Robert Volkerts

Out for a stroll in the middle of the night.

I follow the light, I follow the light…

I pass a stranger on my way..

Gazes gazing, piercing away, jabbing away, shanks deep in the pale moonlight.

With mixed emotions and mixed intentions, he points the other way.

Caution in his muscles. Caution in his bones.

King of confidence, fool of consequence, I continue on alone.

Walking felt like falling, laughing felt like bawling, walking felt like crawling, rushing felt like stalling.

I didn’t want to go back, a one way ticket on a one way track.

Like that day you jumped in the water, out on a limb, free falling..

And it was just right. And you didn’t want to get out.

Swim infinitely, drown copiously, perpetually, conveniently.

The orchestra plays beautifully. Right around dawn.

And I am lost and drowning in The Sound.

Left to my own devices. The story of my demise is..

“Will I see you soon?”

“I’d like you to make me want to stay forever here behind your door.”

I’m left here spinning in the mire, Oscillating bird on a wire, when it’s curtains, you’re out of things to admire.

I’m falling, falling, falling, falling….

I can hear you sing it to me in my sleep.

Dimelo Luna. Quedate Luna.

Posted at 5:37pm and tagged with: one column, poetry,.

December 3rd 2011

42 notes

Here I am. on Flickr.

Another one from the series. This shot is more bubbly, such an elegant woman. I like the results from this mini series, I hope ya’ll do too!

Posted at 7:07pm and tagged with: age, bar, canon, one light, retro, vintage, one column, photography,.

Here I am. on Flickr.
Another one from the series. This shot is more bubbly, such an elegant woman. I like the results from this mini series, I hope ya’ll do too!

December 3rd 2011

I promise not to look back. on Flickr.

This also happens to work wonders in black and white. Her expression here is almost sad..nostalgic perhaps. Lovely.

Posted at 4:42pm and tagged with: age, black and white, dress, gala, retro, style, stylist, vintage, one column, photography,.

I promise not to look back. on Flickr.
This also happens to work wonders in black and white. Her expression here is almost sad..nostalgic perhaps. Lovely.

December 2nd 2011

24 notes

Favela Cayena. on Flickr.

Such a lovely shot. This is from the series I did for the Antiliaans Dagblad. The lovely stylist SharonLie did a fantastic job on this one. I can see this on a canvas hanging over a fireplace somewhere.

Posted at 7:08pm and tagged with: age, canon, fashon, one light, retro, style warm, vintage, one column, photography,.

Favela Cayena. on Flickr.
Such a lovely shot. This is from the series I did for the Antiliaans Dagblad. The lovely stylist SharonLie did a fantastic job on this one. I can see this on a canvas hanging over a fireplace somewhere.

December 2nd 2011

End of the year fashion in a news paper.

Hi globetrotters,

I hope ya’ll are doing well wherever you are.

So here’s a mini update for everyone out there wondering “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” errr where in the world I’ve been.

Well as of a few days ago I started doing photography full time, meaning it’s my sole source of income and it’s a scary time. I must admit. But I intend to jump in feet first and see what I can do.

I also intend on doing some behind the scenes video of my shoots and some interviews and whatever else comes my way in the form of video. I now have my Youtube channel standing by and I’ll be posting, so stay tuned.

As you may or may not know I’m putting together a team to work with, this comprises of a make up artist or two, a hair stylist and a stylist.

I introduce you to my (not to say I own her, just that I’ve selected her) stylist, SharonLie! She is very good at what she does if you ask me, and is very creative. Like me, she’s infamous for doing a whole lot with just a little. And it’s in this thinking and state of mind that I think we’ll be able to pull many a rabbit from our hats, so keep your eyes peeled, because very soon, I’ll have my (again, not the owner, just a selection) team together and we’ll be pulling off some pretty cool stuff down here in the ol’ Caribe.

So as our first little assignment, the good people over at the ‘Antilliaans Dagblad’, which is a local news paper, wrote an article on my stylist, and she pushed that I be the photographer on duty to shoot two lovely gals she decided to style and to get some candid shots of the day.

