RTL Nieuws report about sand mining in Kenya

In some Kenyan states, sand mining by organized crime mobsters is a big problem. In Makueni County, however, the local government has found a way to reduce people from removing the sand from dry river beds. Kenya is building more and more, and sand is indispensable for the creation of glass and concrete. One can make quite some money by mining and selling the thick grains of Makueni sand.

For Dutch TV broadcaster RTL Nieuws, Africa correspondent Saskia and I created a report on why illegal sand mining is such a big issue, and how some county’s are putting it to a stop.

My Uganda cover story in Msafiri, the inflight magazine of Kenya Airways

You can now read my ten-page travel story about Uganda in the inflight magazine of Kenya Airways: Msafiri! The piece features an off-trail safari with Uganda Carnivores doctor Ludwig Siefert, a not-so-successful chimpanzee trek in Kalinzu and a spectacular trip to the mountain gorillas of Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. I'm also providing some tips on where to eat, where to stay and which spots in Kampala and Entebbe you shouldn't miss. Nearly all photographs were also taken by me!

You can read the whole issue of Msafiri magazine through this link. If you’d like to read more about my work for Msafiri, you can check out this blogpost about my cover shot for the November 2018 edition, or click here to read my Ethiopia travel story of a couple of months ago.

RTL Nieuws report on avocado farmers in Kenya

On toast, in a salad or just as a healthy snack: the Dutch love avocados. My colleagues at MENDO even created an avocado cookbook for the avo only restaurant The Avocado Show! Our love for avocados has a clear effect on countries where the fruit can grow: in Kenya, farmers even uproot their coffee plants to make money off this ‘avocado boom’.

With Africa correspondent Saskia, I traveled to Machakos, a region where more and more farmers are growing avocados to cash in on the global avo trend. You can watch our TV report above, or you can check it out on the RTL Nieuws website.

New photography work: Nigeria elections

During our recent trip to Nigeria, where Saskia and I were on assignment for RTL Nieuws and VPRO Bureau Buitenland, we coincidentally were in Lagos when the delayed presidential elections took place. Saskia and I worked on a story about the dangerous impact of fake news on Nigeria’s elections. If you can read Dutch, you can check out the whole story (and see some of my pictures) here.

I'm a Hero Traveler Contributor

I partnered up with New York based advertising and new media agency Hero Group, the company behind the all-new travel app Hero Traveler! As one of their ‘Contributors’, I have created three travel stories about Uganda, Petra (Jordan) and Zeeland (The Netherlands).

You can check out the stories, pictures and videos through the desktop version of Hero Traveler, but I advise you to download Hero Traveler as the story looks way cooler in the app itself.  

Online now: the 'Countries' tab

You might’ve noticed that there’s a new tab on my website, called ‘Countries’! On this page, I have highlighted some of my favorite pictures taken in several countries. I’m very active on Instagram, but due to that activity, most of my pictures are buried under new content and so it can take some scrolls before you’ll see them. On the new ‘Countries’ page, you can now also see older work.

Some of the featured countries are Iran, Senegal, Mali, Uganda, India and Kenya.
Check out the ‘Countries’ page here.

#RiversideAttack coverage of al-Shabaab attack in Nairobi

Yesterday and the day before yesterday, terrorist organization al-Shabaab carried out a large-scale terror attack on the DusitD2 hotel and business complex in Nairobi, Kenya. At least 21 people were killed when Somali militants stormed the compound.

RTL correspondent Saskia Houttuin and I could hear the explosions from where we were, about two kilometers away from the Dusit complex. While the attack was still ongoing further down the road, we reported from behind the security cordon.

The following day, security forces and terrorists were still fighting. Saskia and I visited the August 7th Memorial Park in Nairobi’s CBD, where the Kenyan Red Cross collected donated blood for the victims of the attack. Later on, we also visited the city’s mortuarium and talked to Moureen, who had been inside the complex during the attack for over 13 hours.

Above, you can see some of the pictures I took over the last two days. Below, you can find publications of Saskia and me.

