Wouter
Well-known
Now that I have finally come to terms with the rff gallery quirks, I kindly invite you to visit three small and related collections that I have uploaded: 'A dutch family - before Indonesia', 'A dutch family - the trip to Indonesia' and 'A dutch family - in Indonesia'. These collections (as the titles suggest) date from the twenties or thirties of the past century and depict the - then common - history of the Kok family. P.H. Kok, whose name I discovered in one of the photos, apparently went to Indonesia as a colonial civil servant.
A friend of mine gave me this collection of in total 109 negatives. They had been found in a house to be demolished in the small city of Rijen, in the south of Holland. They lay around in an old wooden cigar box, in their original negative envelopes, for about three years in my house, until I acquired a scanner and started scanning them out of pure curiosity.
What came out was this peak into the life history of this dutch family. All of them but maybe the babies pictured must have passed away by now. I suspect that in Holland they lived in Den Haag (both the beach visit to Scheveningen, which is close to Den Haag, as the identification of the location of the lab on some negative envelopes, suggest this). In Indonesia they must have lived in or close to Surabaya, then a colonial administration centre. Some of the envelopes point to a lab there.
The largest part of the collection is comprised of 6x9 film negatives. These are mostly amateur pictures, as shown by lack of sharpness and careless composition. Another part of the collection is the exact opposite: 9x12 glass negatives, really sharp (focused on a ground glass maybe), well exposed and well composed. The best pics here uploaded come from these glass negatives.
Some of the photographs are real gems. There is a beautiful portrait of a girl playing the violin. Another one of a grandmother (?) with two little children in a garden. A day at the beach. A casual group portrait on the boat to Indonesia. Humanistic and environmental portraiture made by someone who new his or her craft. I've put up these collections as an hommage to this unknown photographer. See for yourself.
Some of you rffers have already seen some of these and have commented on them. I haven't responded to most of the comments as I wanted to get the collections up first. But thanks, I'll try to behave better onwards. It is evident that your comments are much appreciated. Enjoy.
A friend of mine gave me this collection of in total 109 negatives. They had been found in a house to be demolished in the small city of Rijen, in the south of Holland. They lay around in an old wooden cigar box, in their original negative envelopes, for about three years in my house, until I acquired a scanner and started scanning them out of pure curiosity.
What came out was this peak into the life history of this dutch family. All of them but maybe the babies pictured must have passed away by now. I suspect that in Holland they lived in Den Haag (both the beach visit to Scheveningen, which is close to Den Haag, as the identification of the location of the lab on some negative envelopes, suggest this). In Indonesia they must have lived in or close to Surabaya, then a colonial administration centre. Some of the envelopes point to a lab there.
The largest part of the collection is comprised of 6x9 film negatives. These are mostly amateur pictures, as shown by lack of sharpness and careless composition. Another part of the collection is the exact opposite: 9x12 glass negatives, really sharp (focused on a ground glass maybe), well exposed and well composed. The best pics here uploaded come from these glass negatives.
Some of the photographs are real gems. There is a beautiful portrait of a girl playing the violin. Another one of a grandmother (?) with two little children in a garden. A day at the beach. A casual group portrait on the boat to Indonesia. Humanistic and environmental portraiture made by someone who new his or her craft. I've put up these collections as an hommage to this unknown photographer. See for yourself.
Some of you rffers have already seen some of these and have commented on them. I haven't responded to most of the comments as I wanted to get the collections up first. But thanks, I'll try to behave better onwards. It is evident that your comments are much appreciated. Enjoy.
