Annemarie Klomp (56) from Boxmeer always looks up for a while, because who knows what will fly by. She has a passion for capturing planes on the sensitive plate. She does this so well that she nowadays watered her photos, because she encountered her photos without a source in other places. The seed for aircraft spotting was planted early.
It is not an everyday hobby for a woman, spotting planes and recording. “You mainly see men. But I am really not the only woman who is happy with planes,” she knows from experience. “I estimate that three percent of the spotters are women.” She thinks that her father made an important contribution to appreciate planes. “I had a friend in Roelofarendsveen and when we drove home, my father always made a detour to stop at Schiphol to take a look.”
Power and impact
Annemarie’s father worked at the Air Force in the Radar section where he could follow aircraft. “Seeing the planes in real life instead of a dot, he liked.”
Love flocked completely when she met her partner Werner eight years ago. “He is even more fanatic than me. As a child, he cycled from Boxmeer to Volkel Air Base to photograph fighter jets. He told me about the power of such an airplane, the impact it has on the environment, the sound and that it is different every time. I think airplanes in the snow.
Rules apply, certainly for army aircraft. “You can’t just put everything online. You can’t record kites for safety reasons. Also military terrain cannot just be photographed.
Despite these types of security measures, pilots do recognize that their device has been photographed. “Many spotters share their photos on social media where like -minded people are and kites. The latter then recognize an airplane number or time and place. That’s okay. They even give compliments for the photo, they do that again under a pseudonym.”
Unthinkable
Although Volkel Air Base is almost in its back garden, Annemarie Schiphol thinks the best place to spot aircraft. “This is where the most, largest and most special planes come.”
On vacation, aircraft also often play a leading role. “We are going to France soon and then we will start at Charles de Gaulle airport, the most important airport in France. Then we visit the Aviation Museum. That is really great fun. You can step in the fast Concorde and look around, when do you see it up close?” She says enthusiastically. For Annemarie, a life without planes has become unthinkable.