Tom Janssen

13. The third flying something from Sint Nyk, as the locals call their hometown, isn't completely flying yet, but that one car at the top seems to be entering midair in seconds. All cars on the float have a theme, there's for example a weddingcar, a car on it's way for winter sports, a pimp ride and one to take driving instructions with, which is the one steering the float at the front. I like how the cars combine with the gas station and the tree in the foreground that gives the whole scene a touch of romanticism. Allegorical parade, Sint Nicolaasga #3, September 2011 #parade #culture #herritage #erfgoed #thenetherlands #holland #nederland #sintnicolaasga #sintnyk #allegory #friesland #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook #staybrokeshootfilm

It doesn't happen very often that one is being listed as company of illustre American examples like Joel Sternfeld. Somehow it just happened today when my book Parade was mentioned as one of the 22 books that stood out this year in The Netherlands by newspaper De Volkskrant. http://verhalen.volkskrant.nl/fotoboeken#587 #parade #culture #herritage #erfgoed #thenetherlands #holland #nederland #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #photobook #volkskrant #joelsternfeld (bij Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht)

12. The second flying something: a space shuttle to transport children into space built in Sint Nicolaasga. Allegorical parade, Sint Nicolaasga #2, September 2011 #parade #culture #herritage #erfgoed #thenetherlands #holland #nederland #sintnicolaasga #allegory #friesland #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook #staybrokeshootfilm

Number 11 is the first out of three images from the Allegorical parade in Sint Nicolaasga, up in the North from the Netherlands. There's more parades that are called allegorical, but it's more or less to give them a name, you won't find much allegories in them. This giant bird is made out of fabric! (on the outside) I only just noticed that all three (this one and the upcoming two) images in the book from this particular parade depict a flying something. Allegorical parade, Sint Nicolaasga #1, September 2011 #parade #culture #herritage #erfgoed #thenetherlands #holland #nederland #sintnicolaasga #allegory #friesland #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook #staybrokeshootfilm (bij Sint Nicolaasga)

Number 9 was shot during the parade that is part of the nine day long Brabant-day festival. The floats have to depict a historic event, sage or myth from the duchy Brabant. Not only do they build floats, but on every float there's a small theater piece as well. Cultural history parade Brabant-day, Heeze #2, August 2011 #parade #culture #herritage #erfgoed #thenetherlands #holland #nederland #heeze #brabant #brabantsedag #history #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook #staybrokeshootfilm (bij Heeze)

Ten, same day, same parade as number nine, in both it becomes apparent that I like to play with the relation between float and surroundings. Here the gate adds to the spooky, mysterious feeling of the ship (The Flying Dutchman), with the previous photograph there's all these Vespa scooters driving into the gas station (sometimes the connection is a bit more straightforward then other times). Cultural history parade Brabant-day, Heeze #4, August 2011 #parade #culture #herritage #erfgoed #thenetherlands #holland #nederland #heeze #brabant #brabantsedag #history #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook #staybrokeshootfilm (bij Heeze)

In between number 7 and number 8 (this one) there where some more parades I photographed, but none of the images made it to the final edit. Since this is the only harvest parade I know of in the Netherlands, so there had to be at least one image of it in the book and one it is. What I like about it is that the float is about "the circle of life" and then you have two supermarkets and the van of a butcher in the background, in most cases more an interruption of the circle rather than being part of it. Harvest parade, Raalte #1, August 2011 #parade #culture #herritage #erfgoed #thenetherlands #holland #nederland #raalte #harvest #oogstcorso #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook (bij Raalte)

Number 7 made it onto the cover of Parade and is another outsider: the only image where the onlooker becomes clearly looked at by an onlooker: you may figure that one out yourself. Carnival, Weert #3, March 2011 #parade #culture #herritage #thenetherlands #weert #carnival #carnaval #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook (bij Weert)

