I Remember Her
How I got to the semi-finals of the Canon Grand Prix 2017 & the concept behind my image
 These Cracks Don't Define Me Part II, 2017 On the 28th of March I got an e-mail saying that I was selected for the next round! Which was a portfolio review at Studio34X in Almere. Armed with my prints in my custom made wooden box, a head full of dreams and an open mind I traveled the 250 kilometers to the studio. It was such a wonderful, relaxed day. And I was so incredibly excited to see some of my friends that were also advanced to the review. We had such a fantastic day together. Even though it is a competition, it has never really felt like it. There was no 'I'm better than you'. Or 'I'm going to beat you'. We did joke about that though ;) | Selection processIn March this year I visited the annual Professional Imaging fair in Nijkerk. I got to talking at the Focus stand and saw that they were hosting the Canon Grand Prix again this year. The Canon Grand Prix is a big photography contest in the Netherlands. This year they decided to go for a different approach and divided the contest into four sections. Portrait Editing Landscape & Street I decided to enter my images in the category: Editing I choose These Cracks Don't Define Me Part II & The Unwritten Road.  The Unwritten Road, 2014 |
A video about the Portfolio Review round
Semi-Finalist?!
After the portfolio review, I got a call from the editor in chief of Focus Magazine, Dennis Hissink, that I advanced to the semi-finals and I was over the moon!! Especially because I advanced with two of my friends and I knew for sure that we would have an awesome day together this next round!
Half way through April we got an e-mail from Editing master and judge in our category, Adrian Sommeling. He was the bringer of the theme for the next round. And I was extremely excited to hear the our theme for the semi-finals was: emotion!
He told us that an image could be perfectly edited to a tee, but if there's no backstory, no emotion in the image, it's still 'just another image'.
We had one month until the day we would be shooting our concepts in Studio34X.
Right away me and Peggy Saffrie starting apping eachother (is that correct? that doesn't really translate well, does it now? haha). We were very happy with the theme, but really felt the pressure to create an EPIC emotional image. And you know what happens when you feel pressured to create epicness?
Right.
Nothing.
Or at least that's the way it works with me. The more I pressure myself to come up with an awesome idea, the less ideas I get.
And so it took me two weeks to even come up with my idea. But once I had that first impulse, that first idea, the rest quickly followed.
 Sketch of my concept | I was listening to Ingrid Michaelson. One of my favorite singer-songwriters. And I heard the song; 'I Remember Her' come by and immediately I felt connected to it. What happend when I feel inspired by something, I instantly see images. That's what happened when I heard this song as well. I really felt personally connected to the words of the chorus and thought about my younger self. That insecure little girl that I've been carrying around with me. About the cocon, the wall, that she built around her. How it's starting to crack. How she's outgrowing her past self and ready for the next steps in life. That's when I decided that I was going to do a selfportrait. I was going to photoshop myself onder a glass dome. No idea how yet, but it had to be done. Instead of creating a mood-board, a text with my concept, I decided to do something out of my comfort zone. If I was going to do this, I was going to go all in. And so I wrote my own lyrics to the song that had inspired me to create this image. |
"I am in no way a singer, nor a ukelele player
But I really wanted to sing the words that mean so much to me for this concept. So please bare with me!"
But I really wanted to sing the words that mean so much to me for this concept. So please bare with me!"
I Remember Her
by Lieke Anna
There's a place
that's under the dome
And the glass keeps her safe
from the unknown
There's a crack in the wall now,
that's letting her breath
And setting her free
There's some scars that she's got, oh
they remind her of sorrow
And the times that she felt, alone
I remember her
I remember her
I remember her, so well
I remember her
I remember her
I remember her, so well
But things they fade
She would feel so small
she would never fit
Always out of place, they'd
make sure of it
She'd built her walls so high
after they made her cry
And then she felt alone again
swore this was not the end
I remember her
I remember her
I remember her, so well
I remember her
I remember her
I remember her, so well
But things they fade
by Lieke Anna
There's a place
that's under the dome
And the glass keeps her safe
from the unknown
There's a crack in the wall now,
that's letting her breath
And setting her free
There's some scars that she's got, oh
they remind her of sorrow
And the times that she felt, alone
I remember her
I remember her
I remember her, so well
I remember her
I remember her
I remember her, so well
But things they fade
She would feel so small
she would never fit
Always out of place, they'd
make sure of it
She'd built her walls so high
after they made her cry
And then she felt alone again
swore this was not the end
I remember her
I remember her
I remember her, so well
I remember her
I remember her
I remember her, so well
But things they fade
The day we all shot our concepts in the studio was such an easygoing, wonderful day. I think we almost forgot that we were competing in a contest.
Aad was such an open spirit in helping us perfecting the technicalities of our ideas. And I think we all really created something that we stand by and are proud of!
Aad was such an open spirit in helping us perfecting the technicalities of our ideas. And I think we all really created something that we stand by and are proud of!
Video of the Semi-Finals
Ready to see my final image?
I Remember Her, 2017
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