem. 

Antarctica
 

The Project ‘Antarctica’ shows a series of photographs of a voyage to the South Pole. I travelled with a sailing ship which was built in 1911; the same period the last great expeditions left for the unknown continent.

Thoughts of frozen ships trapped in ice-covered seas cross my mind, images of the photographers who joined these expeditions to report of the unexplored. Fascinated by their stories I head for the same circumstances as those of the early twentieth century. A journey of longing, to a time that once was. An heroic saga; filled with hardship and adventure, in an infinite, barren land.

This series of photographs, taken with modern equipment, is a reference to the past. Personally, I feel no need for the photographs to look as if they have been created with techniques of the early 1900’s. This is why I have deliberately chosen to work in colour; allowing the greyscales of the landscape to emphasize the blue captured in ice. In my search for the right images, I have tried to avoid as many elements of the present time as possible; things that would remind me of everyday life.The calm misty weather gives me a sense of desolation and makes the world feel smaller. The slow rate of travelling by sailing ship influences my way of taking photographs: searching for stillness, harmony and tragedy in the landscape. In search of beauty, the beauty of emptiness and cold. 

Work from the Antarctica series was chosen as runner up by The Travel Photographer of The Year juryand was published in the TPOTY Journey Twobook.  This work along with an additional selection from the Antarctica series was shown during the Landscape Diversity exhibition at Art Gallery Contemporary Matters in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

 Werk uit de serie Antarctica heeft een tweede plaats behaald bij de Travel Photographer of the Year en is gepubliceerd in het TPOTY Journey Two book. Dit werk aangevuld met een selectie uit de serie Antarctica was te zien tijdens de Landscape Diversity tentoonstelling in galerie Contemporary Matters in Haarlem. 

14 years

Racing down hill, in their untamable excitement the dogs picked up so much speed they constantly tripped. Tumbling, miraculously they recovered instantly, not slowing down the sled even a bit. 

Gusts of wind flung snow into our faces; here one can discover what feeling close to the elements means. This was not a good moment to loose grip; feeling trilled beyond words, it almost felt like holding on to life itself. 

Commissioned by The Shackleton Compagny
ShackeltonLondon

Greenland

Icebergs the size of villages float by with serene majesty. Scoresbysund lies in ahead, untouched. The 350km-deep fjord system is only accessible by boat three months a year. Which is now. For the Inuit, everything has an Anirniq, a soul.

In Sidetracked Volume Seven, René Koster and Marco Barneveld sail deep into Scoresbysund, East Greenland to explore the unique fjord systems. 

The last Frontier

The Gambia for Lonely Planet

Travel story for Lonely Planet

The Gambia for Lonely Planet

The Gambia for Lonely Planet

Het agressieve, alles doordringende gebrul van apen in de nacht, donderslagen in de verte. Terwijl ik mijn draai probeer te vinden in mijn hangmat, schiet door mij hoofd; alles in deze Surinaamse jungle lijkt vijandig. Welke ontberingen hebben de gevluchte slaven moeten doorstaan die vochten voor hun vrijheid en hier een nieuw leven begonnen?  Zij zijn de  stichters van de dorpen langs de Suriname Rivier die ik in 2016 in opdracht van National Geographic Traveler bezoek om een fotoverslag te maken. Ik ben verrast dat ze Afrikaanser ogen dan de dorpjes die ik eerder in Afrika zag. 

Voor mijn vertrek stuit ik op het 2000 pagina’s dikke verslag van John Gabriel Stedman, die in de 17e eeuw door de West Indische Compagnie naar dit gebied was gestuurd. Zijn legeronderdeel had als taak ontsnapte slaven op te sporen.

Er heerste lang een felle strijd tussen de de blanke plantagehouders en de bosnegers, ook Marrons genoemd. Zij strijdden met slimme guerrilla tactieken tegen de Nederlanders. Dat het er over en weer gruwelijk aan toe ging, weten we dankzij Stedman’s uiterst gedetailleerde boek. Hij arriveerde in Suriname als voorstander van de slavernij maar verliet het land uiteindelijk als een van de eerste voorvechters van gelijkheid tussen mensen. “Ieder weldenkend mens kan zien dat er maar één menselijk ras is, dat enkel en alleen van elkaar verschilt door de grond en het klimaat waarin zij leven.” Een nogal opmerkelijke denkwijze voor die tijd. 

