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Bartjan de Bruijn

@bartjandebruijn

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Designer / Photographer

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Sana, 2022 by @bartjandebruijn

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a year ago

Sana, 2022.

It's hard for me to write about these photographs because they are not my story - they are Sana's. I remember them being about family, distance, the loss that comes with that. There was a tension about me being there as a photographer during emotions that are so personal.

Years later this part of the shoot is the most important to me, because I see part of myself reflected in them.

I just lost my mom and it sucks. I'm grateful I was allowed close to someone going through something. To witness the beauty of this. To see the beauty through the tears springing from my eyes as I write this. Every human will cry for their mother, our tears flowing like a river that connects us all. by @bartjandebruijn

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a year ago

Sana, 2022.

After our initial spontaneous analog photographs in 2019 we did a followup during lockdown time. We used words again as prompts for states of being. Each word led to a photo. by @bartjandebruijn

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a year ago

11 shots on a roll of expired film. This is one of them.

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This is one of my favourite photos so far. I like it so much partly because I don't understand it, and I think that's how art is supposed to be.

How did it come to be? Me and Tonny had been wanting to make art together for a while. And when my desire to do more analog photography finally drove me to purchase a second hand Olympus OM-1 I needed to test it. It arrived with some damage that wasn't described in the listing so I felt kinda bummed out about that. I also needed some film. Everything was sold out because of the pandemic. But the guy at the local store had an old expired roll laying around with just 11 frames and when I asked how much it costs he basically gave it to me for free.

This gave us two unknowns. The film and the camera. Honestly, I just love that, because whatever art would be created would be little miracle on its own. Just making something would be art.

So we went, into a forest. We found a tree. Tonny unfolded as a nature being. And we got in sync. There was Tonny and the tree and me and stuff that happened in the dance. And when a moment was felt, I pressed the shutter. This is one of those moments.

And I'm just so f*cking glad you can make art this way. Not knowing what will happen. Being nature.

Honouring what we don't understand by making something we don't understand.

Thank you @tonnykwint for being nature, for being a muse, and for being my friend. by @bartjandebruijn

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a year ago

A dear, dear friend <3 by @bartjandebruijn

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2 years ago

This is one of the first analogue photos I ever took. With analogue, everything feels like an adventure for me.

I met Sana at the Haute Photography fair in Rotterdam in 2019 and asked if I could take a picture of her. We took four. Each photo started with a word.

This photo started with "No".

It became a compass needle pointing in a new direction. Making stuff that I don't understand, but that can be felt. And making it together. by @bartjandebruijn

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2 years ago

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2 years ago

What does it feel like to lose everything to a forest fire? That was the question that brought this photograph into being.

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This is a photograph of Sofee. After founding an ecological farm / community in Portugal together with her partner Rabbit, everything burned down in the summer of 2018 due to rapid forest fires. The fires are not a coincidence but a consequence of the amount of eucalyptus trees that have been planted in the area. Used to produce cheap toilet paper, they suck the earth dry and thrive in forest fires.

Pregnant with their first daughter, Sofee and Rabbit fled with everything they could grab and their animals, and survived the fire. Their farm did not, and everything was gone. With the help of friends and their own determination and love they've been rebuilding ever since. With their child now born they are making a new home among the charred trees. Those trees are a reminder that change is needed.

Rabbit has started a reforestation project to bring about this change himself by reclaiming one of the eucalyptus plantations and revert it to native woodland. Your support makes a difference here: https://gofund.me/66fa64c2

The photo above was taken about a month after the fire. Together we created a series of photos to share the consequences of Portugal's current Eucalyptus policy and the fires that thrive. But more than that it was a therapeutic moment to mourn, to let go, to be present with the emotions and to be together. To stand up for all victims of fires and to stand up for change. Sofee and Rabbit stripped nude to represent being stripped of all their belongings by the fire, and lovingly decorated each other with ash as a sign that they may have been touched by the fire, but that their love will carry them through.

Photography by Bartjan de Bruijn
Project in collaboration with Maria Stuut
Photographed: Rabbit, Sofee (pregnant) and their dogs. by @bartjandebruijn

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5 years ago

by @bartjandebruijn

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5 years ago

This is another portrait of Rabbit, standing up for change. Change which he is about to bring himself through a local reforestation project after his home and eco farm burned down. You can support him here: https://gofund.me/66fa64c2

More info:
The above photo was taken in a shoot with him and Sofee and their dogs. After founding an ecological farm / community in Portugal together, everything burned down in the summer of 2018 due to rapid forest fires. The fires are not a coincidence but a consequence of the amount of eucalyptus trees that have been planted in the area. Used to produce cheap toilet paper, they suck the earth dry and thrive in forest fires.

