'I do not really have one favorite photo—unless there are a great many of them. They are mainly the photos from our trips to Australia, a country I regard as my second home.
The outback in particular is where we want to be, enjoying the magnificent natural surroundings in complete solitude. That same outback is also home to tiny villages—really more like settlements. Marree is one of them, at the beginning (or end) of the famous Oodnadatta Track and Birdsville Track. The town once stood on the important Ghan railway line. Marree itself consists of a single street and has a small railway museum with several restored locomotives. A little farther away, just outside town, is a far more interesting example in my view: old and dented! It is a very strange sight—a locomotive and an old shed practically in the middle of the desert, with no trace of the tracks remaining. I thought it was a wonderful scene, and subjects like this are definitely among my favorites.
In editing this photo, I wanted to create a feeling of going back in time, to this locomotive's glory days. The result is a somewhat nostalgic image. I normally value realism more and do not apply surreal edits to my photos. But every now and then, I love working this way. The image struck me as I edited it; an atmosphere emerged that matched what I had felt at the location, and that is why it became one of my favorites!'
Name: Joke Beers-Blom (1956)
Place of residence: Andijk
Portfolio: Independently published, with several books written for Easy Computing, Van Duuren Media, and under her own imprint.
Info: www.digifotofan.nl
