It started in the early 80's, Los Angeles, California.
A trip with friends from the Netherlands. Me and my Nikon with a case full of Kodachrome film. Motels, street corners, city life with a focus on architecture and type.
Treasures lost through time and demolition. But I love the shapes, the structures and the graphics. The Kodachrome slides were self scanned and restored. Some just a photograph, others became the base for black and white artwork in graphite or charcoal.
The drawing started when I was about 6 years old and I got my first camera when I was 12. It made me via a lot of illustration work into a creative director at various design agencies. Everything autodidact. School was not my thing, learning 'hands on' from the masters of the trade, gave me the skills.
After about 50 years it's back to basic. Back to the drawing board. Back to my old photographs. I have to make a picture a day, although the large scale charcoals take up to a month. Now-a-days I love to travel and find new subjects with a story to tell. The love for typography is always there. the good old store signs In America and around Europe, craftsmanship old school. For now stuck in a world of black and white, moody and dramatic. The essence of the image.
