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Welkom on the website of Development, a documentary photography project of Dutch photographer Marlonneke Willemsen.

When will a tadpole develop its legs and at what age will a canary open its eyes? What sounds as biological research is in fact my vision on the growth and development of the different animals that live on our planet. The photos of Development show us what the first weeks of their lives look like. For this project, I’ve photographed more than 80 different animal species. Some of the series are photographed at the home of the breeder, but I also started breeding some animals myself or I took the eggs or one day old animals home with me, raised them and bought them back to the breeder once my series was completed.

Every species is photographed 8 times, with fixed intervals (for example every 3, 5 or 7 days) depending on their growth rate, to give the best possible idea of their development. The animals are photographed on a white background in a studio setting. For animals who live in water, I build a custom ‘under water studio’. In addition to the individual photos, there’s a overview, were all the photos are scaled to proportion to show how much the animal has grown.