In recent years, I have started to feel more and more that I want to do something with that. That I don't just want to practise photography, but to spread it. Not as a technique, not as an art form intended only for a select few, but as a “way of life”. As an attitude, a way of thinking. Photography helps me to be more attentive, to stay curious, to seek connection. And I believe it can do the same for others.
Photography as attitude
By my photography workshops I noticed how often people experience that same feeling as soon as they take the time to really look. The moments when the hectic pace of everyday life falls away for a moment. When, during a walk, someone suddenly sees how light glides along a façade, or how a chance glance from a passer-by says something about who we are. These are no longer photography lessons, they are lessons in attention. And exactly there, for me, lies the core of what I like to convey.
Sometimes I think photography is not necessarily about pictures. That sounds strange coming from someone who fills his days with lenses, light and people, yet it is true. For me, photography is a way of looking. A way of thinking even. A way of understanding, slowing down, examining the world around me. Not just by printing, but by perceiving, by standing still, by listening.
I feel a growing need to become a kind of ambassador of that idea. Not in the sense of big words or titles, but in what I do every day. By having conversations with photographers, by inspiring students to look better rather than click better, by sharing stories in my podcast and my books. Every project, from The Observer to the Straatfotobijbel, is actually an invitation to look at the world differently.
What I have already achieved sometimes feels bigger than I realise. The people who email me after a workshop that they enjoy their camera again. The photographer who, after a mentor interview says: “I see it again.” That is what matters to me. Not about followers or numbers, but about that realisation that photography sets something in motion. That it can be a language that helps people understand themselves or the world better.
Inspire and motivate
In the coming years, I want to shape that further. Not only with new workshops or books, but also by starting conversations. About what photography means in these times when everything has to be fast, when images are often fleeting. I believe that precisely now, in this flood of images, the value of real attention is greater than ever. Photography as a mindset is then not a luxury, but a necessity.
And perhaps that is the best thing you can do as a photographer: help people see differently. To see not only the image, but also what is underneath. The silence, the doubt, the wonder. That's where the magic lies.
That's what I want to stand for. Not just as a creator, but as someone who inspires, motivates and shows that photography can be more than just a pretty picture. That it is also a way of looking at the world, and yourself, a little better to understand.