11 April 2013
Foam Photographymuseum Amsterdam and GKf - the Dutch professional photography association - approached Sterre Sprengers, Nikki Brormann, Brigiet van den Berg, Ola Lanko and me, to create an innovative concept with the statement 'Photography is for everyone'. Today we presented the results of our coorporation: The ED Technical Standard For Photo Editing, in Pakhuis de Zwijger. ED provides the possibility to edit a photographic archive to a smaller representative model.
Moreover, we were invited to be part of the international photography fair Unseen in Amsterdam this September!
12 March 2013
Today we finished the last grading session for the movie AchterRuit I made with Feike Santbergen. The movie will go in premiere on the 6th of April in Cinema Kriterion in Amsterdam from 12:30 till 13:30 pm and will be shown at Festival de Cannes from 15th to 26th May 2013 in the Cannes Court Métrage!
10 March 2013
AchterRuit featured in the magazine FOTOgrafie
3 March 2013
Today is my lucky day! In the old building I live I found some film from my year of birth! This is the beginning of a new project :)
28 February 2013
I'm honored to be part of the New GUP Dutch Photography Talent!
7 January 2013
Working on a new commission called ED together with Brigiet van den Berg, Nikki Brormann, Ola Lanko and Sterre Sprengers. Together we are developing a system to edit a photographic archive to a smaller representative model.
In association with:
1 December 2012
A photograph from the serie From Buddha to Yogi is chosen as Photo of the Month on FoMaa! During this month the picture will be for sale in a one-off edition of a unique format and price :)
'A greater antithesis is hardly imaginable: the gnarled, contorted branches, the lushes growing grass, the vitality, abundance and primal strength of nature in contrast to the fat, white, vulnerable, almost formless body of a man. In this image the natural state of man has nothing to do with what we see as nature. It appears as if the man just happens to have sat there, in a posture that renders him anonymous but also makes us wonder what has brought him to sit here.
Nothing in his posture gives the impression he can or wants to move. He sits there like a large pink smudge between the branches.
Actually he’s a little bit in our way. He defines the image in ways that we would rather not contend with. He compels us to look at him, to seek his folds, to scan his skin with our eyes, to examine him whilst he sits reluctantly and motionless on the branch. A greater contrast is hardly conceivable, he couldn’t be more naked, his exposure couldn’t be more candid. Here this man has become flesh and challenges us to consider our perceptions.'
Anthon Fasel
23 November 2012
The video portraits I made for the project Achterruit are now on show in Menzis, The Hague
11 November 2012
Review by Jessica Backhaus:
'Out of the picture inspires you to take chances. Taking a chance at a moment of your life where your own world is turned upside down. Simone Engelen created a very sensitive project about her father who is in search of the meaning of his life after he got laid off from his company where he worked for over twenty years. He decides to go to Bali for two months where he is trying to find answers to his questions. His family supports him in his desire to find a new perspective and a new purpose.
The book juxtaposes portraits of the family with landscapes and still-lifes. Simone stays back with her mother and her sister. The photographs are in a dialogue with the letters from her father. He shares with them his inner feelings, emotions and impressions while he is gone. Meanwhile Simone documents her mother, her sister, herself and their daily life. Somehow life continues in its daily routine. Her landscapes radiate melancholy and tenderness. Even though the father is absent, you can nevertheless feel his presence in these empty roads and fields.
Simone’s work is very personal and lyrical. Our emotions get equally taken on a journey as her photographs allow us to take a walk into a world of reflections. Looking at her work I feel a certain strength and vulnerability simultaneously. Simone seeks to go behind the surface of the moment and creates with her father a story of courage and possibilities. Out of the picture feels like an homage to her father as it traces his journey and his search of meaning at a time of uncertainty. While sharing his challenges and thoughts with his family, Simone faces her own reality. The reality of growing up and finding out her own destiny.'
Jessica Backhaus