Fotofestival Naarden is a bi-annual event that is taking place for the 12th time this year. The theme varies every time. This time it is portraiture under the title Let’s face it. For those who are not familiar with Naarden, it’s a small fortified town that for the occassion completely is taken over by the festival. Large canvases on the city walls and photographs in most of the shop windows. A truely exciting and inspiring atmosphere. There are about 10 different locations where photographers – well-known and starters – exhibit their work. All portraits in this case. De Grote Kerk is the main location of the event. Here the work of the famous photographers Stephan Vanfleteren, Joost van den Broek and Koos Breukel is on display.
But there’s also much attention for new talents. During the Professional Imaging event earlier this year I saw Rahi Rezvani in action, shooting live portraits, editing them and finally printing them. His work is also on display at the Fotofestival, amongst other new names.
The website of the festival can be accessed by clicking here. Information about the work of the participating photographers and their bio’s can be found here. I’m afraid the website is only available in Dutch.
I find it amazing to see that a huge photographic event like this is run without sponsorship of any of the big names in the industry. You will not find any Nikon, Canon, Sony or Epson logo’s here. Or any other name, for that matter. One of the national newspapers is in fact the biggest sponsor. The lack of the usual names is on the other hand probably also a good thing. In this way the emphasis remains to be on true photography and no dominance of one or more commercial super powers. The Fotofestival Naarden is open until June 19 and I seriously urge everyone with the slightest interest in photography to pay Naarden a visit.
While you’re there, you can also see some of my work being exhibited. As part of the Off Festival track you can find photographs of Fotoclub Argentum in the Kruidentuin (or Cruydhof). All photographs on display here were part of the assignment Movement of the camera we worked on last year. If you’re not in a position to visit the Fotofestival in person, here’s what our small exhibition looks like.