Pregnant with their first daughter, Sofee and Rabbit fled with everything they could grab and their animals, and survived the fire. Their farm did not, and everything was gone. With the help of friends and their own determination and love they've been rebuilding ever since. With their child now born they are making a new home among the charred trees. Those trees are a reminder that change is needed.

The photo above was taken about a month after the fire. Together we created a series of photos to share the consequences of Portugal's current Eucalyptus policy and the fires that thrive. But more than that it was a therapeutic moment to mourn, to let go, to be present with the emotions and to be together. To stand up for all victims of fires and to stand up for change. Sofee and Rabbit stripped nude to represent being stripped of all their belongings by the fire, and lovingly decorated each other with ash as a sign that they may have been touched by the fire, but that their love will carry them through.

Photography by Bartjan de Bruijn
Project in collaboration with Maria Stuut
Photographed: Rabbit, Sofee (pregnant) and their dogs.

#5_photocontest by @bartjandebruijn

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5 years ago

This is Yuki, meaning 'snow' in Japanese. Her white fur is a stark contrast with the black environment that was lush green only weeks ago. These photos of her show the impact a rapid forest fire has on a domesticated animal, and perhaps hint at the suffering of the countless animals that died or are displaced.

Yuki belongs to Rabbit and Sofee, who lost their home and eco farm when everything burned down in the summer of 2018 due to rapid forest fires. The fires are not a coincidence but a consequence of the amount of eucalyptus trees that have been planted in the area. Used to produce cheap toilet paper, they suck the earth dry and thrive in forest fires.

Pregnant with their first daughter, Sofee and Rabbit fled with everything they could grab and their animals, and survived the fire. Their farm did not, and everything was gone. With the help of friends and their own determination and love they've been rebuilding ever since. With their child now born they are making a new home among the charred trees. Those trees are a reminder that change is needed.

Rabbit has started a reforestation project to bring about this change himself by reclaiming one of the eucalyptus plantations and revert it to native woodland. Your support makes a difference here: https://gofund.me/66fa64c2

The photo above is part of a series of photos we created to share the consequences of Portugal's current Eucalyptus policy and the fires that thrive. But more than that it was a therapeutic moment to mourn, to let go, to be present with the emotions and to be together. To stand up for all victims of fires and to stand up for change. Sofee and Rabbit stripped nude to represent being stripped of all their belongings by the fire, and lovingly decorated each other with ash as a sign that they may have been touched by the fire, but that their love will carry them through.

Photography by Bartjan de Bruijn
Project in collaboration with Maria Stuut
Photographed: Rabbit, Sofee (pregnant) and their dogs.

#5_photocontest by @bartjandebruijn

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5 years ago

This is Rabbit / Pete. After founding an ecological farm / community in Portugal together with his girlfriend Sofee, everything burned down in the summer of 2018 due to rapid forest fires. The fires are not a coincidence but a consequence of the amount of eucalyptus trees that have been planted in the area. Used to produce cheap toilet paper, they suck the earth dry and thrive in forest fires.

Pregnant with their first daughter, Sofee and Rabbit fled with everything they could grab and their animals, and survived the fire. Their farm did not, and everything was gone. With the help of friends and their own determination and love they've been rebuilding ever since. With their child now born they are making a new home among the charred trees. Those trees are a reminder that change is needed.

Rabbit has started a reforestation project to bring about this change himself by reclaiming one of the eucalyptus plantations and revert it to native woodland. Your support makes a difference here: https://gofund.me/66fa64c2

The photo above was taken about a month after the fire. Together we created a series of photos to share the consequences of Portugal's current Eucalyptus policy and the fires that thrive. But more than that it was a therapeutic moment to mourn, to let go, to be present with the emotions and to be together. To stand up for all victims of fires and to stand up for change. Sofee and Rabbit stripped nude to represent being stripped of all their belongings by the fire, and lovingly decorated each other with ash as a sign that they may have been touched by the fire, but that their love will carry them through.

Photography by Bartjan de Bruijn
Project in collaboration with Maria Stuut
Photographed: Rabbit, Sofee (pregnant) and their dogs.

#5_photocontest by @bartjandebruijn

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1

5 years ago