This picture of me, taken by my father, comes from a time that probably shaped a lot of the person I am now and have been. Already at 3.5 years old I spent a year working. First with my father building the house we grew up in, and later on the countryside with my grandparents on the farm. And then back to house building again. These were actually sad times, I was not happy with the way life turned out at that time. It lasted for one year and it was nobody’s fault, just circumstances beyond our family’s control. That year was, however, a real turning point in my life. During that year I had become very independent.
Honestly, I do not know how this could have anything to do with photography, but it has a lot to do with me, and it was probably that very young independence that turned me into an observer.
In my photography I very much like to take portraits. And I see portraits as an interaction between photographer and subject (model). Each of us on one side of the camera. The subject in front of the camera, the photographer behind the camera. The camera keeps the safe distance between the two parties, a mirror for the subject, a window for the photographer; the observer. In that setup I search for something that is essential to the person in front of me. When I find it I emphasize it, and let it come out. That will give me a good portrait. And sometimes I call my portraits timestamps, an image of the subject at that given moment in time.
In a way I am always making portraits when I photograph people. The photographs can be for a personal presentation, commissioned work for artist presentations, websites, publications, book covers, people who interest me, people who have something in common. The circumstances and purposes may change, but the person remains at the centre of the photograph.