Mar 2015

AIR TEAM DUTCH.

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Almost all of us have started “plane spotting” with a stereotyped vision of aviation. For better or worse, we all started by taking the same type of photographs based on the rules established by specialized websites. Every spotter dream is to share his or her own photographs in these websites as evidence that we are part of the crew.

No offence to anyone, but I must say that this was one of the reasons why “plane spotting” was stuck in showing the reality through just informative, superfluous, redundant pictures… and never moved forward to turn into art, with just a few exceptions like AirteamDutch.

Based in Schiphol, their photographs completely break this visual illiteracy, filling themselves up with meaning, providing new information, breaking the standards and taking risks, showing a style with which I am fully identified, getting me hooked, turning me into an addict who, without noticing, surfs the web looking for his fix of visual magic.

It is true that to get good photographs you must have camera skills, but you also have to be in the right place at the right time. But that is just half the truth. If you go to Schiphol a hundred times you will probably get hundreds of good photographs, very much like the hundreds of photographs by the rest of the spotters present at the time.

Airteamdutch uses a different approach. Honestly I have no idea how they do that. A lot of work, tons of photographs thrown away, an exquisite edition, unusual and cool compositions… and all that to get a unique piece. These photographs are at the same time true, genuine and beautiful. I wouldn’t dare to call them “works of art”, but they really connect feelings and pixels.

If you have ever seen airplanes they may look like my photographs, If you have ever dreamed with planes, surely they looked like AirteamDutch photographs.

AirteamDutch is formed by Menno Mennes, Tom Kool, Bart Mozer, Max Niessen y Mark de Bruin, to whom I owe the chance to write these lines and to share these master pieces through Airspotters. You can follow AirteamDutch on Facebook, Instagram or their website www.airteamdutch.com. It is really worth!