Zonnestraal

Sunday - under an ever changing partially clouded sky - I went out taking pictures together with my photo-friend Nanda at Landgoed Zonnestraal (Sunbeam Estate) near Hilversum. The buildings, constructed in 1928 as sanatorium, establish the first example of concrete skeleton construction in the Netherlands, characterized by the enormous lightness of the architecture and experience, intended to let in sunlight as much as possible for the healing of tuberculosis patients.

As a photographer you must do something with this theme, this focus on light as therapy. So we experimented both with infrared and with double exposure. In the latter technique the same (digital) negative is exposed twice (or multiple times) in which two images are merged over each other in camera. Merely as in the old time you forgot to transport your film. Well, it was the first time I experimented with this and I quite puts a stress on your imagination, but I will certainly work with thing more often.

Take for example this image of the sight axis of the main building. It is comprised of two exposures, the first with a focus on the delicate rocket (regretfully not flowering anymore), the second with a focus on the building. The result required some post-processing - in particular making the overall image more bright - but the result displays a magical lightness, conveys the idea: 'there I will find healing'.

But also Nanda had to face up to it. I took two double exposure pictures of her just as a test, and I believe this one is the nicest of the two because of its composition of lines and the soft colors. Pay also attention to the subtle sky on the upper left reflected in the glass. Her smile prevents the impression of here being imprisoned behind glass - gives more the feeling of being healed.