Pure – styles in the work of artist Jacob Berghoef
My work is strongly driven by love and respect for nature and the earth.
The most pure form of fine art photography. That is the best way to describe my work. I choose to create the abstract, surrealistic and/or impressionistic effects as seen in my photographs, using only the basic camera settings.
Environmental issues, contemporary issues therefore, play an important role in the themes and elaboration of my work. The climate crisis, the extinction of species, the increasingly diseased oceans, land and air….
We need to treat nature and the earth, our fellow human beings and other species, both plants and animals, with much more love and respect. After all, we cannot continue to consume indefinitely on an earth on which almost everything is finite.
When I am outside to make photos, I first look at the light. Then I look at the large areas, call it the rough composition, and the colors. Only then do I look at the details, and then mainly to determine what I want to leave out of the photograph. And the latter determines whether the artwork will be abstract and minimalist, abstract realistic, impressionistic.
As soon as I sit inside at my computer and start editing a photograph into a digital artwork, I am mainly looking for more expression. Creating an illusion, a surreal environment that expresses a feeling more strongly than the reality I can see. So this creates works that are surrealistic and expressionistic.
For anyone who devotes to life, who loves the unknown, learns by trial and error, and inspires others by example….
….plunging into the abysmal is the ultimate inspiration.
So leave the gray behind, and seek the light in the fascinating, intensely colored unknown. Dark times need people who, cautiously but without fear, seek new paths.
And the light disappeared through a crack in the vortex of infinity…
Everything is constantly in motion. To change is the essence of Being.
“…
I found several uprooted trees [….]. Following the beach to the lower end I saw a few in the drift on the beach.
“
Fire symbolizes beauty and enlightenment. It can also symbolize a mind that is too active, unstable, longing and lost in the search for outer beauty….
Water is needed to keep fire in balance. Without the interaction between fire and water, life would be impossible….
Submarine eruptions occur underwater. An estimated 75% of volcanic eruptive volume is generated by submarine eruptions near mid ocean ridges alone.
There are about 100,000 deepwater volcanoes in the world, although most are beyond the active stage of their life.
Neptune [Mythology] (Latin: Neptūnus [nɛpˈtuːnʊs]) is the god of freshwater and the sea in the Roman religion. He is the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon. In the Greek-inspired tradition…
As Clouds Before the Wind
… When she wakes
she lifts the shade, impatient for a glimpse
of flight: a sparrow, a swallowtail—
something with wings she can memorize.
Tangled Trees
Trees tangled
together in green
A lonely road,
deep
into the woods
Shelter for the cold
May rain
A dark, chilly and rainy day in May. At some point the rain comes pouring down. But luckily, a beautiful lane with a tightly tangled canopy of leaves provides shelter.
Early in the morning, it’s quiet after a night full of mysterious sounds. Suddenly the first sunlight hits the tops of the pine trees, the forest awakes.
Published recently in The Ekphrastic Review, a collaboration with the poet and my dear friend Laura Ann Reed, her poem ‘And What is the Heart?’, together with my artwork ‘Weeping Pine Tree’
A heavy rain storm just passed the Flade Sø, a lake directly behind the dunes of the North Sea and part of the Nationalpark Thy…
While renovating a house, you peel off history layer by layer. Seven layers of wallpaper, several layers of paint, multiple layers of plaster….
But you can also fantasize a piece of “history” with all the changes you encounter when you strip a house down to its essence, its naked and original body…
It was a beautiful winter day for a long walk.
As we approached the edge, the sunlight displaced the darkness of the dense spruce forest…
…..
Show me how to let the moon suffuse me
with its light the way it passes through
your silvered form
and makes it glitter like a shattered star.
Early on a clear summer morning, I go to the sea for a walk on a deserted beach. The water is called back by the tide and returns the beach to the land. Thousands of waves, as far as the eye can see, weave together like an infinite velvet sheet.
A walk on a cloudy and windy summer day, near the town of Vestervig in North Jutland, Denmark, resulting in a view over the fields and the lake Ørum Sø, part of the nature reserve National Park Thy.
Up to 46 degrees Celsius (114F) in Spain, 38 degrees Celsius (100F) in Paris, 50 degrees Celsius (122F) in multiple Arabian countries… Highest temperature ever recorded in June in various places in Western Europe, same for July 1… Prolonged heatwave in the USA, temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius (104F) in major cities in Southeast Asia…
The coast of Kattengat; the sea between Denmark and Sweden. Early in the evening at the beginning of summer, the sun is already quite low in the sky. The bright light reflects in the calm water…
Fortunately, the wind brings some cooling at the end of a warm day. As is often the case, the westerly wind also brings clouds from the sea. As the sun approaches the horizon, the cloudy sky grows darker and darker.
