“My first big voyage as a photographer was on board the Sedov, a training ship for the merchant and fishing fleet of the former Soviet union,” so tells Monno Rienks. “It is one of the oldest sailing ships in the world. A four-master, built in 1922, with a deck as big as a soccer-field and having a water displacement of 5000 tonnes. What I encountered was fantastic.”

After his first photographic voyage on the Sedov, the eccentric Dutch photographer made numerous voyages on numerous other Tall Ships, most of them belonging to the largest ones in the world. He remembers the Esmeralda, the training ship of the Chilean navy, and the Juan Sebastian de Elcano, the pride of the Spanish navy with a water displacement of 3750 tonnes. Monno remembers: “I always enjoyed enormous hospitality on all ships I sailed with. And sometimes, the captain would alter course just to give me a better opportunity to “shoot” his ship. Small boats were set out and sails were hoisted. It made me feel member of the crew.”

Although Monno’s voyages now take place as the occasions arise, he worked for many years on commercial ships in his younger years. In many aspects he resembles the true seafarer, whom he describes as “less inhibited. They talk more spontaneously, and are therefore easier to communicate with. Most seafarers are not troubled by a narrow horizon. They come into contact with numerous nationalities, learn foreign customs, and visit the most exotic countries. That inhibits prejudice. Their home is the world.”

“For many years now,” so continues Rienks, “I have devoted my life and work entirely to the sea and the men who sail it aboard of Tall Ships. And you know what, working as a photographer on a Tall Ship turned out to be far more thrilling than what I had experienced during my “cabin boy to chef” years. You know why ? It brought back the romance I had picked up as a kid. I intentionally and deliberately sought to experience life at sea at the bottom and at the top. Making it to the bottom was easy. Making it at the bottom was hard. Making it to the top was hard. Making it at the top was fulfilling. As a result I feel I have been able to bring a greatest possible depth of expression to my pictures.”
My Voyage is a 160-pages historic document that represents many years of work and that should be experienced by everybody.