early inspiration

In the 80’s I was working for a local TV station in the south of Holland.  On 6 March 1984 we were live broadcasting the Carnival events – Vastenavend in local language – in my hometown Bergen op Zoom.  When I noticed a clearly out-of-town photographer who was strolling around capturing the event.  I started talking with him and he told me he was from the French photo agency Gamma in Paris.  He was exactly how I imagined an international press photographer would be.  Kinda like how I’d seen photographs of Ed van der Elsken, my photography hero at that time, and still one of my heroes.

That’s when I knew what I wanted to do, travel the world, create images.

This moment has always stayed with me, and recently I found this photograph which I took then.

Fishing for Anchovies in Bergen op Zoom  De Weervisserij in Bergen op Zoom