Summer Solstice, today is the longest day on the Northern Hemisphere…. I love this time of the year, in which the whole cosmos seems to come to a standstill for a moment…
Two new sunset artworks, with just under two weeks to go before summer arrives. An intens cloudy sunset above the Limfjord, and a pastel colored sunset above the North Sea…
It’s early in the morning. A beautiful iris opens its flower and turns toward the sun. The petals bathe themselves in light, seeming to dance in slow motion.
Iris is a flowering plant genus of more than 300 species with showy flowers.
Iris is not only the scientific name, but is also widely used as a general name for all Iris species.
After a few beautiful and warm, but very dry spring weeks, almost all the plants are in bloom. With bright sunshine in the middle of the day, it seems as if summer has danced in to replace spring.
Rain is forecast for the coming week, a very welcome change in the weather…
The previous owner of our house had a huge fondness for rhododendrons. So we have them in many shapes and sizes. And we love the poisonous tea that comes from it 🙂
Spring rain passed
A cherry tree in bloom
Sketched by morning light
Sketched By Light is a series of artworks of flowering branches in bright sunlight…
Tall firs squeeze the
morning wind
Bright sunrise, the light
embraces the trees
Soft rustling tells me
you’re awake…
What if I could paint the city
in cheerful colours, plant trees
as tall as skyscrapers, have concrete
foundations intertwined with roots,
have leaves be a canopy against the bright sun
and give shelter to millions of birds.
Midnight
a memory, a dream
A moonlit silent scream
Confused, a handful of
tears. We forgot …
As Clouds Before the Wind
… When she wakes
she lifts the shade, impatient for a glimpse
of flight: a sparrow, a swallowtail—
something with wings she can memorize.
I have the right to fly
To grow, to prosper
The right to be
To raise offspring
Feed you and others
To be fed myself.
Who defends our rights?
…
I lift my gaze to the stars, it doesn’t matter. There’s so much more out there, up there than my tiny, confused self, yet I’m a part of it. Getting lost becomes something wonderful.
…
Always silent, seemingly staring into nothingness
What tales would they know and share?
Intertwined roots, touching branches
How do I listen in, share in their wisdom?
I walked in the woods, on a path I walked
many times before, completely lost in thought
not noticing that darkness was falling, that stars
appeared in the sky, that moonlight
brightened my path. A sound brought me out of my musings…
You ask why I live
alone in the birch forest,
and I smile and am silent
until even my soul grows quiet…
…I will lie down on the wet grass and look at the swaying tops of the thirsty young birch trees…
A special calm comes over the evening when the sun disappears behind the horizon and the light of the day slowly dies. Nature awaits the night, the trees lean against the darkening colors.
I love that intens, quiet moment of the day…
And early on a beautiful bright spring morning, I go outside and take a deep breath of the birth of a spring day…
Sometimes, thankfully very rarely, I can’t get back to sleep after I’ve woken up in the middle of the night. Then I get up and go to the kitchen, get some hot water from the thermos and pour it into the leftover tea from the evening before.
While enjoying the tea with small sips, I walk to the window and look outside for a few minutes…
I love this tree, standing strong no matter the weather and season. Day and night, in darkness and in full light, it tells stories to those who take time to listen.
What do you do when it storms? Do you curl up on the couch with a book and a cup of tea? Or do you go outside during a “mild” storm?
I do the latter. I like to go out for a short walk in the open field, along a lake or on the beach, to feel the power of the wind and enjoy the constantly changing skies. After that walk, when I come home, I’ll do the curling up with a cup of tea… 😉
When I still lived in the Netherlands, I liked to bike to this tree every now and then, to spend some time there in the early morning silence on the bank of the river Maas, enjoying ever changing light.
For this work I used a photo that I made at the beginning of autumn. The tree was still full of leaves, and the leaves were still beautifully green.
One of the first sunny, warm spring days of this year. It is quiet in the forest, not a breath of wind, no one to be seen. And as I walk deeper into the forest, the young greenery closes me off more and more from the busy world. So I walk on slowly, as if in a dream….
We stroll along a beech-lined path in the forest, and we enjoy the winter light playing on the leafless branches and tree trunks…
Even during storms, the waves on the North Sea coast of Denmark may reach a modest height, but the current is strong and the waves break wildly on the gently sloping sandy beach with beautiful foaming crests. An impressive spectacle, as the waves follow each other in rapid succession…
Even during storms, the waves on the North Sea coast of Denmark may reach a modest height, but the current is strong and the waves break on the sandy beach with wild foaming crests. An impressive spectacle, as the waves follow each other in rapid succession.
For anyone who devotes to life, who loves the unknown, learns by trial and error, and inspires others by example….
