Photography: Enjoy Maurice van Es' collection of oddball sights he stumbles across

Date
24 January 2014

Different questions apply to different kinds of creative work. With some it’s “how?” for others it’s “what?” but for Dutch photographer Maurice van Es it’s very definitely “why?”

As he told this interviewer when describing what makes a good photograph: “I like to be aware of the idea that every picture you see has been taken by a person with a camera. Thinking what has driven the person to make this photo can fascinate me.”

It’s easy to recognise this philosophy in his ongoing series The Past Is A Strange Place. First started in 2009, Maurice describes it with neat simplicity as “photographs I made while living my life,” – aesthetic occurrences he feels the need to document and share with the world. There are some reoccurring themes – birds and foliage crop up more than once – but this is a series really only united by its randomness, and Maurice’s unerring visual sensibilities.

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Maurice van Es: The Past Is A Strange Place

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Maurice van Es: The Past Is A Strange Place

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Maurice van Es: The Past Is A Strange Place

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Maurice van Es: The Past Is A Strange Place

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Maurice van Es: The Past Is A Strange Place

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Maurice van Es: The Past Is A Strange Place

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Maurice van Es: The Past Is A Strange Place

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

Rob joined It’s Nice That as Online Editor in July 2011 before becoming Editor-in-Chief and working across all editorial projects including itsnicethat.com, Printed Pages, Here and Nicer Tuesdays. Rob left It’s Nice That in June 2015.

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