Halfpipe skateboarding contest Den Bosch
Photo reportage skateboarding contest Halfpipe Horror
Project info: Photo reportage of the vert halfpipe contest October 28, 2023 at World Skate Center Den Bosch
Client: Autonomous
Media: Photography
Opening skate course ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Photo reportage skateboarding event
Project info: Opening event of skateable letters at the World Skate Center in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Photography
My role: Photography
Languages: –
Photo reportage: high tide in Holland
Photography, news report
Project info: As water levels rise in Dutch rivers, I made a visual report of a Dutch couple living in the floodplains of the Waal river. .
Client: Autonomous
Media: Photography
My role: Idea and photography
Languages: Dutch
Fotoreportage: hoogwater in Heerewaarden
Het wordt een spannend weekend voor Jan-Willem Vergouwen (49) en Aagje van Meegen (44). Ze wonen in het Gelderse dorp Heerewaarden. In de uiterwaarden. Al eerder kwam de Waal dichtbij. Maar nu is het extra opletten, want ze verbouwden het afgelopen half jaar het oude veerhuis waarin ze wonen. De verf is nog maar amper droog. Nu afwachten of dat zo blijft.
Jan-Willem, freelance copywriter, houdt de waterstanden scherp in de gaten. Bekijkt webcams in Duitsland en checkt elke dag een paar keer de stand bij Lobith en Tiel. Aagje maakt zich minder druk: “Het is een soort verliefd gevoel. Het is altijd bijzonder als het hoogwater is.”
Music video postpunk band Prey
Camera and editing music video
Project info: Dutch postpunk band Prey (Tilburg, Holland) launched a demo in 2020. ‘New Life I’ is one track of the album. I shot the footage at a theatre in Holland and edited it into a official music video.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Video
My role: Camera and edit
Languages: –
Audio photo slideshow ‘Musing on the ferry’
Audio photo slideshow of Amsterdam ferry men
Project info: No less that 80 times Amsterdam ferrymen and women go up and down the IJ canal each shift. Each day, each week. 80 times the same 5 minute passage. 40 times a view on the same quay.
A few meters above the passenger deck, the ferry captains look down on the cargo disembarking their vessel. A couple of minutes when docked allow for a moment of woolgathering.
When the buzzer sounds, the mesmerizing is over and a new crossing is about to begin.
Musing on the ferry is an audio photo slideshow. Click on the link below to see it in action.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Photography and audio
Languages: –
Go to the audio photo slideshow ‘Musing on the ferry’
Video for social media photojournalism strike
Video animation
Project info: Without photojournalism we lose sight of things that are happening in the world. On January 25th more that 450 Dutch photojournalists were on strike. On this day the involved photographers did not take photographs, nor did they deliver their pictures to photo and news agencies. This campaign called ‘Fotolozevrijdag’ or ‘Picturefreefriday’ was organized by the Dutch professional association and trade union for journalists, NVJ, to advocate for better rates and more appreciation of the craftsmanship of photojournalists.
I made this short social media video to create awareness of the plight of photojournalist. And shared it using #fotolozevrijdag and #fotojournalistiekheefteenprijs.
The video was published on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. The video was played more than 5,700 times and reached more than 19,000 people (stats of 29-01-2019) .
Client: Autonomous
Media: Video
My role: Video animation and graphic design
Languages: Dutch
Chaptered life story – an interactive multimedia longscroll
Interactive/multimedia longread ‘Denish’
Project info: This impressive life story is told by Denish, former child soldier from Uganda. The kind of story you find in an evil children’s book. Non-fiction, that is.
This multimedia production has been made in close cooperation with War Child Holland. This Dutch NGO provides psychosocial support to children affected by armed conflict. Denish has been a child soldier in the civil war in Northern Uganda. He was forced to join the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in their fight for control over the Northern part of the African country.
Denish’ interview was done February 2017. In 2017 War Child Holland closed the programme in Uganda after being active in the country for 12 years.