The day after the storm, the sea is calm, the beach empty: for kilometers we don’t meet a soul. The waterline guides us on our walk, showing us the way in the emptiness . . .
On a stormy day, it is wonderful to take a walk on the beach, like here on the beach of Schiermonnikoog, one of the Dutch Wadden islands…
Published today in The Ekphrastic Review, a collaboration with Laura Ann Reed based on -a little bit color adjusted version of- my artwork ‘The Yellow Umbrella’.
I made the (originally black and white) photo for this artwork in the bird sanctuary Agger Tange near the town of Agger on the north-west coast of Jutland, Denmark.
The color was added using digital painting tools. The objective is to explore different atmospheres, only by adding abstract colored areas.
The photo that I used to create this artwork is made with an Eastman Kodak No. 2 Folding Cartridge Hawk-Eye Model B camera, manufactured more than 90 years ago, between the years 1926 and 1934.
The photo that I used to create this artwork is made with an Eastman Kodak No. 2 Folding Cartridge Hawk-Eye Model B camera, manufactured more than 90 years ago, between the years 1926 and 1934.
A quiet afternoon in early spring, silence lies like a blanket over the marshes. The wind whispers softly in the reeds, telling stories from around the world and of all times.
Lilac dreams in the sky,
veiled by light,
floating on the wind
After a crisp summer night, the first rays of sunlight hit the damp fields. A light haze rises and disappears to the horizon, carried by an emerging summer breeze….
It’s a warm winter day, after a few sunny days the fields are gently turning green. A walk early in the morning, the rising sun just rising above the hills. A veil of mist rises from the cold lake, drifting across the fields with a gentle breeze.
Early on a beautiful spring morning I wandered through the fields along the bay Krik Vig, part of the Limfjord. Except for the rustling of the wind and a few birds, it’s quiet…
The humid morning air and a fresh sea breeze blend the colors and scents of a beautiful new day.
It’s a cold evening at the end of a heavily cloudy, gray winter day. Just before the sun sets, the clouds open up allowing the light for a brief but intense moment to say hello to the night.
A gray, foggy day. A day like so many, where you only see vague outlines of the path you are walking. The silence and lack of sight are oppressive at first. Until you regain peace and confidence, and let the trees guide you.
When I make a landscape artwork, I am often trying to give a minimalist view of the feeling that the landscape gives me. The photo for this work was made in the scarce light of a setting winter sun.
Do you dream in color? Or in black and white? Or both, or do you not know? Are all people dreaming in different color palettes, or does everyone have her/his own palette?
Some people are always dreaming in color, other’s in shades of gray, or both in an irregular variety. Many people are not sure, or hardly remember it.
A search for my color palette, an experiment.
A beautiful sunny winter day. A group of gulls fight each other for a piece of bread. When the gull with the bread in its beak crosses a wide ditch, the whole group follows; screaming as if panicking to lose sight of the seagull with the bread.
It’s early in the morning. It has been snowing all night, there is no one else in the forest. Carefully you take a step into the fresh snow….
Winter morning, the smell of a new day. I stroll along the path between sleeping and waking, I don’t want to let go of my dream yet. A cold breeze through my hair, the sunlight touches my face…
At the end of a beautiful sunny day, there are often some clouds over the sea. Does that make the sunset less beautiful? Often it doesn’t, or it even makes it more beautiful. The clouds make the colors even more intense.
It is very cold, the sky is clear and the meadows are frozen. The ideal conditions under which a Nordic sunset shows itself in all its splendor.
The light along the long coastlines of Nordic countries is special: clean air, bright sunshine interspersed with wind-driven clouds and rugged coastline. This light has inspired many artists, especially impressionists from more southern European countries loved to come to the Danish and Norwegian coasts.
On the same night as the artwork I posted yesterday… A quiet winter evening in a swampy area. We made a long walk through this beautiful area, and now that we are on our way back to the parking lot, it is almost dark…
The dying sun
colors the sky with a poem
to welcome this night
A quiet winter evening in a swampy area. The sun sets behind the trees and colors the sky as if it was on fire. A poem to welcome this beautiful night.
A bright white light? Eternal darkness?
It is my conviction that after our death our spirit, our soul, travels to its origin somewhere in the universe. Once arrived, our energy is reunited with the energy from which everything around us once originated.
The sun sets under a heavily clouded sky, and for a brief moment shines over a slightly frozen Limfjord near the village of Amtoft, North Jutland, Denmark.
…
All I want is to see how
the setting sun colors the garden
in the ripples
of a winter breeze.
Light. Hidden
behind a veil of silence
of the fading darkness
Celebrate this new day
Every day
The past year for us has been about tearing down, and rebuilding. Demolishing what was rotten or no longer served us, and considering what we wanted to keep and perhaps reuse.
