REPORT ROTTERDAM, a remarkable book composed of 25 years of Freek van Arkel’s harbour photography and ten stories by Dirk van Weelden.

The harbour is a world of its own. Human rhythms and dimensions, needs and idiosyncrasies are worth nothing here. Here, the economic demands of shipping and international trade and the highly efficient mechanics of storage and transport prevail. The city and its people are nowhere to be seen.

For 25 years, Freek van Arkel has photographed the Rotterdam harbour, and is one of the few who can give us a peek into a world that is so close, and yet so far away. REPORT ROTTERDAM details the life of a photographer and gives a multi-faceted picture of a strange and exciting realm.

In ten stories, Dirk van Weelden recounts the days he spent with Freek van Arkel, cross-examining him, but also what he saw around him, and the people he spoke with in drydocks, on quays, in front of computer screens and on tugboats.
As a young photographer, Freek van Arkel photographed, in black-and-white, events such as ship launches, strikes and chemical poisoning for newspapers. But his eye strayed quickly from newsworthy incidents. For years, with large-format, colour panorama photos and using digital techniques, he explored the nooks and crannies of the fast-changing international port. The port is a uniquely Dutch landscape, with its own weather, light, and atmosphere. It’s also a collection of contrasts: between tough guys reduced to nothing in front of massive ships; between heavy metals, rust, lousy weather and GPS, computers and robots; between the people from every corner of the world.

REPORT ROTTERDAM, a remarkable book composed of 25 years of Freek van Arkel’s harbour photography and ten stories by Dirk van Weelden.

The harbour is a world of its own. Human rhythms and dimensions, needs and idiosyncrasies are worth nothing here. Here, the economic demands of shipping and international trade and the highly efficient mechanics of storage and transport prevail. The city and its people are nowhere to be seen.

For 25 years, Freek van Arkel has photographed the Rotterdam harbour, and is one of the few who can give us a peek into a world that is so close, and yet so far away. REPORT ROTTERDAM details the life of a photographer and gives a multi-faceted picture of a strange and exciting realm.

In ten stories, Dirk van Weelden recounts the days he spent with Freek van Arkel, cross-examining him, but also what he saw around him, and the people he spoke with in drydocks, on quays, in front of computer screens and on tugboats.
As a young photographer, Freek van Arkel photographed, in black-and-white, events such as ship launches, strikes and chemical poisoning for newspapers. But his eye strayed quickly from newsworthy incidents. For years, with large-format, colour panorama photos and using digital techniques, he explored the nooks and crannies of the fast-changing international port. The port is a uniquely Dutch landscape, with its own weather, light, and atmosphere. It’s also a collection of contrasts: between tough guys reduced to nothing in front of massive ships; between heavy metals, rust, lousy weather and GPS, computers and robots; between the people from every corner of the world.

Freek van Arkel matured as a photographer in these strange and turbulent surroundings. He developed into a craftsman with a distinct view. In his professionalism, he has happily remained a voracious observer. He uses his camera quickly, eagerly and sensually. His photos tell of the past and present, of man and machine, and bring us closer to the harbour. Those who peruse the diversity of photos also come closer to the photographer, whose glimpse has become richer, more probing and sensitive through the multiple techniques he used to capture what he saw and experienced. That gives this book its ‘soul’.

Our daily life is unthinkable without what goes on in the Rotterdam harbour. It is the engine room of the economy. The city derives a large part of its history, mentality and cultural diversity from its entanglement with the harbour. It makes Rotterdam Rotterdam, unique from all other cities in the Netherlands.

A renewed look at the harbour does no harm, if only to reveal something other than a renowned past or an impressive economic phenomenon. With this book, and its visual account of the photographer’s life of Rotterdammer Freek van Arkel, the city turns its gaze towards the harbour. As Bram Peper, former mayor of Rotterdam, writes in his foreword:
    ‘This book reveals not only the largest harbour and the artistic beauty that characterises Freek van Arkel’s work; it is also an incentive to explore ‘behind-the-scenes’ at Rotterdam’s harbour. Something that would benefit us all in The Netherlands.’