Some personal news: from today onwards, I’ll be the new Africa Correspondent of Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant! From Nairobi, Kenya, I’ll be covering stories in West, East and Southern Africa. Next to my work for the newspaper, I will still be available as a freelance photographer. For anything Volkskrant-related, drop me a message at joost.bastmeijer@volkskrant.nl!
Africa
Mediastorm beeldcollege: why Africa needs more correspondents
Mediastorm, a television programme about media logic and stories behind the news, asked me to talk about my day to day work in African countries. How do you take pictures in an IDP camp where many people are suffering? And how is the way we perceive Africa linked to the small amount of correspondents that are active on the continent? I tried to answer some of these questions in Mediastorm, which was aired last Saturday.
Interview 'De Buitenlandredactie': life as an Africa Correspondent
For foreign news journalism platform De Buitenlandredactie, Saskia Houttuin and I were interviewed about covering news events (like the elections in Ivory Coast) in Africa.
“During the elections in America you can see that just about any former America correspondent is traveling across the US once more, to make special reports or programmes there. So there are many possibilities to make some good, substantive and in-depth stories there. Why isn't that happening in Africa?
This year there are no fewer than thirteen African countries that hold elections, but in my opinion you read far too little about them in the Dutch media. What is happening in African countries at this moment is incredibly important for the future of a European country like the Netherlands.”
Read the whole interview here.
Photo blog takeover: Hatje Cantz
In the month of November, I took over the photo blog of German book publisher Hatje Cantz! The international publishing house is specialised in photography, art, architecture and design books. On invitation of Nadine Barth, Hatje Cantz’s Consulting Editor for photography art books, I wrote several blogs about photography-related issues. You can check out the blog to read features of talented (African) photographers like Sam Vox, Fredrik Lerneryd, Prince Gyasi, Yagazie Emezi and Brian Otieno. Other blogs are focussed on model consent forms, the New Dutch Photography Talent project and the Eye for All Auction!
Kenya Airways magazine Msafiri: read my Ethiopia travel story
For their inflight magazine Msafiri, airliner Kenya Airways asked me to write a travel story about our trip to the Ethiopian Amhara region, where Saskia and I traveled not only to the country’s capital, Addis Ababa, but also the world-famous monolithic churches of Lalibela, the impressive castles of Gondar and the laidback Lake Tana town of Bahir Dar. You can read the ten pages with my photography (i.a.) above, or download the whole PDF of Msafiri Magazine here (also check out the photo book feature of my photo book Streets of New York, on page 69!).
Jimmy Nelson travelled to Kenya, Africa with Charlie's Travels
Renowned photographer Jimmy Nelson travelled to Kenya to go on an off the beaten track Charlie's Travels trip with Dutch TV presenter Sophie Hilbrand and actor Waldemar Torenstra (and their two kids). Drawing a lot of inspiration from Jimmy's photography work, it was quite exciting for me to be involved with this trip, as the Content Manager of Charlie's Travels. Jimmy took some amazing pictures and wrote a small testimonial about their trip, which is also online on the blog page of the Charlie's Travels website.
Click below to read Jimmy’s travelogue - you can also check out the interview with him I made, about his sequel to Before They Pass Away: ‘Homage to Humanity’.
Coming up: a story about Kenya in Musotrees Magazine
Musotrees founder Kerol Izwan asked me to write a story about my stay in Kenya - and so I did! You can read my 1300 words (EN) in the upcoming edition of Musotrees Magazine, which is almost available worldwide. You can check out two sneak peeks above - the magazine is getting printed as I write this! If you look closely, you can see a bit of my story and the photography that goes with it. I'll update my blog page once the Volume 5 of the magazine is available.
Travelafrique Photo Blog
Travel website TravelAfrique asked my to contribute a photo blog about Kenya! In the 'Kenya Encouters - Kenya through the lens of a Dutchman' post, I share five pictures I took during my stay here in Kenya. TravelAfrique has previously featured my work on their popular Instagram account, just like they did this time.
Kwaheri, we're going to Kenya!
We ended our tenancy & quit our jobs at NPO Radio 1, because on December 3rd, Saskia and I will travel to Nairobi, Kenya! Saskia will be the Africa correspondent for several (Dutch) media outlets, like Bureau Buitenland and RTL Nieuws, and I will be a freelance media maker for companies like Charlie's Travels and MENDO. Although the last weeks before leaving are bitter sweet, I can't wait to be in Kenya's capital. If you aren't following us already, make sure to stay tuned via Instagram and/or Twitter!
Featured by TravelAfrique
Like Visiter l'Afrique, a platform that has featured my work both online and offline, 'TravelAfrique' is an online platform that aims to disrupt tourism to Africa. One way of doing that, is by highlighting pictures that travelers take on their journeys to the African continent and by organizing travels to these specific places. On their IG page, they have featured some of my work (see a selection above), so do check out their feed for more pictures!
To see more features, assignments and collabs, check out the 'Features' page!