This also completes my second shoot using lighting equipment, and it’s not half bad. The images following this article are from that session. I hope you enjoy!

If you would like to check out the newspaper article for yourself, you can do so HERE!

Until sometime soon,

Rob.

Posted at 2:33pm and tagged with: photography, one column,.

November 9th 2011

Short Fuse Burning.

How could I think that I can be home to this?

I harbor flaming pyres inside of me in the name of gods I don’t believe in.

Sometimes I feel that this vessel is navigating under the command of a madman.

I feel like I’m crashing into eternity and my eyes have seen nothing but everything.

I feel like I’m too old. I feel like I’m too tired.

Sometimes, something stirs inside, like a crow in its nest high up in her perch.

Untouchable, black and loud.

Like the dark sound coming from the vents that were my lungs.

Like the oscillating white noise inside my head.

A lightbulb at the end of the hall. A moth at the end of its rope.

The long, lingering walk to the beginning of the end.

The sigh left of a crescendo.

Caterpillar made a mockery of my eyes.

I know what I saw.

Now you have wings and you pretend like you know me.

You know my name and you want to be the ambassador of my love.

You’re nothing but a mutiny disguised as hope.

You’re hope dressed as a sailor and you’ve weighed anchor on my shores.

I’ll be the bitch you fuck tonight. In the morning you’ll be gone.

Burnt cigarettes and a leftover glass of chardonnay to remind me of a trespassing.

Your skin felt like forever stretched over my bones, my muscles, my veins and you held sway over my affection. Your eyes; intruders.

You washed over me like a river of sin. And I sank. Like a stone I descended. Into the abyss.

I have lost hope in words and phrases. I have lost hope in the promise.

All I have left is a canvas. On that canvas you draw me virginity. You draw me sanctity.

I built a cape of that canvas and I wore it on the day I was born.

I was a spot light coming on. I was a whirring and a buzzing. I was a dank, dark, room. I was jazz.

I was that stone you skipped across the lake. The one that you held in your eager hands and that you deemed perfect for the task at hand. You thought I would skip right into the future and save you from yourself.

I am the ripple. Echo.

The string is broken in the grand piano.

You’re 2 minutes too late.

Your shoes are untied.

Your mouth is out of luck.

Your face is strange.

Your voice is weary.

Your tempo’s off.

Your shoes don’t tap.

Your love falls like a house of cards.

You are whisked away on the Jack of Trades.

You dance away while the music fades.

Tiny dancer in my hand now a tumbleweed.

A slow poison, a suffering, mourning, waning, waiting, savoring, whimpering.

Your love is quicksand and I’m dying a slow death.

Posted at 1:38pm and tagged with: one column, poetry,.

November 9th 2011

Stumbles, fumbles & Fingers crossed for ascension.

Hi planet Earth,

Now I know some of you might have prepared a really strong, very moving piece for me. A eulogy like no other. But I’m still here. Just been ‘under construction’ for way longer than I thought I would. I’ve been out of commission and I have alibis.

I’ll try and make this not too arduous a read (though I am notoriously known for doing just that).

This is what’s going on with me.

So in our last episode you saw me get a job as the sales manager and photographer for the brave new magazine named ‘Curacao Journal’. There were setbacks with that, and suffice it to say that that didn’t pan out. So, in other words I am now unemployed and just doing freelance photography. That’s a tough racket, I know. Oh, I know.

But I’m going to tough this one out. I’m going to keep hammering away and tinkering away at my new toys, which include my new camera, lenses and lights. I’ll be ordering up odds and ends to complete and round up my toolbox and toughing it out.

My work.

Right now I’m in the process of practicing with lights. Which is a long winding road, but I traverse it bravely armed with hope and a fistful of boomsticks. But it’s coming along steadily. For now I should have a series of little shoots with a high influence by yours truly. Nothing too complicated. Just practice.

Injecting creativity into the aesthetics tight now before I even dare to throw in some symbolism or easter egg or anything else. And therein lies a dilemma.

I have to get a team together to be able to do the kind of work I want to do, and now that my toolbox has gotten a big upgrade, it’s time to stop doing the whole Wolverine act for a bit, and setup the X-Men.

