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Hellen van Meene in her own words: interviews

Anky Floris for Alkmaar op Zondag

2005-01-20

"Wat mij aan jonge vrouwen fascineert is dat ze nog helemaal openstaan. Ze zijn nog niet vastgeroest. Ze durven zich te laten zien zoals ze zijn. Bovendien sta ik zelf nog dicht bij dat omwentelingspunt van tiener naar volwassen worden, waardoor ik me met ze kan identificeren. Ik kan ze begrijpen" aldus de fotografe. Ze fotografeert vooral mensen die het niet gewend zijn om om voor de camera te staan."

Read it here.

Charlotte Cotton for Pop Magazine

2004-spring/summer

"It is often a basic idea or tiny observation that gives me a handle on the situation and something to aim for. But you have to develop and deviate from it in order to create something that engages with what is unfolding in front of my camera. You can't change the situation into another one and you have to be able to be comfortable enough to see what happens."

Read it here.

Karel Schampers for the book "Hellen van Meene: Japan Series"

2002-01-15

"I am mainly concerned with things such as the lightfall on a white skin, bruises on an arm, hands which disfigure in water, and starting goose-pimples in frosty weather. Only then you see the texture of the skin so beautifully. It is exciting to see what happens when you put a leg over a horizontal bar or when you hang a person's hair in a bush. Besides this I pay a lot of attention to the right position, to the mise-en-scene, to matching clothes as well as their colour, to the gaze and posture of the model. I arrange everything, to the smallest detail, such as the nail polish on their fingers."

Read it here.