• Saskia reported for BNR Nieuwsradio on the second day of the attack;

• On Twitter, Saskia and I reported over the course of the last few days, tweeting updates in a thread about the attack;

• De Telegraaf newspaper interviewed me on the evening of the attack. The article also features 8 of my pictures and videos;

• Here, you can watch our Facebook Live report on the RTL Nieuws page, about the blood transfusions for the victims of the attack;

• In the broadcast of RTL Nieuws on the evening of the attack, we made a small report from behind the police cordon, filmed with an iPhone;

• For the 7.30pm RTL Nieuws broadcast of the next day, we filmed a reportage about the aftermath of the attack. You can watch the whole broadcast here, or see the video below.

The Curator Mag interview

“Portraying the Untranslatable and a Different Post Colonialism” is the title of Anandita Thakur’s interview with yours truly! The editor of The Curator Mag from India asked me some questions about working as a photographer in Africa. It’s interesting to see that she chose to focus on the aspect of me being a white, western photographer in a post colonial region.

I’m humbled by Anandita’s words, as she describes the moments captured in my photographs “touched with a certain porous, all-encompassing purity, so incidental that they are never addressed in conversations but also marked by a self-sustained fullness”.

If you’d like to read the whole interview, you can click on this link.

Buy the 'Streets Of' Collection by MENDO & teNeues

As you might’ve seen on the ‘Books’ tab of this website, I’ve worked on several ‘Streets Of’ books for the photo book creators of MENDO and German publisher teNeues! I was responsible for the editorial coordination of Streets of Paris, Streets of Amsterdam and Streets of New York, which means that I have selected all photographers and the photos they have taken. I also wrote the foreword, the captions and the interviews with four selected photographers.

You can now get your hands on all four books at once, by checking out this product page on the award-winning web store of MENDO! By buying the whole collection at once, you’ll get one book for free. Check out this link to find out more. Here you can read more about the books I worked on for MENDO, and the photo books that boast my pictures.

Out now: New Dutch Photography Talent 2019, the book

Happy 2019! This whole year, I’ll be one of Nikon & GUP Magazine’s ‘New Dutch Photography Talents’! The photo exhibition at Melkweg Amsterdam has unfortunately come to an end, but the pictures of all talents are still visible in the recently published photo book ‘NEW 2019’! You can get your hands on a copy at the online web store of GUP Magazine.

“NEW 2019 is the 8th title in the New Dutch Photography Talent series, produced by GUP Magazine. NEW is a book, but functions as a catalogue, a style-guide annually featuring the best 100 emerging photographers from The Netherlands. NEW is a production of GUP Magazine and is powered by Nikon. It is a platform bringing Dutch-based photography talents to the attention of galleries, museums, commercial and photography agencies, media companies and institutions that work with imagery. With its 420 pages it is a Bible to art directors, curators, collectors, photography lovers, and fellow photographers. NEW makes sure emerging photographers get the attention and platform they deserve.”

Here you can read more about the books I worked on for the photo book creators at MENDO and the photo books that boast my pictures, like ‘Depart’ and ‘They Call It Africa, We Call It Home’.

Like my page on Facebook!

Happy 2019, and thanks a lot for reading my blogs! If you’d like to find out some more about what I’m doing in East Africa, you can now also follow me on Facebook. By liking this page, any update will automatically find its way into your feed. See you there!

Jetzt verfügbar: Depart!

Depart, one of the first books I worked on for MENDO, is now available in Germany! I love how the book makes the leap from the online medium of Instagram, to the offline world of photo books. The wanderlust-inducing book boasts over 25 talented, young and ‘new’ photographers, that offer a new perspective on contemporary photography.

For ‘Depart’, which is published in Germany by the renowned publishing house Dumont, I’m responsible for every word that’s in the book, including the introduction text. There is also an eight page chapter in Depart, that features photos I took on a trip to Israel, Jordan and Palestine.

To buy the German edition of Depart, you can visit the Dumont Reise Webshop. The international edition of the book is on sale at MENDO. A while back, Hypebeast featured Depart on their website - click here to read the piece!

Check out the ‘Books’ tab of this website to read more about the books I made for MENDO.

New Dutch Photography Exhibition at Melkweg Amsterdam

As a New Dutch Photography Talent, I’m very proud to share that my work is on display at the legendary music venue ‘De Melkweg’ in Amsterdam! Together with the other ‘New Dutch’ talents, my work is beautifully printed by Fotolab Kiekie and exhibited at the ‘EXPO’ part of De Melkweg. Browse through the pictures above (from left to right) to see more of the exhibition.

Read more about the New Dutch Photography project, set up by GUP Magazine & Nikon, in my previous blogpost.