For image 6 we make a jump from September 2010 to March 2011. The day that I made this image marked the start of a two year long period of increased production for Parade, which boiled down to photographing about 25 parades a year, actually doesn't sound like that much, problem was that a lot of parades are held at the same day, so there's only this much days you can actually go and see one. This image is a bit of an outsider within the book since it's the only one without a float AND the only one where the parade still had to set off. Carnival, Hout-Blerick #1, March 2011 #parade #culture #herritage #thenetherlands #hout-blerick #carnival #carnaval #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook (bij Hout-Blerick, Limburg, Netherlands)

Image number 5 in the list of images that made it into my book Parade and one of my personal favorites. Flower parade, Zundert #3, September 2010 @flakphoto #parade #culture #herritage #thenetherlands #zundert #corso #flowerparade #bloemencorso #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #ishootfilm #photobook (bij Zundert, Netherlands)

The fourth image that made it into the book was also shot at the flower parade in Zundert during 2010 and as you will see in the next post even the fifth image was made there, not surprising once you know that the Zundert flower parade is the largest of his kind in the world. Flower parade, Zundert #2, September 2010 #parade #culture #herritage #thenetherlands #zundert #corso #flowerparade #bloemencorso #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #photobook (bij Zundert, Netherlands)

Last Tuesday Rosan Hollak wrote a nice short article about Parade for Dutch newspaper NRC.Next :) #parade #cultuur #erfgoed #fotoboek #nrc #nrcnext

Number three in the row of images that made it into the book. The flowerparade in Zundert. This parade is a special one for me, it's where, during 2009, I conducted my research. I spoke to the people who were organizing the parade, the people building the floats, submerged myself in the excitation, photographed the whole building process, the parade and the visitors. It's during this process that I learned what I wanted to communicate about parades in the Netherlands and when I made the first few images that were close to how I felt it had to be photographed. Flowerparade, Zundert #1, September 2010 #parade #culture #herritage #thenetherlands #zundert #corso #flowerparade #bloemencorso #documentary #landscape #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #analogphotography #photobook (bij Zundert, Netherlands)

Second image I shot that made it into the final selection for Parade. Carnival in Venlo. Made only one day after the previous image from Grashoek. I think this is about the only parade I visited where I was able to photograph just the start and nothing more. Don't remember exactly why, think it had something to do with my dad dropping me and his step ladder off by car (I did not own a drivers license back in those days) and him and my mom leaving that afternoon for their winter sports holiday, so they had to pick me up rather early. I used to mis out on the local carnival parade for a big part of my youth because it was THE moment to go on winter sports holiday. Not that I cared that much back then, I enjoyed the holiday too much to mis out on that experience, but I did hear all the carnival stories before I left and especially after I came back, which did make me curious, might be one of the (subconscious) reasons why I started with the project. Carnival, Venlo #5, February 2010 #parade #culture #herritage #thenetherlands #venlo #carnival #carnaval #documentary #photography #documentaryphotography #analog #photobook (bij Venlo Centrum, Holland)

Earliest shot from the Parade series that made it into the book. Detail: this is the town where I grew up. The boy with the red hair is my brother and the people on his left and right are my parents. Carnival, Grashoek #4, February 2010 #parade #culture #carnaval #carnival #herritage #thenetherlands #landscape #documentary #photography #documentaryphotography #photobook (bij Grashoek, Limburg, Netherlands)

Last Thursday I was invited to take part in the #fotodok photobookclub, where #robhornstra fired some questions at me about Parade. The other books discussed during the evening already caught my attention during the #rencontresarles photofestival, so I was delighted to hear what the makers had to tell about their book. The books that passed the revenue where: You haven't seen their faces, by #danielmayrit Wealth Management, by #carlosspottorno The Heavens Annual Report, by #paolowoods and #gabrielegalimberti and (in matters of) Karl by #annettebehrens Photo credits: Teun Hermsen - FOTODOK And if you'd like to have a look at the full FOTODOK program you can visit their website at: www.fotodok.org (bij FOTODOK)