6 Photographs from New York...

...that have potential, but never made the cut. ( I was cleaning up my archives anyway)

About SMS (Sanders Magnificent Superpower)

If the Fantastic Four, or some other Superhero group has a job opertunity avaible, I think I'll apply. Why you ask? Well, I've recently discovered that I have super hero powers. They are not as straight forward or spectaculair as most super hero stuff, like X-ray eyes (I love your new bra, madame), or shooting laser beams out of your fingers (Ideal if you forgot your keys), even though that all sounds appealing. No, not at all. My power is a bit less radical, and actually a burden most of the times.

I am magnetic to paper.

You just put me in a random public place, and before you know it I have Free Postcards, Gallery invitations, Flyers, fancy designed advertisments, glossy Magazines, free newspapers, Stickers, Bussiness cards, Restaurant Menu's, Festival Booklets and what-even-more sticking to my hands. But I dont just take anything i find, no - my powers dont work on dirty napkins, toilet paper, packages, labels, giftwrapping paper and other things people generally classify as "Junk"
But any Full colour printwork done on 250gram glossy will do.

And once in my hands, they are hard to let go of. So I used to just fold them and stick them in my jacket, and the bigger magazines and flyers were carried by hand - all day long. But sometimes my superhero powers failed for a second, and then I drop all my collected printwork on the middle of the streets. So now, ill go out with a plastic shopping bag strapped to my arm, so all the stuff gets transported safely. Yeah, superheroes need to be smart - don't they?

But whats the use of this power, you'll ask? Well, I havent really figured out yet. I also have a weakness.
In my room, my hands seem to demagnetize, and I'll just drop everything in random spots. Once there, i sober up - and ask myself while looking at the newest pile of printwork "What on Earth I'm doing?!!" Most of the times i dont even read or look at everyhting. It feels like comming out of an hypnosis. So then I'll just get another (or the same) plastic bag, and try to throw it all out. Most of the times I manage to get rid of 50 percent i've collected - the other half is just too hard to throw away.
Gallery inventations and free magazines are the hardest ones to get rid of.

So yeah, isnt that something? I'm very proud of myself. The only thing i need to figure out before applying to any superhero group, is how this power could be any useful for saving the world. I mean, at the end of the day - that's when you can really call yourself a super hero. So uh...X-ray eyes are handy for spotting weapons, and laser-beam-shooting-fingers are good for killing bad guys....but hands that attract glossy printwork? I dont know yet...

Work in Progress Episode 2: ASDF Productions

Johannes (picture) and I have been friends since the beginning of the AKI - because we share a lot of interest in things. Watching movies, making music, drinking beer, and uh...oh yeah...making movies. I remember that we talked a lot about making a movie together, in foundation year, but it never really happened until the end of that year, in wich we made a short 16 Mm movie at the AKI festival (Some clips of that film are in this music video, look for the guy who is digging in a pile of clothes

Johannes decided to create a fictional company (ASDF productions) that creates short funny and spontaniousl videos. Over the the years, we did quite a few videos for the company (and johannes did also a lot himself) of wich The Wehkamp Competition video was probably one of the most memorable ones. We also shot a lot of footage that has never even made its way to the editing table, from Rooftop jams to fake commercials. Wich doesnt really bother us - filming ASDF Videos is just a LOT of fun- and a good way to forget about our worry's for a day. The only rule we have is that you're not allowed to think longer then that it takes to type "ASDF" on your keyboard (hence the name). Freedom and improvisation...thats what its about.



But yeah, we've grown up a little since then (well not really actually) But Johannes had the idea a couple of weeks ago to create a "Real"movie this time. (At least cinematic looking). So we've got ourselves 20.000 euro worth of equipment, some loveley help from Jolien and Jan, a crate of beer and some branches.... Action!

The story is just as random and surreal as any other ASDF film he made so far, but we've put a lot of effort into lightning and effects. We've been shooting for three days in the last week (two of them outside with minus 8!) and had some really cool locations available (an empty villa in the middle of the forest, a cinema, a beautiful dutch winter landscape...and even a horse!) The footage so far looks really great, especially because we did a lot of old school film-tricks (like Day for Night footage, simulating a driving car etc.)

We are done with shooting now, but i can imagine we are gonna spend an equal amount of attention on the Audio this time. I'll keep you guys up to date. In the meanwhile check out the photos from our shoot on our blog (they'll be up later tonight)

ASDF Productions present: DJ Sock!

Here is a video that I've never got to share with you!
Johannes was playing around with some footage of his sock puppet and video from a random AKI party. I decided to do the audio/fx and some editing, and together we've put together a really funny video. Enjoy.

Work in Progress Episode 1: Happiness in the studio!

By the end of every year - when temperatures drop, and the first Christmas decoration enters the stores (Read: October) my urge to photograph drops as quickly as the leafs from trees do at that moment. I'd like to believe that I'm in tune with a "natural cycle" - rather then being a lazy photographer. Spring and Summer vibrate outgoing energies - Plants and flowers blossom etc. - and I enjoy being outside and taking photographs (Not of Plants or flowers) However, when the sun starts to hide behind a comfortable blanket of clouds, and temperatures start mimicking your Fridge (or worse, the freezer!) then a more introvert atmosphere asks for my attention. Staying in, and doing work there is what I feel like doing then. (So far the hippie talk)

So it might not be such a suprise that that i've spend the last couple of weeks in my studio, mostly drawing (especially with -12 celcius outside!).
In short, I've been working on a series of black and white ink drawings of laughing people. With photography as a starting point.

One day, i saw a photograph in a newspaper of a women who was covering her face with her hands. It looked kind of puzzeling - their was no other information in the frame that could indicate her emotions. It looked like she was laughing... Or was it cyring? I became interested in exploring this image - it had something powerfull.

I decided to draw close-ups of laughing people covering their faces, in ink -- wich gives a rather theatrical and depressing atmosphere. The initial reaction to the drawing is that it looks like the persons are crying - while in fact they are all laughing (and if you look closer, you can tell). Sounds rather simple, but I believe it has something powerfull. Two very extreme and opposite ways of expressing emotions have actually a very thin line (not talking about crying from laughing here) but more the fact that happiness and sadness are rather close to each other. We constantly "Ping-pong" between both. Taking a lollypop away from a 4 year old is enough to make him/her cry.

And arent we usting these expressions as a mask as well? Sometimes people laugh to cover their sadness - or pretend to be sad to get attention...

My idea is to present 10 or so images in a row, and include the title ("10 People that are laughing") somewhere at the end. So first people read it like crying (thanks to the black ink) and then they see the title and can read the images again (but then as laughing)...Here are some pictures i've snapped yesterday. Once i've got enough drawings that i'm pleased with - I'll present a final installation and some better pics. Work in progress....

In the Cinema, with Frank

We were shooting a scene for an upcomming short movie today - wich partly takes place in a cinema. The empty seats of the theater instantly reminded me of this scene from the movie Donnie Darko. While we had an hour of free time on our hands, i decided to get a bunny mask and restage one of the most memorable scenes of the movie, just for fun....Considering that I havent seen the actual movie for a while, I was pretty pleased to find out that the shots were pretty similair to the original.



Some more info on the movie we were shooting (that is directed by my good friend Johannes Langkamp) will follow shortly.

December Apologies

Partying,
Family,
a lot of Rain and Cold temperatures
A serious lack of Vitamin D -

All factors that contribute to the fact that I'm out of my "blog rhythm".
Hope to make up for this soon!

La Defence // Une Photo

La Defence // Premiere observation