A Life Well Cropped

Chris Halman (Heerenveen, February 12, 1980)
I'm a portrait and street photographer living in Amsterdam. My style of photography aims to make the viewer feel like they are looking at a suspenseful movie scene and to titillate their imagination and sense of curiosity. Hopefully this will evoke a sense of wonder in which the viewer will use their imagination to complement the photograph with their own narrative.

My love for photography ignited during my study Photography Styling at Akademie Vogue. I continued my studies at the Rietveld Academie, but I didn't feel like my photography skills were developing as fast as I envisioned. Through taking photography masterclasses at the Amsterdam Center of Photography and with the support of photographer Maarten van Schaik, I developed my own cinematic inspired way of telling stories.

My long-term project 'Hokum', is the result of continuously exploring eerie places and approaching enigmatic figures. These figures often exude mystery and fortitude, yet at the same time, they tend to radiate a certain naivety and innocence. This duality results in a complex scenario in which these characters could be a perpetrator of a heinous crime but at the same time, they could easily be a victim as well.

In Dutch or British seaside towns, but also in industrial cities like Charleroi and Seraing, is where I find this same ominous and unpredictable feeling. I'm always looking for what could've been there and therefore not tangible, more so than what is physically there, in hopes of elevating the things that we consider to be everyday reality to an exciting piece of fiction. This scenario is translated into an unsettling series of images that perhaps reflect my sinister outlook on life, but it also translates into ironic images that leave you wondering... Are these places and these people reality or is it just 'Hokum'?