In a series entitled ‘Erwin Olaf: 40 years of photography’, postage stamps commemorating the tens of thousands of photos the Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf has taken in his lifetime have been issued by Dutch post.
Only five images were chosen for the sheet of stamps, which could not have been easy. Olaf has carried out assignments for big names such as Louis Vuitton, Vogue, Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum and Rijksmuseum, among numerous others.
The country can now enjoy five iconic photos in stamp format: Pearls, from the Squares series, 1986; Julius Caesar, from the royal Blood series, 2000; Nadia, from the Paradise Portraits series, 2002; Portrait # 5, from the hope series, 2005 and Portrait of Alex, from the Palm Springs series, 2018.
The stamp sheet itself was designed by Rienus Gündel Franciscus in Amsterdam.
Olaf has also designed Dutch coins.
(Link and image: shop.postnl.nl)
Erwin Olaf is a kick-ass photographer, but does that make him a good coin designer? The Netherlands do have to uphold a reputation in this respect. 
A student at the Delft University of Technology has won the audience award of a design competition held every year by Dutch department chain store HEMA.
* Several provinces have instated hunting bans for a variety of animals because of the cold weather. Zeeland, Drenthe, Noord Holland and Limburg have ordered a general hunting ban, while others have limited their bans to a selection of animals. The Party for the Animals (PvdD) has called for a nationwide ban, 
