Name: Karin de Jonge
Picture title: Colors of destruction
Category: Lage Landen
Nationality: Venlo, the Netherlands
Occupation: I’m also a psychologist at Maastricht University, Campus Venlo. But my main occupation is photography: in nature, in theatre, in company, and at funerals. Besides that, I’m babysitting my grandchildren two days a week.
Technical information
Camera: Sony A7IV
Lens: Sony FE 90 2.8 macro
EXIF: 1/13s, f/10, ISO 200
Accessories: Tripod, flashlight.
HIGHLY COMMENDED CATEGORY LAGE LANDEN
Karin de Jonge | Colors of destruction
Name: Karin de Jonge
Picture title: Colors of destruction
Category: Lage Landen
Nationality: Venlo, the Netherlands
Occupation: I’m also a psychologist at Maastricht University, Campus Venlo. But my main occupation is photography: in nature, in theatre, in company, and at funerals. Besides that, I’m babysitting my grandchildren two days a week.
Technical information
Camera: Sony A7IV
Lens: Sony FE 90 2.8 macro
EXIF: 1/13s, f/10, ISO 200
Accessories: Tripod, flashlight.
Karin de Jonge says:
I was photographing beautiful demoiselles along the “Rode beek” (Red Creek) in Limburg near Vlodrop. On the ground, I found the damaged wing of a beautiful demoiselle. I took it home where I had every opportunity to take a macro photo. I used a macro lens and two intermediate rings. First I wanted to use the studio flash but the backlight made the beautiful blue color disappear and the wing turned brown. Then I lit the wing diagonally from the front with a soft torch. It turned out there were lots of colors besides the beautiful blue color in that wing. For me, the image became more than a wing but one could see a spaceship or an apartment building in it. The damage, the hole in the wing, emphasizes transience and mortality.
Karin de Jonge
Netherlands
My name is Karin de Jonge (1959) and I live in Venlo-Blerick the Netherlands. In my photography, I want to capture essence and feeling, both in my nature photos and in studio, company, theater, and funeral photography. This involves attention to light, shape, and detail and especially to obtain peace and quietness in a photo.
Emotion is an overarching theme in my work. Feeling always plays a big part. As a psychologist, I know that people want to be seen, to be heard, and above all to be understood. Emotions and recognition are important aspects of everyone’s daily life.
With my photos and documentaries, whether they focus on nature, or cultural events, or are created in a studio, I try to evoke emotion and a feeling of recognition. I am always looking for the ’touch’ factor, the aspect in the photo that hits you. There is a big difference between nature photography and the other kinds of photography I practice. In a theater, at a portrait shoot, or at a funeral, I try to catch the emotion that is already there. Nature has hardly any emotions, we humans “read” nature and attribute emotions to it. A photo can touch us and evoke feelings. I would be very happy if that happens with some of my images. But I am aware that I cannot determine what other people experience. It is up to the viewer to interpret the emotion and the story in the photo.