Director of photography Ton Peters N.S.C. (photo: Corbino)

In 1963, Ton Peters wanted to be a documentary photographer. But his ambitions changed when he was studying at the Academy of Arts, and realized that a future as a cameraman seemed much more interesting. Nevertheless, documentary photography is still his main inspiration. "Ultimately, it is often the dissonances that make a movie interesting. They need scrubbing and squeezing. "

No, he does not come from a creative family, although his father was a photographer and filmmaker, and he did it more seriously than others. Thus he learned early on what a diaphragm is, and what the shutter speed does. And, that you only need one lens. He learned not to use long lenses, just to walk up to someone and take a picture. The kind of thing that he actually still does.

Although his father was an enthusiastic amateur photographer, the Academy of Arts was a huge leap from his reality. Most people who live in Limburg don’t leave, that is not the common trend. His parents did not encourage him to seek out an art education outside of Limberg, but they also did not stand in his way. In 1987 he signed up for the St. Joost Academy in Breda. That was quite something.

Stubborn
You had to do audiovisual design, if you wanted to be a photographer. This was something that Peters fiercely opposed in the first year. It must have been during that period, that a button switched in him and he decided he would rather be a cameraman. In the internship year that followed, he contacted a lot of production companies, and became a trainee assistant lighting in the world of film. After a few years, he had seen everything at the Art school. "I was then too stubborn, or went too far, to go to the film academy as well."

Lighting assistant, gaffer ... It was a big difference. "Maybe because I did not grow up as one of the cameramen in a class at the film academy. Because if it goes well, you click with one or two directors with whom you can work right away ". He was already making films from the moment he left the St. Joost, but it was not enough to make a living. Short films, small documentaries, little things. Eventually he began creating more and more, and so in 1994 he finally was able to stop working in lighting. Since then he only makes films. Those are the things that he really likes. What is close to him, close to what he always wanted to do.

Director of photography Ton Peters N.S.C. (photo/collage: Corbino)

Art house
His work is diverse, including commercials for Ben, Nuon, KPN, Internal Revenue Service, Milner en Rubijn. Usually no quick, slick advertisings, but documentary style short films. Films such as Deep, Intermediate, and recently Strange Blood ... Documentaries, including Jimmy Rosenberg. Remarkably, he has only worked with Dutch directors. His films and documentaries are almost all in the art house category. Superficial blockbusters seem wasted on him.

"I would also like to make films outside The Netherlands. I am now working on a number of projects that will be ready in the long term, so perhaps they will be ready soon. I feel really connected with projects that have something ‘edgy’. It’s certainly more interesting when something scrubs, when something can be discovered. From a very happy film I can get sometimes very sad. There is no unevenness. But that does not mean I do not like other types of movies. The film is a very broad medium, I can really enjoy it. Pirates of the Caribbean for example, I think it was a fantastically made film. I do not want to limit myself to an art house circuit. My camera style in Strange Blood is in a sense a step towards a somewhat different genre."

Confusing
The slightly unpolished style that characterizes many of his films, is sometimes facilitated by the director. "Mijke de Jong for example, is confusing. She doesn’t take shots, everything is always a scene. That dictates a particular way of working. You could want to make a shot, but there is no point. This happens because she also works with amateurs and not with actors. And if she works with actors, then she tries to confuse them." Laughing: "Then you have put down all the lights for a particular scene and she asks the actors, at the last minute, to do something else, without rehearsing "

But often he is the one that brings 'the free, unplanned style'. He prefers not to have everything nailed up beforehand. "If there is a good foundation you can improvise more and leave it to chance. I am reminded of the documentary photographer, who just takes a picture in a given place, no entourage, without complicated things. You can always go back there. If you trust the moment, the chemistry, then there is always something. It is often very funny or interesting if something happens that you did not expect. Ultimately it is often the inconsistencies that make a film interesting. "

Scrubbing
"Due to my photography background, my work is slightly different than that of a skilled cameraman. It lies in the choice of form and its consistent implementation. If you just base yourself on the content and how you need to bring it up, then it becomes often a good film. The form is also a way of telling a story. It's about how you present it. Christopher Doyle is a good example of someone who does this. His filming is naive, afraid to let things go. His work is quite formal, but it also has certain obstinacy, making it much more exciting. "

With each project Peters tries to invent his own grammar.”I think I have a personal style, which is quickly revealed. It has to do with certain sensitivity, and how you look at things. Alternating with very emphatic, almost blunt choices combined with little harshness, and independent observer ends. You have to, as a viewer, search a little; it's not interesting when pictures only tell what they have to tell. "Just like in the anecdotal photography of Henri Cartier Bresson, for example. He is rather inspired by the work of the American photographers and joined film producers Robert Frank and William Klein.

Technique
Peters does not think that he missed something in the film academy, although he finds it difficult to assess retrospectively. "The technique that I find interesting, I can keep up with. From childhood, I understood well the principle of filming. I'm always busy trying to bring it back to something that would lead to a creative and not a technical profession. If it gets too technical, then it becomes much too distant from what I'm working on. The best is when you can fully concentrate on your work and come up with something special. If you have to worry about the position of the sun, a camera that has to do crazy things, that distracts you. You must ensure that you've been so busy with the technique, that afterwards it seems that you completely forgot to make a film. "

Therefore he follows technical innovations with a critical eye. “For the last two or three years we have been talking about the cutlery and not the food, as Christian Berger put it so nicely. With each project comes the question: where do we film? I have used all systems, but there are really very few projects, where creativity is concerned, that benefit from digital photography. You film more, but in a less concentrated way. Divers choices are postponed till the post production. The monitor on the set allows all sorts of people to assess it without really understanding, resulting in discussions on the set. All this is harmful to the concentration necessary for making a good film.

“Anyway, all the technological developments have ultimately made a big contribution. You can still long for The Godfather, but in the end nicer things are being made. For instance, Hunger and Das Weisse Band, they are absolute masterpieces. "

Non-spot
Peters is not enthusiastic about the latest crane or the latest digital camera. Technology is for him nothing else than a tool in service of the story. He is guided by the visual aspects. Documentary photography is still his main source of inspiration. "What I find special in a good photographer is that his position is not important. That he does not choose exactly the best position. I find that intriguing, the naivety, the curiosity, to remain calm and standing. In a good picture often both the photographer and the subject are in a non-place. It creates a sense of not having been well thought out, and so you look at it in a different way. I sometimes try to bring this aspect to a film. "

Jimmy Rosenberg (photo: Ton Peters)

He still photographs himself, both for himself and sometimes for the publicity of one of his films. The poster of Deep and Jimmy Rosenberg are an example of this. He also makes portraits of the participants in his documentaries. But he doesn´t find his photographs to be very special, he wouldn´t want to exhibit his own even if he had enough volume. "No, I think DOP is a great profession that I can do for a very long time. I can live with the fact, that that is my thing. "

Translation: Martijn Kraal