Flaming Grace: Photographer from the Netherlands Captures Redheaded Children

— For years now I’ve been fascinated by redheaded children. In 2007, I took the first portraits in the series. Since then, I’ve photographed many redheaded children, not only in the Netherlands, but also in the US and Ireland. Why? Simply because I think they’re breathtakingly beautiful. I find these children mystical and magical and they push my creativity to the max. They’re visual poetry to me. Why only children? Children are still authentic and not aware of their environment, and that makes them wonderful to work with. So young, with already such an overwhelming effect.

Along the way I learned a lot about the red hair MC1R-gene and heard many stories and myths. Some people say redheads will likely be extinct in the next 100 years, because the gene is not dominant enough to survive. I don’t know if it’s true, but if so, I might even have written history.

For centuries redheaded people attracted the worldwide interest of writers, painters, and photographers. That’s not surprising, when you consider that only two percent of the world’s population carries this unique natural hair color. The interest was not always positive. In the Middle Ages, it was thought that redheads were bewitched; or that they were vampires or werewolves. In those days they often died at the stake. Also, I still hear stories of redheads being bullied, only because of their hair color.

Thank goodness they’re also celebrated all over the world and nowadays there’re even redheaded festivals in different countries. So, I’m not the only admirer of this unique group who loves their beautiful hair color.

I’m ready to share all of my portraits with the world in a beautiful, exclusive book. Well-known book designer Teun van der Heijden made a wonderful design for it. It will be a hardcover linen printed book with 104 pages. There’ll only be 500 copies available. Each book will have its own unique number.