Why present images whose essence everyone has already seen, wondered Boudewijn Swanenburg. He figured there are plenty of sunrises and sunsets.
Currently (until August 28th), the exhibition ‘Hide and Reveal’ featuring his work is on display at Gallery WM in Amsterdam. I spoke with him in the gallery: “There are 1,000 times more photographs than people on Earth. Gradually, I started creating images that no one has ever seen.”
The Photography Virus
In 2004, Boudewijn Swanenburg (born 1941) retired. He had an impressive scientific career in space research and astrophysics. He turned his curiosity to photography. Until then, he had only taken holiday photos. In 2010, he acquired a good camera and in 2012, he became a member of the Leiden Amateur Photographers’ Association. Gradually, things started to get serious. “The virus had got hold on me.”
In 2017, the Mondrian exhibition was at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, now the Kunstmuseum Den Haag. He saw, among other things, three Mondrian paintings depicting a tree that was becoming increasingly abstract. Inspired by this, he took a photograph of the underside of a fallen tree. You could see the mud, the roots, the twigs. As a joke, he negatived the photo. Absolutely nothing was recognizable! “I started trying to see what else I could achieve photographically.”
Playing with light, dark, and color
He enrolled in a landscape photography course led by Theo Bosboom. Five or six participants from across the country met for six evenings. Swanenburg wanted to see how his project of abstract nature photographs could be properly approached. “My first attempts appealed to him. He encouraged me to continue. I did, and you can see the results here at the exhibition.” On display are surprising structures and patterns in many colors, all related to nature. Swanenburg emphasizes that nature created these patterns. “By playing with light, dark, and color, I made it unrecognizable. I transformed it into something else. It’s up to the viewer to complete it.”
His photography is all about chance, perception, visual surprise, and wonder. “It stems from my innate urge to explore. I used to be a scientific researcher. I prefer to formulate questions rather than answers. How is it that we see things this way or that way?”
Does he have a key work?
He does. It’s called Dragons (AbstractNature 18) and it’s in the window. It resembles a Van Gogh landscape, with black wings fluttering across the landscape. It was the first work in his series of abstract nature photographs. “I thought, ‘How amazing.’ I showed the photo at the photographers’ café in Woerden, where you could have your portfolio reviewed. I ended up with Lodewijk Ouwens, a poet and professor at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts. He said, ‘That’s art! I could easily write a poem about that.’ Then I thought, ‘I’ve got something.'”
He has a second key work: the final photograph in the series, Abstract Nature 61. It’s also included in the exhibition. The photograph, along with six others from the series, appeared in the leading international magazine Frames with the caption:
“cosmic swirls from far away
ruthless aiming at your mind
new worlds evolving
mirror of your memory”
All the photos are drastically different. “I don’t want to show the same thing three times.” After the photos appeared in Frames, he was done with it.
“Everything I try as an extension of the series becomes artificial. I started from scratch, with black and white photos. It’s much more recognizable. Yet nature still plays a role.”
He’s currently creating a diptych booklet. “It’s called ‘Connecting Contrasts.’ The images are completely different, yet they belong together in some way. In terms of tone or form. Sometimes with images of parts of the city, but mostly of nature.” He prints the book himself and has it bound at the copy shop.
Education
Besides a workshop with Theo Bosboom, he also attended workshops with Bart Siebelink, Loulou Beavers, Diana Bokje, and Hans Kruse (in Italy). Technically, he learned a lot from Luminous Landscape, a Canadian/American initiative founded by Michael Reichmann († 2015) at the time of the transition from analog to digital photography. “You could take didactic workshops on their website. I also learned a lot from Jeff Shewe there.”
Carefulness, curiosity, and perseverance are important in both learning about photography and space exploration, he says. “In photography, it’s okay if you don’t succeed the first time; you can repeat it. In space exploration, you only get one shot. It has to go well. However, you don’t work alone, you work in international teams.”
Besides Gallery WM, Swanenburg has had exhibitions at Warnars & Warnars Art Dealers in Haarlem (2023), the Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam (2022) and Galerie De Pomp in Warmond (2020).
Images
1)AbstractNature18, 2) AbstractNature25, 3) AbstractNature44, 4) AbstractNature47, 5) AbstractNature61, 6) AbstractNature26, 7) AbstractNature24, 8) AbstractNature32, 9) AbstractNature41, 10) Portrait photo, Copyright Pete Purnell
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https://inzaken.eu/index.php/2025/08/13/de-abstracte-natuurfotos-van-boudewijn-swanenburg/
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