How our photography started

In 1968 I (Lotti) got a private spot in the yard in Den Ilp. I came in 1965, and we lived with the three of us in the house near the street. Or actually it was a stable, once a cow shed. Anton had made a wooden floor but otherwise there was little changed. He made some beds and had put some cases there to sit on. The table consisted of a side of a wooden boat, so that was crooked.

It turned out that living so close to each other all day, took too much energy, so Anton drove a Citroen bus on the yard and made from that a little house for me. I was surrounded by nature, Den Ilp was in those days only a small village in the middle of the meadows. I loved nature and I immediately started to make a small garden next to my cottage for lettuces and a row of beans. Photos above: a garden means a lot of digging!

Of course my beloved garden had to be photographed ... I got a Rolleyflex from a photographer, Martin Paternotte, and began to take pictures. But when I showed the result to Anton, he wasn't very happy with them. Way too small, prints of 12 x 12 cm, that was nothin ... He sent me along with Martin to the photo shop to buy paper of 30 x 40 cm. - not smaller and not bigger. Only that size. And everything else you needed to develop film and print. That was the beginning of the shooting. We now have a large archive of black and white photos. These photos were all taken with a Leica.

In Oisterwijk, on Sunday May 19 (eerste Pinksterdag), at 2 PM, I perform a presentation (with many photos and images of works) about Antons entire life.
Every year, since the celebration of the cities 800's anniversary, they organize a great art-happening on the
Kunstplein (zie 'activiteiten') called: Kunst•Oisterwijk

Lotti Heyboer
translation Paul Berkholst