Almost ten years ago I recorded the lives of the protagonists of Ester Gould and Sarah Sylbing's award-winning, iconic series Schuldig,a series built on the stories of people from the Vogelbuurt in Amsterdam-Noord, found unerringly by Manon van der Sluijs. It showed, sharply, how debt shaped their daily lives. I filmed a small part of the series as cameraman and made the set and portrait photographs that appeared widely in newspapers, on websites and on DVD covers.
Now, with the series being rebroadcast, I was allowed to make a new set of portraits: an update on where the protagonists stand today.
As a photographer my mission is to capture people sharply and lovingly at once,to see someone's soul in an honest observation. The privilege of facing these people again after so many years was a rare and precious chance. The depth and trust we built ten years ago were immediately there again. That is the achievement of the warm bath Manon, Ester and Sarah created back then.
I'm proud to share these new portraits alongside the images from ten years ago. The rebroadcast is an important moment to reopen the conversation about poverty and debt.
