Euregion magazine Niveau goes oblong

The skies were grey and threatening. Raindrops lazily started to break free from the clouds just when I reached my destination. After I parked my bicycle opposite Maastricht’s monumental City Hall, it was less than a minute on foot to where I would be attending the presentation of a renewed regional glossy magazine. Oh. Glossy? Some might want to shrug the shoulders or dismiss it as yet another one of those abundant and superfluous ‘things’ that do not require any attention. You might be right. It may not be required or needed, but deserving nonetheless! So, let me just start from the beginning…

Photographer Guy van Grinsven can’t possibly count the numerous stamps in his passport or keep record of the mileage his car has made over the years, travelling to far and distant places, exploring the previously unknown. For his accountant he probably has to do just that, keep record of his whereabouts by car and how many gallons of gasoline or diesel have been swallowed. As an illustration, however, we prefer to ignore the practicality of it all and rather focus on a perhaps romantic notion to be conceived if we think of photography as a glamorous and adventurous profession.

Because Guy’s work is often glamorous and adventurous indeed! Initially he earned a living as an aircraft engineer at Fokker, a well-known Dutch aircraft constructing company. Photography was merely a hobby then, although Guy was studying at the renowned Nederlandse Fotovakschool in Amsterdam next to his day job. At first his photography skills were used for his employer Fokker, but soon he started to work for a big advertising agency that was specialized in content for the aviation industry. He then took on assignments for travel brochures that brought him across the world, but he also gained expertise with studio work.

In the following years Guy van Grinsven broadened his horizon by accepting an invitation to work as a photojournalist for a privately owned equivalent of the ANP press agency. Those were the experiences that turned him into a skilled photographer, according to Guy himself.

But he grew weary of the travelling and longed for a place to settle and start up a business of his own. And so he returned to the city of Maastricht, the city where he was born and spent a great deal of his childhood. Guy van Grinsven founded StudioPress and became a pioneer in the field of advertising photography, because there wasn’t anything like it in the Maastricht area. The journalistic angles, however, remained important and as a result, Guy decided to take his work to yet another next level. Nine years ago, he proudly launched his own magazine, ‘Niveau Euregio Magazine,’ a glossy quarterly publication focussing on photography and the region surrounding the city of Maastricht, namely the Meuse-Rhine.

‘Niveau’ passes with flying colours, if we judge the articles and photographs with a critical approach. It’s one of Guy’s goals to show how beautiful our own region is, how many treasures seem hidden beyond our sight. We usually hurry from doorstep to parking lot, no time to discover our own backyard and its subtle charm. We usually prefer exotic far away places where we curse at jammed suitcase locks and unwilling hotel employees. We adore tropical forests and are touched by the simplicity of native people who are happy with what they got and see life from different perspectives. But we often don’t see where we are coming from ourselves, where our roots are entwined in fertile soil and the wealth of ancient history is awaiting to tell tales of brave and powerful people, or interesting people.

The magazine ‘Niveau’ offers something for the eye and mind, with a keen sense for aesthetics and clever presentation. It may not be everybody’s cup of lemon-scented tea, but if one is objective, it’s virtually impossible to ignore the fact that the visual appeal of ‘Niveau’ is huge due to the high standard quality put in every detail of the process creating a new issue. The articles are as diverse as the companies and organizations advertising with either their services or products or both. The photography has always been a primary passion AND the reason why we were gathering in the 18th century wine cellars of Thiessen Wijnkoopers near the Market Square, this dreary Monday on October 5.

Guy van Grinsven decided to change the format of his magazine to ‘oblong’, which means the pages you turn will be wider now so there is more room for the photographs to be viewed in near panoramic view. In fact all he did was rotate it a few degrees. And it’s true. The photographs do come out better this way and even the advertisement breathes in a more artsy fashion. The words in the articles do not just support the images, and the images do not just illustrate the words. It’s an even balance in the overall pleasure for viewing.

Attending presentations or participating in network events is not my favourite pastime or any pastime at all, but I was glad I made an exception for this occasion. It was an opportunity hard to resist, to be able to take a look around in the beautifully restored wine cellars of Thiessen and to listen and talk to a few other invited guests, people who really have something to say, providing me with food for thought and inspiration.

The new ‘Niveau, ’ oblong-styled, features Guy’s work for a recently broadcasted Dutch television show, ‘Blootgewoon,’ that involved nudity. Not the kind of nudity that should fill us with feelings of shame or embarrassment, but the nudity that will make us think twice because of the good causes connected to this project. Just consider the courage shown by the breast cancer models, carrying their scars and amputations with a warm smile and their heads held high. There’s also an interesting article about the OneStopShop for expats, a concept and initiative of Ton Wanders, Program Manager Maastricht-Europe at the Maastricht municipality. He initiated a role-play for two foreign journalists who came to the city by invitation of the Association of European Journalists. The AEJ are organizing a conference in Maastricht towards the end of November. In this role-play the two journalists were confronted with all kinds of problems they could face as expats, that’s why Ton Wanders considers the International Service Desk as a most reciprocal solution.

Mtricht.com will soon feature an interview with Ton Wanders about the OneStopShop for expats in Maastricht.

So you can see for yourself, ‘glossy’ doesn’t necessarily imply being superficial and just good looks, the outer shells of life and people. ‘Niveau’ really aims to dig deeper, but prefers to present its content in a more positive manner, without self-serving judgement or endless criticism towards whatever goes wrong on this planet we all inhabit. Sure, you read about plastic surgeon Roberto Roddi and his exclusive medical centre in Lanaken (Belgium) near Maastricht. And you can raise an eyebrow about the nose jobs, the breast implants, the botox and lipostructure, the face- and genitals lifting… but you can also learn to respect this plastic surgeon for the reconstructive surgery he performs in third world countries, on behalf of Interplast USA, an American organization founded in 1970 at the grounds of the prestigious Stanford University. Interplast USA is the first international humanitarian organization to offer reconstructive surgery where needed. Many lives have been saved so far.

•You can browse in a digital version of the new oblong ‘Niveau’ on the Niveau Magazine website

Niveau goes oblong - Click image for photo album