Hans van der Meer
Dutch photographer Hans van der Meer captures the rush of athletic competition, city life, and even the sweeping landscapes of the American West in his quiet, charged photographs. For his series Amsterdam Traffic from the 1990s, van der Meer snapped photographs with an outsize camera while stuck on his bike in the city’s traffic. The results are high contrast scenes from the street perspective, often featuring unexpected angles as well as interruptions that give a sense of improvisation.
For his European Fields project, meanwhile, van der Meer captured the dignity and aspiration of amateur football leagues across Europe, using the techniques of midcentury sports photographers, and his Keepers series solely focuses on the goalkeepers of such fields. But while van der Meer acutely realizes scenes of choreographed movements, whether within cities, on the football field, or during the daily grind of labor (such as in Work), he also devotes significant attention to landscapes. These scenes picture Dutch fields, large-format views of the American West, or the small suburban outlying towns of the Netherlands, ultimately revealing a more contemplative side of the photographer’s practice.
Van der Meer was born in Leimuiden, the Netherlands in 1955. He studied photography at the MTS School for …
Dutch photographer Hans van der Meer captures the rush of athletic competition, city life, and even the sweeping landscapes of the American West in his quiet, charged photographs. For his series Amsterdam Traffic from the 1990s, van der Meer snapped photographs with an outsize camera while stuck on his bike in the city’s traffic. The results are high contrast scenes from the street perspective, often featuring unexpected angles as well as interruptions that give a sense of improvisation.
For his European Fields project, meanwhile, van der Meer captured the dignity and aspiration of amateur football leagues across Europe, using the techniques of midcentury sports photographers, and his Keepers series solely focuses on the goalkeepers of such fields. But while van der Meer acutely realizes scenes of choreographed movements, whether within cities, on the football field, or during the daily grind of labor (such as in Work), he also devotes significant attention to landscapes. These scenes picture Dutch fields, large-format views of the American West, or the small suburban outlying towns of the Netherlands, ultimately revealing a more contemplative side of the photographer’s practice.
Van der Meer was born in Leimuiden, the Netherlands in 1955. He studied photography at the MTS School for Photography; he then attended the National Academy for Visual Arts in Amsterdam, graduating in 1986. His work has been shown in galleries and institutions across the Netherlands, as well as in cities such as Frankfurt, Milan, and Beijing.
