Other projects
Photography is my trade. But if you know me even a little, you know I find it hard to sit still. Before I became a photographer, I was COO, senior SEO consultant and co-owner of Yoast, the company behind the well-known SEO plugin for WordPress. There I learned everything about websites, online visibility and building products that people actually find useful. Alongside that, I work as a freelancer through Studio Foppe, helping entrepreneurs build websites and giving internet advice.
Those two worlds, photography and the internet, keep coming together more often. Especially now that AI makes so much possible. Where I used to spend weeks building a tool, something that actually works can now go online in a few days. That opens doors. For photographers too. Ideas that sat on the shelf for years because building them took too much time, I can now actually make. So that's what I do.
On this page you'll find the projects that came out of that. Four very different sites with one thing in common: my passion for photography.
Straatfotografie.nl
I'm also the owner of straatfotografie.nl, the friendly community and knowledge base for street photographers in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The community revolves around its members. They share their photos, discuss each other's work and arrange to go out shooting together. The knowledge base holds articles, books and videos about street photography.
Every month there's a new monthly assignment: you submit one photo and see what others have made around the same theme. Membership is free.
Fotoapps.nl
As a photographer you calculate more than you'd think. What's my depth of field at this aperture? What shutter speed do I need with an ND filter? What should I even charge for a shoot? Separate apps and complicated websites existed for all these questions, but there was never one place where it all came together.
So I built Fotoapps.nl. A collection of dozens of tools for photographers by now: calculators for exposure and depth of field, planners for the golden hour, checklists for shoots and business tools such as a pricing calculator and a model release generator. Everything just works in your browser. Nothing to download, nothing to install. Most of the tools are free, and there's a small subscription for the more extensive ones.
I use the tools myself during my shoots and workshops. That's the best quality control there is: if something doesn't work well in practice, I fix it.
Fotografie Presets
Post-processing trips up a lot of photographers. You've taken beautiful photos, but in Lightroom you have no idea where to start. Sound familiar? That's why I made Fotografie Presets: ready-made editing styles for Lightroom and Capture One.
There are hundreds of them by now, spread across packs that each have their own mood. From cinematic colours to documentary black and white, from street photography to portraits. The idea behind it is simple: you choose a mood, not a slider. I've made and tested every preset on real shoots, not on perfect stock photos. That way you know it works on your photos too, with your light and your conditions.
Want to try before you buy? There's a free pack on the site, so you can discover risk free whether my style suits your work.
In Wijchen
The fourth project is closer to home. Literally. I live in Wijchen and noticed there was no good place where everything about our municipality came together. What's on this weekend? Which businesses are based in the village? What's happening in the seven districts?
In Wijchen is the answer to those questions. A business directory, events calendar and news overview for the municipality of Wijchen, made by people from Wijchen. Businesses can sign up for the directory for free, and residents can contribute events, stories and photos. That way the site grows a little every week, together with the village.
For me, everything comes together here: my love for Wijchen, my background in building websites and my photography. Because yes, there are photos on there too, of course.
Why I do this
These projects aren't a distraction from my photography, they're part of it. Everything I learned at Yoast and with Studio Foppe about websites and online visibility, I now put into tools that photographers (and people from Wijchen) can actually use. And thanks to AI, I can build these ideas faster than ever. I see it as an extension of what I do with my workshops and PAUSE: sharing knowledge and helping people move forward.
It's also my way of not treating AI as something scary, but embracing it and seeing what it can bring me.
Curious about any of these projects, or got a question or a good idea? Email me at mail@michielheijmans.com. I'd be happy to think along with you.