About

Frans Lemmens is a true globetrotter.
After graduating from Nyenrode Business University, the world became his home. He worked for many years as a development worker in Africa and traveled as a tourleader on all continents.
Photography had always been his passion. In 1986 Lemmens decided to become a documentary photographer mainly focusing on travel and nature. In that capacity, he undertook a number of unique expeditions: he visited Antarctica with the Chilean Navy, flew around the world with a Catalina PBY-5A flying boat and crossed the Sahara by camel and on foot with a traditional Tuareg salt caravan. His desert photography soon resulted in an international breakthrough, and his first book the Algerian Sahara.

 

On assignment for National Geographic Traveler in the Moroccan Sahara.

Image shot for the famous KLM’s “swan” advertising campaigns.

 

During an expedition in Bolivia (1989) he met his partner Marjolijn van Steeden. Since that time they live and work together. Since 1993 The Netherlands is an important topic. Many of the aesthetic photos have been published in the successful book ’Visions of the Netherlands’ (1997).

In the year 2000 Marjolijn and Frans started a new Sahara project , resulting in the book Sahara, Land beyond Imagination (2005), the crown on their desert work. For global player UNILEVER they produced their 75 year anniversary book Unilever Matters (2006), in which the activities of the multinational in 14 countries are shown. Between 2006 and 2010 Marjolijn and Frans were back on track with making travel reportages abroad.