Once upon a time

• Prize
  Silver in Architecture/Industrial
• Photographer
  HJ Hunter, Netherlands
• Studio
  Visto Studio
• Website
  https://www.hjhunter.photography

Once upon a time is a portrait of the post-industrial heart of Western Europe. From the 1970s, more and more mines and factories closed. It became a shabby region with an uneasy cinematic beauty. Each ruin is a story in itself. It wants to tell you something about a glorious past, but it remains a mystery what happened exactly. What I closed my eyes to as a teenager, I developed a bond with as a photographer. I have come to feel more and more connected to that raw post-industrial landscape of the region next door to mine, which has lost every scrap of its former grandeur.

I studied literature and had a professional career in journalistic and commercial writing, before I became a documentary photographer. I studied photography with Forum Beeldtaal and the Fotoacademy.

My autonomous projects were internationally exhibited and published in The Guardian, Trouw, De Volkskrant, De Limburger, De Standaard, De Morgen and magazines like Dodho, Focus and Pf. Most of my projects deal with current social themes. My first photo book 'Once upon a time' (2023, Lecturis) is a portrait of the post-industrial heart of Western Europe.