PHOTO OF THE MONTH / December 2009

San Francisco, USA 2008.

Forgotten pics 2009 / 3

Santander, Spain 2009.

Santander, Spain 2009.

Bilbao, Spain 2009.

Gent, Belgium 2009.

Brugge, Belgium 2009.

Photographers to know / Link 16 : Thomas Wrede

Thomas Wrede’s work is about our relation to nature. Our longing for nature and the medialized description thereof. With his camera he observes how artificial nature is received in the same way as real nature. This subject matter is well known in German philosophy. Philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Hegel studied the dialectic relation to nature. Wrede thereby continues this German tradition as a photographer, questioning our perception of nature. His last series “Real landscapes” are manipulations of landscapes. By adding artificial details into real nature he creates a staged scene that looks authentic at first. For the observer it becomes difficult to see what is actually real and what is unreal. The resemblance to model construction kits is striking. In effect he creates dreamlike scenes of nature or perhaps even nightmares.


Thomas Wrede searches for sanctuary within an environment increasingly subjugated to man’s intrusion upon nature. His desire for asylum amidst chaos sends him seeking refuge in the infinite spaces that seem to hover at the remote edges of the world. A drift upon endless expanses of beach, snow, and sea, he renders beautiful the quietude of landscape in large-scale images that lure the viewer into their vastness.


All of these photographs share the feeling that the viewer could be anywhere. Nowhere does this anonymity of place more secure the viewer’s ability to lose him or herself within the landscape than in Wrede’s images of snow. Although they are completely devoid of human presence, they are not free from the author’s trace. Wrede playfully places fake plastic fir trees amongst an icy windswept landscape seemingly littered with sharp mountainous peaks. What seems at first to be an incredible vantage point reveals itself to be an otherworldly scene of his own construction.

Thomas Wrede is based in Muenster, Germany.

Forgotten pics 2009 / 2

Brugge, Belgium 2009.

Dublin, Ireland 2009.

Brugge, Belgium 2009.

Santillana del Mar, Spain 2009.

Bilbao, Spain 2009.

Forgotten pics 2009 / 1

Bilbao, Spain 2009

Dublin, Ireland 2009.

Dublin, Ireland 2009.

Oostende, Belgium 2009.

Charleroi, Belgium 2009.

New project 2009 - 2010 / Everything about Beauty 3

Christmas Card

Amaryllis / Brugge, Belgium, December 24, 2009.

Our granddaughter, 85 days young.

Archief 37

Oostende, Belgium 2001.

Real Life Stage 5

Liverpool, UK 2008.

The truth/untruth about photography 33

Gent, Belgium 2009.

Days of Lightness 28

Brugge, Belgium 2009.

PHOTO OF THE MONTH / November 2009

San Diego, USA 2008.

Photographers to know / Link 15 : Mona Breede

© Mona Breede / Look-Out, 2007.

I was seduced by the light play in her so called 'choreographic' approach of the city and industrial sites. She shows various series of photographs which examine the interaction between people and their man-made environment. Individuals or groups of people are set against the neutral shapes of modernist functional architecture. The artist does not ask people to pose for her, but she frequently manages to catch the decisive moment when their actions or gestures are particulary striking. In fact, when looking at these vivid pictures, the viewer is often reminded of choreographies or dancers on a stage. Mona Breede´s series usually comprise three or four pictures taken in rapid succession and invite us to explore the subtile changes occurring from one moment to the next. On the one hand, we may establish narritive links between the different situations captured in these images; on the other hand, Mona Breede´s poetic photographs also sharpen our perception of variations in form. Have a look at her website. Mona Breede was born in 1968, studied photography with Thomas Struth, and now lives and works in Karlsruhe, Germany.

© Mona Breede / Splendid Isolation I, 2007.

© Mona Breede / Splendid Isolation II, 2007.

Behind 27 / Some work on F-Stop Magazine

Sweets and Uniform / Istambul, Turkey 2007.

Four photographs were selected for the groupshow on F-STOP Magazine. Issue #38 theme is 'Food'.

Report 74 / US Urban

San Diego & Las Vegas, USA 2008.