18 august 2007

The suburbs of Abbottabat bring back memories of Caracas, Venezuela, where I lived for 5 months last year. The mountainslope neighbourhoods here are safe though, as opposed to the dangerous slums of Caracas.

17 august 2007

The mullah (religious leader) of Massina Kalan, a small village high on the slopes of the mountains on the border between the North West Frontier Province and Kashmir is closing a village council meeting. The villagers congregated to talk about the reconstruction of the only accessroad to their remote settlement. Since the earthquake of 2005 this region has been virtually closed off from the rest of the province. Only just before last winter (more than a year after the earthquake) some shelters were built here for people who lost their houses.

16 august 2007

Villager in the Mansehra region (near Kashmir) in northern Pakistan. Together with other men of his community, and the support of local NGO SRSP, he's fixing a road that was damaged by the earthquake in 2005. Soon his village will be accesible by car again.

15 august 2007

Girl madrasas give women a chance to emancipate in a conservative society. It is one of the few possibilities to an education and a job (as a teacher) for women that would otherwise be restricted to a life indoors.

14 august 2007

Today is independenceday in Pakistan. tens of thousands of men went to central Lahore to celebrate the event.
Eventhough the partying is a mostly male affair, some families joined the crowds, dressed in
Pakistan's national colours.

13 august 2007

The old Wazir Khan mosque in central Lahore contains a meticulously crafted wooden chair donated by Lord Curzon (British Viceroy of India 1899 – 1905). The chair could be a centerpiece in any historical museum.

12 august 2007

Public transport in Lahore is mostly restricted to noisy and smelly rikshaws. Taxi's are a rare sight.
Today we continued with our story on Madrasas (Koran schools) which are accused of raising muslim extremists. The fact that 99 percent don't, hasn't prevented them from becoming pariahs in the eyes of the west and the Pakistani government. Even normal Pakistanis are starting to fear these institutions that traditionally give the poor an opportunity to an education.

11 august 2007

Foodstreet in central Lahore. A great place to eat extremely spicy food in a rundown colonial setting.

10 august 2007

Pakistanis lining up to pay respect to the grave of a holy man, at the Golra Sharif schrine near Islamabad.
Golra Sharif is a holy place for sufi muslims. Besides some shrines and a mosque there's a madrassa as well. Young men study the Koran here.

09 august 2007

Nahid, a local journalist that helped me a lot these first days in Pakistan works for the 'Daily Jennah'. While waiting for him finishing his article, one of his collegues took me to the small basement of the officebuilding where the paper is printed. The noise and smell of ink were horrible. But the printers were a funny bunch, full of jokes.

08 august 2007

I'm on the road again. I arrived in Islamabad in Pakistan today. I was welcomed with a busy day that ended in a great concert in one of the national TV stations.

26-05-2007 Meidrecht

The Dutch old time favorite band 'Bløf' is posing for the international 'one-campaign' dubbed 'een' in Dutch.

25-05-2007 The Hague

Straight from Zambia to the Netherlands.

17-05-07 Zetten

Oldtimer day in the small town of Zetten in the east of the Netherlands.

11-05-07 Tilburg

In the chapel of the headquarters of the friars of Tilburg

06-05-2007 Le Mont St. Michel

at night

28-04-2007

Kissing estafette in Emmeloord. The organisation of the 'days of the tulip' tried to make it to the Guinness book of Worldrecords by making over 2700 people kiss.

27-04-2007

Marc Broere dreams of power.

25-04-2007

Greenpeace protest at the stockholdersmeeting of Nuon, a Dutch energycompany that intends to build a new coalfired powerplant.

22-04-2007

Writer Renske de Greef talks to a goat in a goatfarm near Utrecht.

06-04-2007

Cycling in the Bourgogne, a beautiful wineregion in Central France.

28-03-07 Amsterdam

Hare Krishan Singh doing Blue Steel. This is a picture from a shoot I did together with Johannes Abeling.

26-03-07

One of the bigger diamond companies in Amsterdam.

20-03-07 Amsterdam

An 80.000 Euro diamond.

17-03-07 Amsterdam

Our new Minister of Development Cooperation, Bert Koenders (l) gets the first copy of the booklet 'Overleven Verplicht' about he politiacal and social situation in El Salvador 25 years ago and now, which contains several of my photos. On the right is the president of the VPRO tv station and former teacher of mine, Peter Schrurs.

08-03-07 Haarlem

Safety training for journalists in warzones. With 15 collegues and some Dutch troops I had two days of fun in the Dutch forests. Some well respected fellow photographers having fun:
Jeroen Oerlemans
Dirkjan Visser
Leonard Faustle

Trying to keep my camera clean.

29-01-07 Hoyerswerda

Hoyerswerda, a cliche of communist architecture. I've never seen so many highrise buildings in such a small town.

28-01-07 Brand

One of the pro's of East Germany: Tropical Islands. This massive hall was built to produce zeppelins in the early nineties. The investors lost confidence so the place was left empty. Now it's been converted into a holiday paradise with pools, waterslides, tropical restaurants and beaches where you can even camp overnight.

27-01-07 Frankfurt Oder

An anti fascist demonstration in Frankfurt am Oder, on the border with Poland.

26-01-07 Schwedt

East Germany in winter. A perfect time to experience the drawbacks of living here. (Although there are plenty of pro's too).