Watch this longscroll, or ‘chaptered life story’ on how Denish wakes up from his childhood nightmares.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Video, photography
My role: Interviewing, video editing, production and interaction design
Languages: English
Watch the full multimedia longscroll story "Waking up from childhood nightmares"
Gulu carwash
Photo series of a makeshift carwash in Gulu, Northern Uganda
Project info: When the heat of the day leaves town and the sun gets low, men gather at the washing bay in Gulu. At this roadside carwash against a tropical backdrop, cars, trucks and motor bikes get their daily clean-up.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Photography
Languages: –
Photo series: Beirut taxi
Photo series: passengers and taxi drivers on Hamra Street, Beirut, Lebanon
Project info: A night on a Beirut pavement. Hamra street is one of Beirut’s most bustling avenues. Taxi’s swarm the street. The hot weather made passengers to open their window. Which created to opportunity to portray them while patiently endeavouring Beirut’s traffic nightmare.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Photography
Languages: –
Slick sleeves: a series of animated record covers on Instagram
My new Instagram project ‘slick sleeves’ brings my favorite record sleeves to live. Created and curated by me, bringing together my love for photography, music and typography. Follow this project via Slick sleeves on Instagram
Kamasi
Laurent Garnier
Multimedia longscroll / Clare
Interactive/multimedia longscroll
Project info: This multimedia longscroll tells the story of Clare, an LGBT activist from Uganda. The story combines video, photography, audio and text. I followed Clare for one week during Amsterdam Gay Pride 2014. And during the week, I found out that homophobia by peers was not the only challenge Clare faces.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Video, photography, and audio
My role: Idea, production and interaction design
Languages: English
Watch the full multimedia longscroll story "Godly and gay"
Idle indulgence
Idle indulgence, an ongoing photo series
-
Numana, Italia, 2018, From the series 'Idle Indulgence' © Michiel Bles / all rights reserved
-
Berlin, Germany, 2018, from the series 'Idle Indulgence' © Michiel Bles / all rights reserved
-
Porto, Portugal, 2018, from the series 'Idle Indulgence' © Michiel Bles / all rights reserved
-
Budapest, Hungary, 2017, from the series 'Idle Indulgence' © Michiel Bles / all rights reserved
-
Porto, Portugal, 2018, from the series 'Idle Indulgence' © Michiel Bles / all rights reserved
-
Wijk aan Zee, Holland, from the series 'Idle Indulgence' © Michiel Bles, all rights reserved
-
Mexico City, Mexico, 2015, from the series 'Idle Indulgence' © Michiel Bles, all rights reserved
Indulgence by Michiel Bles
Project info: In times of work pressure, stress and our newly acquired need to be in touch 24/7, room and time for indulgence are diminishing. This photo series explores situations and persons who take time for enjoyment. Forget about time, being idle.
Exercising, as French revolutionary Marxist socialist journalist, political writer and activist Paul Lafargue stated, the right the right to be lazy. These progressively scarce moments are captured in this ongoing photo project.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Photography
Languages: –
Impressions of a paper mill
Video production
Project info: Autonomous work
The world’s last operating paper mill is located in Westzaan, The Netherlands. The sturdy mill and its workshop breathe history and craftsmanship. When the wind picks up, the mill starts to growl and groan and makes earth tremble.
Silhoutte play
Video production
Project info: Autonomous work
Kids playing football under the arches of the classical building of the local government in Perugia, Italy.
Autonomous photography portraits
Portrait photography
Project info: Various photography portraits I made when working in the field and studio portraits at the Photo Academy Amsterdam
Client: Free work
Media: Photography
Photo series: musing on the ferry
Photo series of Amsterdam ferry men
Project info: No less that 80 times Amsterdam ferrymen and women go up and down the IJ canal each shift. Each day, each week. 80 times the same 5 minute passage. 40 times a view on the same quay.
A few meters above the passenger deck, they look down on the cargo disembarking their vessel. A couple of minutes when docked allow for a moment of woolgathering.
When the buzzer sounds, the mesmerizing is over and a new crossing is about to begin.
Is this the most peaceful or the most dreary job in the world? ‘Musing on the ferry’ is a visual quest for the answer to this question.
Client: Autonomous
Media: Photography
Languages: –