Ghost for a year

'When I'm shooting I almost feel like a ghost. It's as if I am present but at the same time I'm not. I'm more of a voyeur of what happens in the "real world".' In his new series "Ghost for a year", Dutch photographer Maarten van Schaik lets us in on the mystery of his native city Amsterdam. Passers-by are looming and disappearing in light and shadow like phantoms. 'I started this series just after I came back from a trip to Las Vegas where I made a body of work in vibrant colors called "Mirage". Although the project was successful, the feeling emerged I had to take my work in a different direction. I gave myself a year to work on the project, hence the title: "Ghost for a year".' As is the case in almost all of my work, I am not interested in pure registration or a factual approach of the things I am photographing. My idea has always been to uncover what's behind the curtain and to capture the mystery and beauty of every day life. I let myself diverge quite a lot from any concepts or assumptions which are in my head when I'm photographing, because I want the end result to be much more free and organic, so that people can make up their own stories and ideas when viewing a particular work.