Louis Heldring: Amateur Photographer in the Middle East 1898

Thanks to technical developments and the lowering of prices around 1890, many more people were suddenly capable of buying a camera. Louis Heldring (1852-1923), a Dutch Protestant minister, belonged to that first generation of amateur photographers who took a small camera with them on a journey to the Middle East. Rakia Faber reconstructs the way in which Heldring both experienced and expressed this trip, which was so important to him. He often photographed people and objects seldom covered by professional photographers, who merely catered for the tourist market.

The Manfred and Hanna Heiting Fund enables young researchers from all over the world to explore the photography collection of the Rijksmuseum. The results of these studies are presented each year in the series Rijksmuseum Studies in Photography, whose publication is also generously made possible by the Manfred and Hanna Heiting Fund.

English edition | 40 images | ISBN 978 90 71450 18 1
Concept and design: Manfred Heiting | Layout: Ger Hudepol Productions