Questions of development reflect our culture in a way that is so visual that it can force itself upon a photographer. The permanent friction in Dutch culture between the urge to control the process of change and the usually rather uncompromising or surprising practice has become my point of reference. You don't have to travel too many kilometers for that: it takes place in front of your own door. I want to understand what I see when I look out my window. 

Some of my books are about the places where I live: Territorium , Eiland 7 and Werklust. In these books I combine my photos with my own texts. It’s too personal to outsource that. In other projects I asked journalists or writers to contribute their work. Some books have been made in collaboration with my friend and colleague Cary Markerink: Nagele, Snelweg and Nagele [revisited]. Making photobooks means also working close together with translators, editors, graphic designers and printers. It is never a solo exercise.

I see the photobook as an ideal form of presentation of my work. I like the strict form, and the rigid context. I hope though that individual photographs can survive and will be appreciated outside the context of the photobook.