Leo van der Kleij - photo - 1988

Photo by Leo v/d Kleij from 1988. Dimensions of the image: H30.5 x w30.5 cm. The work is signed by the artist in pencil at the bottom right

As a professional photographer I am interested in people and their behavior in everyday life. My field of work started with photographing the nightlife in my hometown The Hague, and I also photographed pop and jazz concerts. I worked a lot with visual artists, mainly sculptors and artists who made -temporary- installations. Since 1997 I have made many trips to Japan, for example to work with Tadashi Kawamata, but also to work on my own projects in Tokyo and the island of Kyushu in the south. Art and architecture, as well as portraits on location, were and still are my favorites. My commercial work has a wide variety of types, from health care and education to architecture, landscapes, environment and travel. Recently I am setting up a digital archive of images from Japan - www.japanphotography.org - in addition to various commercial jobs. I have also been involved in coal mining as a photographer since 1977, and I make series in Western Europe and Japan. I am also preparing a book about my Japanese photography and some exhibitions about it.
born in Voorburg (NL) 1954.
School for Photography Apeldoorn, graduated in 1982.
freelance photographer since 1985, visual artist since 1983.
teacher of photography at the Delft University of Technology 1995-1999.
Member of the Kawamata Coal Mine Tagawa Commission 1996-2003.
co-founder of 'Stichting Hollands Negatief' with Guus Rijven and Flip Bool, The Hague 1989 -present.
co-founder/owner of Argos photo agency The Hague (together with Marcel Terlouw) 1994-2002.
editorial GKf magazine 2006-2010