Between the dark and the daylight

In January 2013, I was an artist in residence at The Studios of Key West (TSKW) in Florida, USA. For a full month, I biked to the edges of town, drove down the Keys and sailed the backcountry to record the transition from night into day and day into night.

One needs light to see colour. In the Keys, the light and the colours shift quickly. Each day offers two small windows of opportunity - both lasting for about two hours - to capture the light and the colours at their most fantastic. Occasionally, I would photograph during the day, when the glare of the sun was filtered by clouds or haze.

I am fascinated by light and colour in the coastal landscape. For two decades, I have worked as a photographer along the Atlantic coast, in the Netherlands and in Nova Scotia, Canada and I continue to be amazed by how utterly different the light is in both places. I am grateful to TSKW for the wonderful opportunity they gave me to continue my explorations of light and colour at a more southern geographical location. The Key West Portfolio 1 is the result of this journey.

I would not have been able to work in so many different locations in the Keys without the help of a local guide. AD Tinkham, a painter whose work I admire very much, generously shared his time and favourite painting locations with me. I enjoyed working in an urban context, which is new to me. I was thrilled to find all kinds of man-made objects, human beings and artificial light from lanterns, ships, buoys and headlights from cars, creep into my images unexpectedly.

I am not done with the Keys yet. January 2013 was a windy month and I am looking forward to revisit Key West at a later time in the season, when I hope to find more windless days and glassy seas.