Tape on a balloon
There is something endless about photography. And I do not only mean for spending your savings. Of course I can only speak for myself, but I find that photography offers so enormously many possibilities that I can lose myself in it completely. My head works more than overtime, with the main characters “new journeys” and “possible projects” running about a landscape littered with branches and milestones. Once I have set one goal, a new one appears, in a completely different direction.
My photographic journey started not all that long ago. In 2021 I picked up the camera more often and bought my first photography books. My motivation and enthusiasm shot up and three years later I still do not know where these adventures are going to take me. Without thinking about an end goal, and focusing far more on sub-goals, I made my steps in street photography. Between you and me: that is not the branch of photography I would recommend choosing as a profession. As a hobby it challenges you; as a profession it is a search for ways to commercialise my passion. I think that is where the endlessness lies, in the continual search for market opportunities and marketing channels. Yes, I write new content for my website very regularly and spend far too much time on social media. You have to be in the mood for it.
The book Straatfotobijbel (in Dutch) opened doors and created opportunities. Elja, thank you. It also made me think more broadly about street photography, and I soon discovered that it is photography in the widest sense that motivates me. Looking, thinking, writing it down or talking about it. For CameraNu I give presentations about photography, and that opens up other possibilities and directions again. Thank you, Henri. And for Focus I reflected every so often on where I stand and what I am occupied with. It is a welcome, periodic mindfulness session. Thank you, Roos. These days I write every month for Photofacts as well. Columns, brainwaves. Satisfied yet? Very satisfied with these milestones, though I have to remind myself of that regularly.
In my head the outlines of a second book took shape, with a focus on the photos. It came in 2024. My head sometimes feels like a balloon about to burst, but there is surely room for a little more air. A little, then. In 2025 my third book appeared, De Wet van de Straat (in Dutch). An e-book this time, with all the rules of street photography.
If you stick a piece of tape on a balloon and push a needle through it, it slowly deflates without popping. That is how I remember it from childhood. I am looking for tape, for a way to let a little air escape now and then without damaging the balloon further. The bubble, so comfortable and so challenging, has to stay intact, but sometimes room has to be made for fresh ideas or projects. Often that piece of tape is a conversation with someone who knows, and what matters most is that you can get things off your chest in it. That by talking you sort out your own thoughts and settle on a direction. That pressure escapes.
My friend and media maker Niels de Kemp (@nielsdekemp) was immediately enthusiastic. I had found my tape. Since April 2024 you can find us every Monday on Spotify and YouTube, with our photography podcast: 30 Minuten Sluitertijd. Look it up in your favourite app or have a look at 30ms.nl. Good of you to listen to the air I am slowly letting out of my photography balloon.
Sometimes you have to make it even busier to relieve the pressure. It works.
This article first appeared in Focus Magazine (the best photography magazine in the Netherlands), for which I wrote a column in every issue in 2023 and 2024.