On February 24, 2007, Lex Van Rossen, a leading music photographer and one of my best personal friends, died of the consequences of cancer. All we have now is his spectacular work to remember him by.
When I first knew him I must have been about 15 years old, doing my first concert photos. He was already a thoroughbred music photographer with years of experience. From that time on we saw each other several times a week, at every possible concert and portrait photo shoot working for some magazine, newspaper or record company. Together we did an exhibition on the Dutch Photo Festival in 1993, in a cave of Naarden's city wall which we dressed up as a concert hall, with many kilowatts of light, smoke, and temperatures of over 40 degrees celsius inside.
The last time I was in The Netherlands, in September of last year, I visited him in the hospital where he was receiving chemo therapy. As his body had responded well to the cures this would be the last session, and the cancer seemed to have disappeared. As I took some photos of him, he said jokingly that he now wanted to be the next Photo of the Month. And, in the way only he could make his observations full of black humour, he added at once that that would be a really bad sign. I had never thought that barely six months later this Photo of the Month would have to become a fact.
-Niels
Other Photos
of the Month:
PHOTO OF THE MONTH
SITE
The
'photo of the month' is not meant as something pretentious, it is not
even chosen by any jury. It could be an advertising photo I did, or a
photo for a magazine or record cover. Something telling you of a journey
I made or the city I'm in. Or a snapshot of my girlfriend. The only criterium
it has to meet is that it was made in the last month. And that I believe
it is worth bothering you with...
I am very sorry for the not-very-personal tone and character of this mail
- you may or may not remember me, we might have met in some sleazy bar
in some part of the earth and exchanged emails, we might be colleagues
or best friends, or just share an interest in photography. We might have
worked or even lived together in the past.
Of course, if you would not like to receive any more mails just let me
know and I will remove you from the list.
And if you know of other people that might like to receive it please let
me know as well...
Thanks for your time and hope you are well!