So right now I have a makeup artist that I’m trying out, with a potential second. A hair person waiting in the wings so we can have our first test together. And I am currently hard at work at hooking up with a designer or someone who is skillful in that area to be my wardrobe person, and I’m dialoguing back and forth with them as we speak.

My next shoot is lined up, all we still need is wardrobe, but the concept is complete and it should be a hoot. :)

I intend on doing plenty of little shoots in the coming months, trying out my lights and showing all of you the bold and beautiful new face of my craft. So here’s to succeeding with flying colors. Cheers!

I also intend to make my triumphant return to Aruba after about 2 years of not shooting there, I would like to make it down in the next couple of months, and from there on to make frequent returns to the happy island. So all of you Arubans out there, keep your radars on ‘scan’ for when I announce that.

And last but not least, this may be old news to some, but I did my first shoot with lights a few weeks back, which was a collaboration with “the makeup artist Beth” on a little something she cooked up in honor of the ‘Breast cancer awareness’ month. She had this concept where she wanted to create a pink warrior to represent the strength inherent in all these women going through the tragedy and travesty that is breast cancer. So she went and found herself a model, painted her in, and I took some pictures. The results of which you can see in the last couple of posts I made here in my blog. Enjoy!

I’ll try not to leave you guys hanging so much in the future.

Posted at 1:32pm and tagged with: one column, photography,.

June 3rd 2011

The Weight.

Heavy.

My eyelids are heavy. Rolling over my eyeballs like the tide.

My arms are heavy. I couldn’t lift the light off a candle.

My feet are heavy. I shuffle like a deck of cards in a basement filled with sin.

My stomach is heavy. Like a bag filled with stones sinking steadily into the abyss.

My heart is heavy. Like a snowball down a hill; Growing bigger as it grows heavier.

My mind is heavy. Like heavy metal it’s all a white noise with occasional pangs of grief.

My back is heavy. Subsequently the pack rat became encumbered, as he would pile all of the woes, all of the tears, all of the trouble, all of the midnight escapes, all of the first impressions, vicious smiles, sneering remarks, punches to the face, knife to the throats, bullet to the hearts, tyrants, genocide, history, disregard, vanity, ignorance, bliss, grace, helping hands, smiling faces, lost moments, broken hearts, lost souls, empty homes, broken homes, empty tombs, garden gnomes, americana, la cabana, racial slurs, slaughterhouse reveries, hungry mouths, cancer, big sky country, Jack Kerouac, thick forests, empty plains, schoolyard banter, suicide notes, hatred, mercy, empathy, cardiac arrests, sudden deaths, violent crime, drug abuse, socialism, departures, hellos, favors, backstabbers, greed, currency, economies, decadence, providence, coincidence, fate, tiki huts and estates on to his back.

All of this and more. So so heavy.

Like Atlas, I need a shift change. I need a break.

I need to be stronger. I need to be brave.

My mouth is heavy. From holding back so many words.

My chest is heavy from the smog.

I’m heavy. I sink into my ascension.

Posted at 1:40pm and tagged with: one column, poetry,.

May 12th 2011

Darkness On The Edge Of Town.

Welcome to a world full of Hansels and Gretels.

Where are your crumbs? Eaten by crows.

Who will lead us home? Silence.

The more I see, the more mileage under my heels, the more I realize, we are lost.

The hope sweats out of me as I tread with calloused heels through the mire.

The hope, replaced by hopelessness. The hope, replaced by repulsion.

The woods are dank and dark. The gloom consumes the sun.

We are but children desperately clinging to innocence, like a rope to save us from the void.

Out of hunger we eat poisonous berries and mushrooms.

Out of thirst we drink mud.

Out of lust we commit incest.

The sounds this place makes reminds me of sighs my mother makes, when she’s exhausted. When she is spent.

We’re walking in circles. We’re talking in circles.

We’re ridiculous pawns on a merry go round.

We feast on ego. We are fat with an inflated sense of self importance. We are Gods in Goldfish bowls. We are a self righteous punch in the wall.

We are the fattest fly on our own individual turds.

