Series description
Once Upon a Time is a portrait of the post-industrial heart of Western Europe, which was published in my first photobook with the same title (Lecturis, 2023). It shows what the impact can be on an area if large industrial companies close and the local economy has to reinvent itself. The project started in 2015 in my hometown of Maastricht, and my journey of discovery has taken me through the raw post-industrial landscape of Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands. Together, the photographs tell a story about people trying to make the best of their lives in a region with an uneasy cinematic beauty.
Biography
I studied literature and worked as a (corporate) journalist and commercial writer before becoming interested in documentary photography in 2013. I studied photography with Forum Beeldtaal and the Fotoacademy in Amsterdam. My autonomous projects have been published internationally in leading newspapers and magazines and exhibited in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Once upon a time is my first photo book (Lecturis, March 2023).
Once Upon a Time
Magda's love caravan. In this parking strip at the Cologne-Eifeltor industrial estate, prostitutes wait for their customers in 10–15 caravans. The space between two caravans is just large enough to park a car.
© Hendrik J. Hunter, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2024 Sony World Photography Awards
Once Upon a Time
The abandoned Palais des Sports (1939) in the district of Coronmeuse, near Liège, with two slag heaps in the background. The building was last used as an ice hockey hall. It’s an emblematic building that’s now undergoing renovation as part of the area’s transformation into an eco-friendly quarter. The graffiti gave me the title for my book, which was published in March 2023 by Lecturis in the Netherlands.
© Hendrik J. Hunter, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2024 Sony World Photography Awards
Once Upon a Time
An abandoned steel factory in Ougrée, a sub-municipality of Seraing, Belgium. In 1817, the British industrialist John Cockerill founded his first steelworks in Seraing, and by the middle of the nineteenth century his company had become the largest steel producer in continental Europe. It built the first steam locomotive and produced the rail tracks for the first line from Brussels to Mechelen in 1835.
© Hendrik J. Hunter, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2024 Sony World Photography Awards
Once Upon a Time
Remains of the coal-washing plant at Charbonnage du Hasard. The Cheratte coal mine near Liège, Belgium, closed in 1977, leaving 600 miners without a livelihood
© Hendrik J. Hunter, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2024 Sony World Photography Awards
Once Upon a Time
Railway line 24 near Visé on the Dutch-Belgian border. The railway was built during World War I by the Germans, for military traffic, connecting Nordrhein Westfalen with the port of Antwerp.
© Hendrik J. Hunter, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2024 Sony World Photography Awards
Once Upon a Time
The Zeche Zollverein coal mine and industrial complex in Essen, Germany, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2001. Work in the mines was stopped in 1986.
© Hendrik J. Hunter, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2024 Sony World Photography Awards
Once Upon a Time
Seraing became the largest producer of rails and locomotives in the second half of the nineteenth century. One day in 2017, this structure suddenly appeared, overlooking the area as a monumental tribute to its industrial past. It was the start of the renovation of the railway bridge at Visé.
© Hendrik J. Hunter, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2024 Sony World Photography Awards
Once Upon a Time
A circus at the Schachtanlage Niederberg coal mine near Moers, Germany.
© Hendrik J. Hunter, Netherlands, Shortlist, Professional competition, Landscape, 2024 Sony World Photography Awards