Musing trees in morning mist,
the new day hesitates and knows
they lose themselves in memories
It’s still early in the quiet foggy forest. The new day seems to hesitate to start, so as not to disturb the trees at their musing.
It is still dark, very cold and quiet, this early morning in the lightly snow-covered forest. But then the sun rises, the light plays with the frozen branches of the fir trees…
It’s early on a cold, dark winter morning. At dusk, everything seems to be the colour blue. Then the sun rises, coloring the world in an amazing palette.
Just before the sun sets, the clouds open up allowing the light for a brief but intense moment to say hello to the night…
Early in the morning in a forest near the city of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. It is cold, but the autumn sun warms everything it touches.
I love Fado music and, more in general, Portuguese folk music.
One of the most beautiful Portuguese songs for me is Meu Alentejo sung by Dulce Pontes.
But even without knowing a translation of the lyrics (and I don’t speak a word of Portuguese), this song really touched me the first time I heard it. And it still does…
Early morning light
Patches of an unfinished dream
floats towards eternity
It is quiet in the forest, this morning. The sun is just rising above the horizon, its fragile rays gently touching the trunks of the trees still damp from the cold night.
A dark evening in a city where it is raining briskly. The street is almost deserted, shopkeepers have just turned out the lights and closed their stores. Two people are walking down the street talking and laughing under a yellow umbrella. I feel a strange desire to know what the two are laughing about….
When Laura Ann Reed, a friend and poet from the US, sent me a new poem she had written, her words spoke to me so strongly that I immediately had a vision that for me matched her words. Moreover, I also immediately knew which two 10-year-old photos I had to put together to make the image I had in mind.
Fresh snow, as far as the eye can see. The forest looks spacious, light, and larger than usual. It is quiet, and the world feels deserted. Only the muffled crunch of our footsteps in the fresh snow.
Have you ever tried to follow the pieces of an unfinished dream as it drifts away when you wake up ?
Soft waving reeds in a chilly breeze. The ripples on the icy water make it hard to see anything below the surface. An ideal hiding place for dreams…
The sun has set, the water of the fjord rapidly takes on the cold color of the night. Thin cloud veils seem to swallow up the colors of the sunset, until it’s dark.
During a long walk in a dark and grey forest, the sun briefly but brightly breaks through the cloud cover just before sunset and illuminates the forest in fairy-tale autumn colors, as only the setting autumn sun can do.
An unexpected snowstorm blinds us
Even as we squint into the sunlight
Blinded, shivering, caught in the brightness
Turning away from its fierce glare
The burning, live-giving light
The soft, chilling snow
Flirting, sparkling, fluttering
…
After many days of rain, the late afternoon sun shines almost horizontally through the damp forest. It is quiet, except for a soft rustling, a song of the last leaves of the trees…
A cold evening at the end of a heavily cloudy, gray day. Just before the sun sets, the clouds open up allowing the light for a brief but intense moment to say hello to the night.
On a beautiful morning I wandered through the fields along the bay Krik Vig, part of the Limfjord. Except for the rustling of the wind and a single bird, it’s quiet…
A more impressionistic transformation of the artwork Autumn Leaves, and that one is based on a photo that I made of the forest floor in the windy northwest corner of our garden, with a great variety in trees with leaves in all kind of shapes and colors.
While I was trying to photograph a bright sunset before the sun was completely below the horizon, I realized that the beauty of light is often determined by how it is filtered, veiled or scattered.
“The ability to imagine how a country, society, industry, etc. could develop in the future…”
Here on earth the light is always filtered by something. The atmosphere, clouds, a canopy, mist…
In fact, all these ‘filters’ make the sunlight much more visible, almost touchable…
The morning light and the silence in the deserted forest, create a special atmosphere. It gives space to let your thoughts run free.
On a walk on the shore along the fjord where we used to live, the sun emerges from behind the clouds just before it sets. An enchanting display of winter colors, slowly drowning in the calm waters of the fjord.
An artwork that I made on the occasion of the exhibition ‘El Duende’ in 2017. I made two series of photos in the mountains near Bellano, Italy. When making those series, the theme of the exhibition inspired me. I went looking for the spirit of mountains and valleys.
‘Sad Songs’ is a new artwork in my collection ‘Secret Places’. It is inspired by the recent fruitless attempts by world leaders to arrive at decisive measures, humane financial compensation and quick actions to combat the earth crisis.
It’s early in the morning. The first sunlight touches the moss between the trees. And as if the forest had been waiting for it, immediately the most wonderful scents rise up and mingle with the nightly smell of thawing leaves and wood.
