An ambassador for photography as a way of thinking
Over the past few years I have increasingly felt that I want to do something with this. That I want not only to practise photography but also to carry it out into the world. Not as a technique, not as an art form meant only for a select group, but as a “way of living”. As an attitude, a way of thinking. Photography helps me to pay more attention, to stay curious, to seek connection. And I believe it can do that for others too.
Photography as an attitude
Through 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 rush of daily life falls away. When someone on a walk suddenly sees how light slides along a facade, or how a passer-by’s chance glance says something about who we are. Those are no longer photography lessons, they are lessons in attention. And that, for me, is the heart of what I would like to pass on.
Sometimes I think photography is not necessarily about photos. That sounds strange coming from someone who fills his days with lenses, light and people, but it is true all the same. To me photography is a way of looking. A way of thinking, even. A way of understanding the world around me, of slowing down, of investigating. Not only by pressing the shutter, but by observing, by standing still, by listening.
I feel a growing need to become a kind of ambassador for that idea. Not in the sense of grand words or titles, but in what I do every day. By having conversations with photographers, by inspiring students to look better instead of clicking better, by sharing stories in my podcast and my books. Every project, from The Observer to the Straatfotobijbel (in Dutch), is really 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 to say they enjoy their camera again. The photographer who says after a mentoring session: “I can see it again.” That is what it is about for me. Not followers or numbers, but that sense that photography sets something in motion. That it can be a language which helps people understand themselves, or the world, a little better.
Inspiring and motivating
Over the coming years I want to give that more shape. Not only with new workshops or books, but also by getting conversations going. About what photography means in a time when everything has to be fast, when images are often fleeting. I believe that right now, in that stream of images, the value of real attention is greater than ever. Photography as a way of thinking is then not a luxury but a necessity.
And perhaps that is the finest thing you can do as a photographer: help people to look differently. To see not only the image, but what sits underneath it. The silence, the doubt, the wonder. That is where the magic is.
That is what I want to stand for. Not only as a maker, but as someone who inspires, motivates and shows that photography can be more than a pretty picture. That it is also a way of understanding the world, and yourself, a little better.