Meet The Sisters of the Valley, sister Kate and Sister Darcy, nuns who “work the plant”, as they say, producing medicine from one of Mother Earth’s oldest natural resources: cannabis. Medicines like tinctures, teas and topical salves can help with pain relief and cure all sorts of medical ailments from muscle and joint pain, toothache and headaches to diaper rash and thinning hair. It can even be used on pets. The sisters are not catholic nuns despite their title and attire. Nor are they affiliated with any particular religion except maybe their own. Their mission: sustainability, progressive activism and spirituality.

What is it like to be face to face with someone who is convicted for committing a violent robbery or murder? What if it is your role to get to know that person and to help them back to fit into society. They have to find work, a home, friends and most importantly, leisure after their release. How do you do that? In the Netherlands, more than 3,000 volunteers accompany (ex) prisoners during and after release.

On assignment for the Dutch NGO Young in Prison I’ve shot the images for their for the project “Inside out”. These are snapshots, for the full project visit the project page.

Concept by Young in Prison in collaboration with Scrollytelling, Illustrations by Richard Pintura

The Good Hotel is a social enterprise and training center. Their Amsterdam Hotel was based in an old prison boat and stayed close to central station for a year. After an interior and exterior upgrade the floating 8 million kilos concrete structure was transported by a submersible barge in October 2016 over the North Sea Canal, on the River Thames and through the King George V lock to its current location. A challenging and one-of-a-kind project that I was asked to capture in both images and a stop motion

Before my ankle injury I spent lots of time in the mountains. High hills, deep powder and working with many athletes gave me energy. Today I am still recovering from surgery, hoping to get back in these mountains one day….

Through my project Green Gold I am collecting the unknown life and stories behind the cannabis plant. In several countries I followed people that are in some way involved in the cannabis Industry. Through business or personal life. These are some of the people, to see their stories and more please visit the project page Green Gold Stories.

THE WORLD CUP 2014 took place in THE FOOTBALL COUNTRY of the world. On paper the biggest dream coming true, but in reality not that dreamy at all. Brazil is a country with a lot of different worlds and it struggles with that fact. 

This diversity is a subject that has been studied, photographed and written about often. Most media focus on the crowd. The Other Seleção focusses on the individual and the different world within Brazil. To accomplish this I watched every match of Brazil with a different Brazilian to give an insight in their lives during the World Cup 2014. The stories have one thing in common; they show the power of the most played sport in the world: football. The sport connects and pulls people apart at the same time. The people Ipicked can be considered stereotypes. Stereotypes exist and most people label them good or bad quite quickly. Though these labels are often used without taking a closer look at the people and their context. In the end they are all human beings, most of them trying to make the best out of their lives with the chances they get. In a country like Brazil, these chances differ like day and night.

While in the rest of the U.S. scaling-up and mechanisation meant the end of the small farm lifestyle in Humboldt, California, U.S.A. this lifestyle is still very vivid. Behind giant Redwoods and Douglas Spears small farmers grow their plants. These plants are cannabis and the crop is weed. The weed grown in places close to Garberville, Redway and Benbow is spread through the country and smoked from coast to coast. Humboldts’ green gold provides good money and forms the backbone of local economy.

It were the hippies that brought the plant to the region. Over a period of forty years hippie cultured crossbred with local culture consisting of big 4x4’s, weapon ownership and a healthy suspicion against authority. Now weed farming in Northern California has it’s own cultural codes. Cherry picking is forbidden even the most expensive of products are bought cash and business conversation are made with burners.

But all this is about to change. Just 250 miles north starts Oregon. Growing weed here is legal as it is in more and more states across the U.S. After Colorado legalised growing and consuming marihuana in 2013 legalisation swept over the country. Weed is the fastest growing part of the American economy and it won’t take long till companies like Monsanto and Philip Morris claim their share of the pie. While this has huge benefits on a social level it also means the end of small time farming and an independent culture.

Find the project website HERE

2012 was a turbulent year for football in The Netherlands. Five young players kicked linesman to death. The man was the father of one of the boys who played with the opponent. A big dark cloud hang over the fields in especially Amsterdam where the incident had occurred and the public opinion about youth football in the city gained a very negative image. Unacceptable for me, because these five youngsters do not represent everything attached to youth football. To give the youth their positive faces back, I decided to create the TEAM series. 16 portraits of young captains throughout the city. 16 makes one TEAM and to kickoff the new season in a positive way the 16 boys played one match together om August 30th 2013. To sent out the message Football is about companionship.