Publisher's Synopsis
999 Angels
Street Portraits Photo Encyclopedia
This book contains street portraits of contemporary angels, highlighting women and young women through a stunning collection of photographs capturing their smiles, natural beauty, little dreams, expressions, and much more.
For who?
Particularly if you are interested in human beings or in the angels among them, then this book is for you. This is a unique book series for all who have an interest in (street) photography and portrait photo books in general.
Where does the photographs come from?
All photographs were taken (and edited) by Dirk Pieter. Often while visiting public celebrations and festivities s.a. New York (West Indian Day Parade), London (Notting Hill Carnival), Rotterdam (Rotterdam Unlimited) and many other places.
The big question.
When author started the 999 Angels art & book project years ago, the big question was..., if he would succeed to find and capture that many Angels? Well..., he succeeded. He found between all people, 999 Angels, just in the streets where you live. This quite remarkable achievement has now been bundled in three substantial volumes of the "999 Angels Encyclopedia". They contain in total 1,560 interesting and beautiful street portraits of ordinary people, which according to Dirk Pieter, are all Angels.
The last collection of its kind?
All portraits were taken in the decade just before AI appeared. It may be the last major collection of photo portraits of authentic natural beauty before they are replaced by superficially appealing, easy AI-generated, super-smooth images more polished than actual reality. It's already happening as the spread of AI images is faster than the speed of light and adored by millions. The '999 Angels Encyclopedia' might be the last authentic reference to the ordinary beauty of reality as it truly is. A final salute and tribute to what might be forever lost.
Non pretending.
The New Enhanced Rough Edition is printed on standard white book paper and each volume contains over 500 large and fascinating street portraits. All photos are black and white and have in the rough edition, an imperfect slightly rough vintage look. As print 'non pretending', but the many pages and its simplicity, give the books their own charm. As far as we know, nothing comparable exists, which makes these unique among photo books.
Must have.
A must-have for every photo book collector, or for anyone who would like to have the largest photo collection of street portraits & angels on earth.
Multilingual.
The (limited) text in these books are in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese. The main content, the photographs itself, speak the universal language of angels.
On its own.
Each volume stands on its own. It can be seen as part of an encyclopedia, as a book as it is, or as a work of art.
Dirk Pieter is a visual storyteller whose work reflects urban life in cities around the world, including New York, Paris, London, and others. His creative exploration of angels has been an ongoing passion for over a decade. Working primarily in black and white, his 999 Angels project blends elements of photojournalism and documentary photography. While he isolates his subjects through post-editing when needed, his rough editions embrace imperfection -reflecting both the limits of independent publishing and the raw beauty of life itself. Every photograph is a portrait of a real person, or in Dirk Pieter's words, a 'true angel.' Untethered to time, place, or environment, his angels belong anywhere- just as angels do.
