Six Sportret stories worth sharing
Favorite anecdotes from SPORTRET
Sportret by Klaas Jan van der Weij
Sportret is not only a wonderful photographic document; it is good fun to read too. Here are some of our favorite anecdotes from Sportret.
In November we launched an new book made by MENDO: SPORTRET, which bundles a selection of Klaas Jan van der Weij’s impressive contribution to Dutch sports photography. The book contains intriguing, humorous and surprising images, but also some great anecdotes. We made a small selection of favorite stories Klaas Jan shared whilst making SPORTRET.
1 Greg LeMond, 2 Jurre Koolhof and Ruud Gullit, 3 Olympic Winter Games 1994
1 Greg LeMond – Paris-Roubaix (Roubaix, 1992)
During the 1992 Paris-Roubaix stage, former Tour winner Greg LeMond was merely a helper of teammate and winner Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle. LeMond, exhausted, sits in his iconic locker room of the Roubaix velodrome. This photo won the World Press Photo Award in the Sport category.
2 Jurrie Koolhof & Ruud Gullit – VVV-PSV (Venlo, 1987)
In the old De Koel stadium, PSV had won the championship of 1987. Moments after the referee blew his whistle, fans stormed the field. Luckily, I saw it coming and so I cased all my stuff and followed Gullit and Koolhof, who were taking shelter in an underpass. I thought: “if I stay with Gullit, I’ll be alright.”
3 Olympic Winter Games (Lillehammer, 1994)
During my first Olympic Winter Games, when cameras weren’t remotely controlled, I wanted to make a photo from underneath a ski-jump. I wasn’t allowed to be there, but because the TV broadcast had already started, I also couldn’t leave as well. I was ready to take pictures, but I had made one big mistake: I was standing underneath a huge concrete ramp, and I couldn’t see when skiers would fly over my head. Luckily, a girl on one of the stages completely understood my problem and so she signalled when I had to take a photo. With her help, I took this picture.
‘If I stay with Gullit, I’ll be alright.’
‘If I stay with Gullit, I’ll be alright.’
4 Joost Luiten, 5 Johan Cruijff, 6 Paul Gascoigne
4 Joost Luiten – KLM Open (Zandvoort, 2014)
One play before I took this picture, I was laying on a small hill with three other photographers. We had to be completely quiet. We had to stop moving when Luiten stopped moving. I was quiet as a mouse, but I when I focused my camera, I accidentally pressed too hard and took a picture. Luiten heard the small sound my camera produced during autofocusing, and directly lost it. “I don’t know who it is, but if I lose this match, it’s your fault!” Luiten won the tournament.
5 Johan Cruijff (Amsterdam, 1988)
My career basically started with this picture. I used to take pictures of amateur matches, but now Dutch newspaper Het Parool asked me to take some pictures of an Ajax training. When I sneaked into the small, old training hall, Johan Cruijff walked towards me. I feared that he would be angry because I sneaked in, but he only said: “well, boy, do your best. Make something beautiful.” A moment later, he stepped on the ball and watched the training. I knew instantly: this is the shot. This is Cruijff. When I developed the pictures at home, the newspaper called me. Apparently, Cruijff had resigned, and so they asked me if I had taken a picture of him that day. I sure did! After I sent that picture to Het Parool, I never again photographed amateur matches.
6 Paul Gascoigne – European Championship soccer (London, 1996)
I just had to see this game: one doesn’t easily forget a soccer match between Scotland and England, in Wembley Stadium. It’s one of the best games I have ever witnessed, the atmosphere was exhilarating. I was on the spare list, so I wasn’t in the section with the other photographers. Then, when Cascoigne scored, he dropped right before the boarding where I sat behind. All of a sudden, my unhandy position turned out to be rather neat.
SPORTRET is a book that bundles a selection of sports photographs from award-winning Dutch photographer Klaas Jan van der Weij. SPORTRET is made by MENDO and contains over 380 pages with nothing but intriguing, humorous, surprising images and unbelievable anecdotes.
