I was born in a little village nearby Europe’s largest port city, Rotterdam. It was surrounded by meadows. As a little girl, you could find me most of the time in the surrounding countryside. The love for nature is something I felt from my youth.

During my adolescence I moved to Rotterdam. It took some time before I got used to the big city, but after a while I began loving it. I loved the architecture especially and I loved the anonymity in the city. People in the city are moving in a beautiful decor of buildings, imposing bridges, big streets and crowded train stations. I like to observe this ‘busybusybusy’ show for hours on end.

During my studies I participated in a project relating to different forms of communication. The form that struck me most was communication by means of a flat, non-moving image. The realization that a single picture can have more impact than a conversation that lasts for hours was what got me extremely interested in photography. I decided to study photography & design. I couldn’t have made a better decision. Now I can’t imagine my life without a camera.

These days I still love nature and I still love the city. I live in the National Park of Lauwersmeer but you can also find me often in Rotterdam. Two extremes it seems. But photographically speaking it is not. I approach the city as if it is a landscape.

No matter where I work, I always use the LiCoMo principle in my work which stands for Light, Colour and Movement. In darkness I search for the light, on a bleak day I look for colour and when life stagnates I seek for movement. So in a way I photograph like life itself. At least one of these LiCoMo elements serve as the starting-point for my photography. So in my opinion, there is no big difference between nature photography and city photography. Both surroundings are a bottomless source of inspiration to me.

I love the idea that while making pictures two dimensions disappear. Of course the dimension ‘depth’ disappears, but more important to me is that the dimension ‘time’ also disappears. Photographing is about one moment, without the past and without the future, you don’t need to worry about anything but the moment. For me that’s magical about photography and that’s why I love it so much.

Carpe Diem: Take the moment!