A few months ago one of the good things that can occasionally happen to a photo editor happened to me…
a photographer who had been involved with Getty many years ago but had fallen off the radar for some time got in touch via the website and his contact details were forwarded to me by the Dublin office.

I looked at the work that Robert Van Der Hilst had sent and found it absolutely stunning. He’d spent quite a few years in China, travelling all over the country, meeting people and being invited into their homes and workplaces, to catch a glimpse of their way of life in both remote rural and urban areas.

© Robert Van Der Hilst

The more of the images i looked at, the the more absorbed i became. Together they make up a beautiful and fascinating document of a changing place and a people in flux, some clinging to ancient tradition while others embrace modernity, and others, somewhere in bewteen, live with familar elements of modernity in their homes, that look somehow out of place in this context.

©Robert Van Der Hilst

©Robert Van Der Hilst

Sometimes the people appear proud, or fascinated by the photographer’s interest, at other times they appear oblivious or turn their backs, not wanting have their face captured by the camera. 

©Robert Van Der Hilst

Sometimes the photographer decides to look away from them altogether and shows us possessions they live with or use daily. It’s sensitive and subtle work, and he never seems to have been treated as an intruder.

©Robert Van Der Hilst

At this moment in time the different ways that people are living within this one country seems amazing, and it seems unlikely that  lifestyles so diverse can co-exist for much longer.

©Robert Van Der Hilst

I thought i’d share a few of the images here and hope you will enjoy and find some inspiration from them, particularly in the light of the current Creative HOME brief!

There is a much larger selection of Robert Van Der Hilst’s Chinese Interiors and other images, recently uploaded to the Reportage collection.

Escape.

What an engaging word…especially in relation to vacation - root word vacate, meaning to leave, to cease to occupy.

The lure to step out of one’s everyday life, even if only for a day, a week… is intoxicating. Along with relaxation, exploration and luxury, the word escape is one of the “Holy Grail of Concepts” in the travel industry. If a travel company can truly communicate that feeling, they’ve got you - before you know it, you’re booking your trip.

Images really do have the power to transport. They can take you to places you’ve never been, or back to places that hold vivid memories for you.

In my case, this image taken on the Kalalau Trail along the Na Pali Coast in Kauai, takes me back to where I was this very time, one week ago.

David Stubbs/Getty Images

The exhaustion felt after nearing the end of an eye-poppingly beautiful 11 mile backpack trip:

Caterina Bernardi/Getty Images

the reward of a stunning, empty beach…

Tom Hill/Getty Images

…where I would pitch my tent on the edge of the sand and listen to migrating whale calls through the night, the greens more vivid and varied than in any place I’d ever been.

Bob Stefko/Getty Images

These images all hold special meaning to me now. I know what the air smells and feels like…

joSon/Getty Images

…I know what the water feels like…

joSon/Getty Images

…and I know how quickly the rain comes on.

Bob Stefko/Getty Images

I know the true meaning of ESCAPE.

joSon/Getty Images