Abstract nominee

No location scouting. No composition framing. Not being concerned with the right lens choices or perfect camera settings. Not waiting for that one magical moment that would give the shot that something extra. Instead, leave everything to chance. The main question: is it still possible to produce strong images by letting everything go. That’s what I’m doing with my project ‘Lucky Shots’.

With the series Lucky Shots, I investigate my role as a photographer. I want to know if I am still able to influence the quality of my (end)results by just leaving everything to chance. For example, by developing a better eye for good images as the project evolves over time. Or by developing specific photographic skills while traveling. The result of which can be an increase in keeper images with each project day. Obviously, the outcome can also be that I have no influence on the quality of the results at all. If that turns out to be the case, the images for this series are really just ‘lucky shots’.

Movement. That is at the heart of Dutch photographer Maarten Vromans' (1975, Rucphen) work and methods.

Whenever Vromans travels from one place to another – be it on foot, by boat or by train – he methodically records the altering terrain that passes him by. This could be the eroded buildings in an anonymous urban setting, but also the untouched landscape of a remote region, or the infinite distance on unspoiled open water.

Vromans likes to move through transition areas: the no-man’s-land between residential, commercial and working environments; between built-up, cultivated and untouched areas. There, in places that apparently no longer belong to anyone, he takes photos that are tranquil, abstract and picturesque, and in which the subject always remains recognisable.

At the start of his career, Vromans’ photos were published in New Dutch Photography Talent (now known as GUP New), an annual publication showcasing the work of one hundred upcoming Dutch photographers. Since then, his work has been shown at fairs and exhibitions in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, The Hague, Budapest and London, among others. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, he compiled his ‘Lucky Shots’ series into his first photo book in 2018. Vromans is represented by Zerp Galerie, Rotterdam,NL.