There was a child went forth

The famous poem by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) not only makes use of the imaginative world of children, but its elegantly sweeping lines have quite a sobering effect on the reader. Cuny Janssen, the 'most remarkable photographer of children in our time' (Freddy Langer), presents in her latest, three-part photo-essay of nature photographs as well as portraits of Amsterdam children; she shows in an inimitable way the intermediate state where naiveté is lost and gives way to knowledge. The natural images of parks and park-like neighborhoods do, surprisingly, not form a true contrast to the fantastic realism of the children's images-- overall the images in the book seem like one big dream: bushes in colorful autumn colors, stern children's faces while playing in the fields, while lazing and reading on the sofa, equipped with research equipment or at a theater performance at school. As in Janssen's earlier works, her portraits never seem to be conceived with a particular moment in mind, but rather appear like stills, as frozen images from a movie, which will continue instantly.