honorable mention
Jan Janssen netherlands
title
In my fathers footsteps
My dad used to be a miner. His stories were always fascinating and so I wanted to visit a mine myself, and try to “feel” those memories he shared with me.
I travelled to Mitrovice, which is located in the northern part of Kosovo. Time has stood still over here, and that brought me even deeper into my dad’s past. The mining company allowed me to go down for 700 meters underground with the elevator.
The darkness of the earth, the spare light from the miners helmets, the narrows which the mining resources….I could see his stories come alive. When the miners took me back to daylight, my respect for these men had become even bigger, and I knew I never felt more connected to my dad as for that moment.
While using only the natural availible light, he always has his eyes on composition and details. His heart is with the elderly in our society and the Buddhist inhabitants of the Himalayas.
He specialized in documentary photography with a photographic culmination in 2013, when he launched his successfull photobook "The Himalaya, my home". The book was awarded several times with international awards.
Currently he is working on a book about Eastern Europe.
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entry description
“In my father’s footsteps”My dad used to be a miner. His stories were always fascinating and so I wanted to visit a mine myself, and try to “feel” those memories he shared with me.
I travelled to Mitrovice, which is located in the northern part of Kosovo. Time has stood still over here, and that brought me even deeper into my dad’s past. The mining company allowed me to go down for 700 meters underground with the elevator.
The darkness of the earth, the spare light from the miners helmets, the narrows which the mining resources….I could see his stories come alive. When the miners took me back to daylight, my respect for these men had become even bigger, and I knew I never felt more connected to my dad as for that moment.
about the photographer
Dutch artist Jan Janssen is best known for being an people-photographer.While using only the natural availible light, he always has his eyes on composition and details. His heart is with the elderly in our society and the Buddhist inhabitants of the Himalayas.
He specialized in documentary photography with a photographic culmination in 2013, when he launched his successfull photobook "The Himalaya, my home". The book was awarded several times with international awards.
Currently he is working on a book about Eastern Europe.
back to gallery