![]([{"width":60,"height":76,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-60x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":100,"height":127,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-100x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":200,"height":254,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-200x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":350,"height":444,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-350x0-c-default.jpg"},{"width":500,"height":634,"src":"https:\/\/www.mendo.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mendo-book-sportret-cover-flat-500x0-c-default.jpg"}])
Continue reading
“I love it when people tell me I can’t do something”
Interview with MOAM's Martijn Nekoui
As the biggest platform in the Netherlands for talent in fashion and beyond, MOAM has exceeded many expectations and limitations. Now that we’re making a book with them, it’s time…
Picturing the Streets of New York
Meet the photographers of 'Streets Of New York'
‘Streets of New York’, editor Joost Bastmeijer introduces five of the book’s contributing photographers.
Contributor's favorites
Five Amsterdam Uncovered contributors share their absolute favorite Amsterdam things from the book.
Made and published by us
We don't just sell books... we make them too, which you can see in the showcase of our 33 MENDO-made books. Here’s the story of how our MENDO publishing house…
Some favorite contributions
For our newest book MOAM and MENDO asked 100 Dutch creatives to show and tell us what fashion in Amsterdam is.
Introducing “Miss Avocado”: Colette Dike
Interview
We had a moment to talk with Colette, the mastermind behind most of the recipes you’ll find in The Avocado Show book.
How we translated the world of Casper Reinders into a book
Made by MENDO
This book is unlike any other. And although there are more publishers saying that, we promise you, there’s absolutely nothing like this. Casper Reinders greatest interiors are collected in our…
A brief history about (the streets of) Amsterdam
How our home base came to be
The streets of Amsterdam are full of history, that even hardcore Amsterdammers might not know about. Let us tell you a small tale about the past of our beloved home…
Interview
To celebrate our upcoming book with The Avocado Show, MENDO had a lunch date with its founder Ron Simpson to “peel” the success of the Avocado Show.
Because people matter
Pie Aerts is one of the world’s most promising documentary photographers and he’s working on a spectacular new book with MENDO.
Jack Davison: Understanding Photography
Photographer's Profile
Jack Davison spends most his time experimenting with photography, which results in a body of work that consists of captivating images. For this Photographer’s Profile, MENDO chats with Davison about…
Our book The Workshop got the party it deserved
Book launched at Guillaume Philibert's Filling Pieces in Amsterdam
Last Wednesday we celebrated the launch of The Workshop - the book we created with Renée Leeuw, Iris Duvekot and Roomed.
Jimmy Nelson: “I’d like people to participate in what I feel and see”
Interview
Renowned photographer Jimmy Nelson will sign the long-awaited sequel to Before They Pass Away at our Berenstraat flagship store, from 14:00-16:00 on Sunday 23 September. MENDO chats with Jimmy about…
In our series 'Meet MENDO' you get to meet MENDO. This edition shares the vision of co-founder Roy Rietstap.
MENDO’s favorites of the year
As the famous American poet Jon Bon Jovi once said: “we’re halfway there.” We’re already closer to the next year than the previous one, so time to make up the…
The romantic vision of photographer Jean Pierrot
Interview
Pierrot Romance is a personal diary, designed and published by Pierrot himself (in a limited first run of 500 copies). To celebrate his first book, we did a short Q&A.
At the printer’s: Living in Style Amsterdam
MENDO editor for teNeues publication Living In Style Amsterdam
teNeues collaborated with MENDO to create a book called Living In Style Amsterdam. It's at the printer's now, and expected to arrive at MENDO in August.
Food, Photography, Flora and Funky Fumes
Books for a green thumb
Summer has officially started, which means we’re moving outside, defying our hay fever, and putting our gloves on. For green inspiration, motivation, relaxation or sensation, we’ve selected four green books…
A little update on our forthcoming book #Sendnudes
At MENDO we’re currently working on a rather exciting book: #Sendnudes. Time to let editorial coordinator Mikel van den Boogaard inform you a little about this project, and the progress…