Reizen naar Suriname

Reize naar Suriname

1815 The Prussians called the battle ‘La Belle Alliance’, after the inn of the same name at the centre of Napoleon’s line. The French called it ‘Mont St Jean’ after the ridge that marked Wellington’s line. Wellington insisted on calling it ‘Waterloo’, the location of his headquarters, even though that town was more than two miles away from the fighting.

1815 Waterloo The Prussians called the battle ‘La Belle Alliance’, after the inn of the same name at the centre of Napoleon’s line. The French called it ‘Mont St Jean’ after the ridge that marked Wellington’s line. Wellington insisted on calling it ‘Waterloo’, the location of his headquarters, even though that town was more than two miles away from the fighting.

Marieke Poelmann

road trip iceland

news

Salt & Gaucho

Deep in the heart of South America, in the north of Argentina at the foot of the Andes lies Salta. A great place to dream and fantasise against a backdrop of overwhelming natural beauty, paired with an excellent bife de ancho and fantastic fruity wines.

The charcoal glows orange in the corner of the fireplace. Fireplaces used as open fires in houses were intended for cooking. Here and there small flames lick from the coals towards a beautiful piece of bife de ancho, undoubtedly from a cow that roamed the pampas and grazed on its juicy grass. The scalding heat has gorgeously browned the ribeye and the smell of roasting meat and wood smoke fills the air as night begins to fall.

Argentina

For a decade I took portraits for HP/ De TIJD.  Politicians, writers, actors or just an interesting person. Here I show a collection of the most favorite ones.

Publications:

Hp / De Tijd

De Bezige Bij

Avand-Garde 

Nautique Magazine

Vanity Fair Italy

Knack News

Green Emerald with European Roots

Guyana, sandwiched between Suriname and Venezuela, is the land of rum, rainforest and Dutch colonial heritage. A green emerald surrounded by mocha-colored water. Water that has been conquered by our European ancestors.

Guyana

Lofoten travel story

Orkney's

Aimee sings mournfully of her Bonnie Las who is sailing with the wind, never to return, whose lips kiss the breeze in the hope that they may be together forever the bodhrán, an ancient Celtic percussion instrument, hands loosely on her hand. Her fingers more rhythmically on the inside of this goatskin covered instrument, and with her other hand she beats the outside. The noise is extraordinary; whole basslines seem to flow from the skin of the drum. Aimee travelled around the whole world with her ex-husband, the famous Folk singer/songwriter Rory McLeod, where she and her bodhrán would stir up huge crowds of people at festivals such as Roskilde. She even played her bodhrán in the background at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Listen to the holland Master song performed by Aimee Leonard

Maria

Maria

Orkney’s

The sea has an enormous influence on the climate of the Orkneys. The Gulf Stream flows nearby through the Atlantic Ocean and ensures that the weather here isn’t as harsh as it is in other places on this latitude, and so temperature differences are low throughout the year. Winters are mild with a minimum  temperature of 6o centigrade, whilst in the summer there’s a maximum of 19, so there’s never a scorcher.

But then there’s the wind, that eternal wind. When you first come to Orkney, that’s the first thing that hits you; even in the summer there’s a Force 4 breeze always blowing. Strong winds, saturated with sea salt, are perfectly normal. Every year there are on average 52 hours of Force 10 winds measured. In the winter the average wind speed is around Force 6, but it can often reach Force 8.   

south of wieringen

Documentary about the area South of Wieringen, assignment from the Province of North-Holland. In the thirties, this area was impoldered and from that time it was employed as farmland. In 2004 the Province started a procedure to give the land surrounding Wieringen back to the sea. Rene Koster was given the task to make a photo document in which the landscape is emphasised.

south of wieringen                                                                                                                                                   Documentary about the area South of Wieringen, assignment from the Province of North-Holland. In the thirties this area was impoldered and from that time it was employed as farmland. In 2004 the Province started a procedure to give the land surrounding Wieringen back to the sea. Rene Koster was given the task to make a photo document in which the landscape is emphasized.