Jan Koster's Sine Labe Concepta (the latin for 'immaculate conception') is a new series that sits in between his Dutchscapes and Havana work. Shot in different European cities including Venice, Porto, London, Berlin and Saintes Maries de la Mer, it starts where Dutchscapes ends, the Dutch coast, and ends where the Havana series begins: a statue of Maria, the mother of Christ. Koster sees the images as "a personal construction of reality" based loosely around the influence of the Catholic church throughout the history of Europe. Some typically gorgeous images here and also a few jet-black humorous digs which suggest that conception tends to be a good deal short of immaculate.
Jan Koster, Havana
Jan Koster (1959) is best known for his photographs of the Dutch river landscape. In this new project, Koster has abandoned domestic fluvial bliss for the streets of Havana. Havana has to be one of the most photogenic cities of the world, but thankfully Koster doesn't overdo it on the gorgeousness and the colour. These images feel almost restrained at times giving the impression of a final look at the city before the end of the Castro era. You can see an online book of the work here, hopefully this will come out in print form before too long.
Further reading: Review of Koster's previous project, Dutschscapes, on Conscientious