'I don't have one absolute favorite photograph. I do have ten or fifteen photographs to which I am very attached. They include old photographs from my book Dutch Music. That book has played an important role in my life over the past two and a half years—conceiving, selecting, designing, everything—and it has become like a child to me, as have the photographs in it. That is why I chose this image of Ellen ten Damme, taken during the Parade in Amsterdam in 2004. A beautiful woman, photogenic, easy to photograph.
It is the second photograph I made for Dutch Music. I still had no idea what I wanted to do with the book, but this photograph showed me the way and convinced me the book would succeed.
The combination of the loving way Ellen feeds the piglet and the backstage theater atmosphere makes it special. It isn't staged; it isn't a glamour photograph. It is what it is—it is real. Before I could explain how I wanted to make the photograph, it happened.'
- Name: Kees Tabak (1950)
- Location: Amsterdam
- Portfolio: various
- info: keestabak.nl
