Pause
True portraits
In the daily rush, we sometimes forget to hit the pause button. It's a moment just for you, a space for reflection, and simply being present. You can clear your head, listen to stories, or even share your own. It's about getting your thoughts in order and just being yourself.
What happens when you take the time and space to step out of your routine and plan a half-day for yourself? What happens to you when you feel that someone is listening to you, when your mind slowly calms down, and when you sit down in front of my camera?
This results in a genuine smile or a resigned, calm look. Then you are brought back to your core, to who you are when you stop thinking. Then your eyes become softer, clearer.
In about four hours, we will search for that PAUSE together. We will search for that peace together. I invite you to take a step back with me. We can do this by discussing your dreams and expectations, by talking things through without feeling the pressure to have a plan ready, or perhaps by asking questions and thinking aloud together.
When I feel that you are in the right mental place, I invite you to take a seat in front of my camera.
“Thank you, Michiel, for such an amazing photoshoot! Michiel is not only an excellent photographer, but also a truly inspiring person with interesting stories to tell.
I highly recommend Michiel as a photographer. He knows how to find your deep, authentic personality and capture the right moment to give your photos a special meaning.
Michiel, your photos are truly special.”
The photos from this session are, first and foremost, your summary of our conversation.
You will see that the first photos we take are completely different from the last ones, even though the ingredients are the same: the same space, the same props, the same person.
The end result is the photo on the back cover of your (un)written book, the album cover of your next record, or the photo accompanying the introduction to your latest exhibition. I don't know if we'll be taking your new profile photo, or the photo that will earn you 10K a month, but I do know that it will be a personal photo of you, one in which you recognize yourself and can be proud of.
Pause is my product for photographers, theater makers, songwriters, and other creatives. It's also for entrepreneurs who need a moment of reflection, and for anyone who just needs a Pause.
Vanuit een bovengemiddelde passie voor fotografie, een ruime ondernemerservaring en een oprechte interesse voor echte mensen stel ik de vragen die je nog niet gesteld zijn of juist de vragen die al veel te lang onbeantwoord achterin je hoofd zitten. En leg ik dat voor je vast in een waarachtig portret.
I am not a therapist. I cannot help you overcome your traumas. However, I can provide you with the space and tranquility to temporarily stop thinking about them, or to feel that they are a part of you and that whatever is on your mind is acceptable.
At the end of 2020, I was confronted with the limits of what I could handle. My burnout presented itself to me and stayed with me for 18 months. It still pops up from time to time.
At that time, I was forced to sell my share in my own company and completely change course. First and foremost for my own mental health and the people around me.
As an operations director, one of my weekly tasks was to evaluate people, and for me, that was perhaps the biggest change. In my other passion , street photography, judging is impossible: I take photos of people I don't know, whose home lives I know nothing about, what preoccupies them, or what's in their backpacks. I bring that same absence of judgment to my portrait sessions.
You show what you want to show and say what you want to say. You are not obligated to do anything, and you don't have to try hard. You just have to be yourself and take a moment to PAUSE.
I am convinced that you will receive a different photo from me.
See you soon?
Cost of a Pause
Are you ready to press that pause button? To take some time for yourself, just for a few hours? Then I would like to invite you to my tree house in Wijchen.
A half-day of conversation and photography, including 10 black and white photos, minimally edited to purely reflect our chat, is only 492 euro (including VAT). Your therapist costs more! Treat yourself to a moment of reflection and Pause and book your session today.
“Michiel is a rather compassionate and kind hearted person who allows you to open up fully in order to be yourself. This is visible at the end result which leaves you speechless.
He’s managed to calm the storm with which I’ve arrived to his studio just by being him, working with me along the way and helping me through the shoot by great meaningful conversations and suggestions.
It was a great honour to work with him and I strongly recommend to perform a shoot with him for one main reason- to see the real you.
He will help you to reveal that beautiful part of you soul.”