I feel like I’m peeling an onion. The more I reveal, the more I realize how far I am from revealing anything at all.

Posted at 3:45pm and tagged with: poetry, one column,.

May 11th 2011

The Future Is Now.

So I suppose one could say this is the update many of you have been waiting for. An update where things have shifted, rocks have been kicked over and the fat lady appears to be going for the crescendo.

I won’t bore you with apologies as to why things have been quiet on my front, I have explained this numerous times before, besides reading this you’re likely to figure out the reason on your own anyhow.

So let’s get into the nitty gritty.

I lost my job.

My day..job that is. I did customer service for online casinos for close to three years now, but due to some laws recently passed in the United States and France we lost 80% of all clients and so the company threw in the towel.

Now for those of you who know my story, I’m sure you can imagine that this is great reason for concern as I have my share of responsibilities and the things I hold dear in life constantly hang by a very thin thread.

For those who don’t..well you can imagine that it sucks to say the very least, to lose your job.

To make matters worse, my camera was not working as it should and it had been for a while now. With no money to replace, I had been in a rut.

I had known for a little bit now that the office might be closing down as things have been stirring for a while now and many of us saw dark clouds on the horizon in there.

So I’ve been banging my head against a wall for a while now due to the fact that I was in between a rock and a hard place. With my job hanging by the ever present, ever-fucked thread and my equipment dying on me, I felt backed into a corner.

Realizing that change had to come in the form of a unicorn or in the form of a raging bull frightened me. But one thing was certain; Change had to come.

Now as many of you may or may not know I have been wanting to replace my equipment for a while now, replace them and add a little extra and take my work to the level where I desperately feel it should be. This has been something I have wanted desperately. I strongly feel that the only thing that has always kept me behind the herd was my financial situation. Everyone else was carrying bigger guns due to deeper pockets. It was that one factor that kept me rubbing shoulders with many others, and what kept me from feeding them stir fried dust with a side of rocks and mud.

Backed into the corner, desperate, I did what any responsible man would;

I took out a loan.

Let’s just say I’ll be spending a fair amount of time returning it.

But let’s also say that that ‘wall’ that separated the men from the boys has now crumbled.

I won’t bore you with the details, but I will say it’s a brave new world for Robert Volkerts Photography. More will be revealed in due time.

Now that we have covered the photography in my life, let’s get back to my day job.

Shortly after I lost my job, which was last week Wednesday to be precise, I received a rather interesting job offer. One that was quite unexpected.

See..there’s this really impressive magazine looming over the horizon. A magazine based here on the island and has a definite edge over anything out there.

This magazine is named Curacao Journal.

I am now officially its Advertisement Sales Manager and Photographer.

Which means I will be visiting a whole many businesses and establishments on the island to offer them ad space in this new magazine I’m raving about.

And I will also be the photographer for this magazine, so for those of you who like my work you may now look forward to checking it out on a regular basis. And I can promise you it will be refreshing.

Now it’s a little soon to give away too much but I can say that this will be a lifestyle magazine and that we have assembled a very exciting mix of young talents to contribute to it.

We have a demo website which has been out for a year, along with a demo magazine, which you can find in PDF format on the website. But, a year is a long time and as with most things that have the opportunity to sit and simmer, they change, they evolve.

The magazine has gone through some significant changes and some very exciting ones if I do say so myself. So whatever you see on that site, take it at face value as the magazine has undergone changes, but as you can see there, even what’s there already looks very nice.

Also as I’m the Ad Sales Manager and the Photographer, I will be able to have a very informed discussion with these business owners about Ad ideas and be completely free of the burden of having subtle and sensitive creative information get lost in translation. No middle man, no hassle. I will also of course be available to shoot ads for any of these businesses.

This coupled with my new equipment, well..I think it’s safe to say we have a recipe for something sweet on our hands.

The magazine is slated to launch in January of 2012 but I start work tomorrow.

If you’re a business owner, expect to see me real soon and prepare to be intrigued.

So without giving too much away too soon, let me say that the future is wide open and I dare say holds a fist full of promise for Robert Volkerts Photography.

Posted at 2:30pm and tagged with: photography, one column,.