enough money
Actually, he should have started working as an assistant notary, or so his parents thought. After all, Jan Oosting didn’t have to work, says his grandson of the same name. “There was plenty of money in the family, so he only did things he liked. That was taking care of his family, keeping animals and taking pictures.” The photos his grandfather took are still exceptional after more than a century, not only his grandson thinks. In recent years there have been exhibitions in, for example, the German Moor Museum and the Brands Collection.
Real art photos
Jan Oosting: “Yes, that was not just any photography, but taking real art photos. Looking for a good composition. Thinking completely in black and white, you really have to be trained a bit for that. He was also friends with a painter, Jan Voerman. He also read a lot about art and about painting. I have another book that he had in his possession. How to make a painting with oil paint. So he really got into that artistic side of photography.”
Grandpa Jan’s camera worked with light-sensitive glass plates. Jan Oosting: “Plates of 23 by 18 centimeters. So you can see, that is a pretty heavy box that you have to take with you if you want to take a few photos.”
Cows like wild buffalo
From 1910 Jan Oosting went really seriously out. With the heavy camera, the glass plates and the heavy wooden tripod. Jan Oosting: “By bike. He also took his dog with him and that dog had to stay with the bike when he was busy with the camera. But in practice that didn’t always work. And one time it almost went wrong. He wanted to photograph drinking cows, he was just focusing his camera With that black cloth over his head behind the camera Then suddenly he felt the ground thump beneath him and then he looked up from under the cloth And then saw he that herd Cows, that came at him like wild buffalo, with that dog in front, they were chasing them. So he yelled to that dog: lie down. That dog was terrified, he lay down, he threw that black cloth over that animal The cows didn’t understand that the dog had suddenly disappeared. They dripped off. And so he managed to save himself, his camera and his dog.”
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