Beyond Photography : Imagination and Photography

We cite from the cover:
"This book presents a selection of images by contemporary Dutch and Belgian artists who create worlds of their own in their photographic works. Here you will find compelling images that sometimes reveal connections with romanticism and surrealism, and mysterious worlds full of sensuality, fantasy and theatricality - images in which the technique of photography is nothing more than a tool, from which the documentary element has disappeared.
Photographic art has taken off worldwide: the time is ripe for an in-depth look at creative photography in The Netherlands and Belgium from 1980 to the present. In addition to over 200 illustrations there are four essays included dealing with photography based on imagination and fantasy. Rommert Boonstra describes staged photography in The Netherlands in the 1980s; Lotte Menkman goes into the period before that, with the work of pioneers like Emiel van Moerkerken, Steef Zoetmulder, Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Pieter Laurens Mol and Paul de Nooijer; Maartje van den Heuvel throws light on the position of the photograph in a digitised culture; and Eric Min provides a survey of creative photography in Belgium, noting the work of Léonard Misonne, René Guiette, Serge Vandercam, Julien Coulommier and others."