An Observer

What is your occupation now?

I work as a freelance photographer. I share my studio with six other creatives in Eindhoven at Strijp-S, which I really enjoy. In that studio I work on my own projects, assignments and also some organizational work for Art-Rotterdam. So my daily life is very flexible and always variable.

What expertise did you gain at WdKA?

First of all: the big WHY. Why do I do what I do? Why would this be interesting to others? Why did I photograph it this way? It drove me crazy!

Also I have always been an observer, and at WdKA I have learned to appreciate and develop that quality. I realised that it is so important to stay true to yourself. For me it became easier after I have left WdKA because I wasn’t surrounded by other photographers all the time anymore.

What is the future of your profession in your opinion?

Hard to say… When I started at WdKA, Photography was a pretty new course, but now everybody is a photographer. Honestly, I think one of the most important things is to be enterprising. You do not only choose to be a photographer; you also choose to run a business (in most cases). You really have to be up to that.

You never leave your house without…? Besides your laptop or smartphone :).

It’s a cliché but I do bring my analogue camera with me a lot. It is compact, I can’t get obsessed with shooting something over and over again until it is perfect, and I like being surprised when I pick up my pictures at the photo lab.

Any words of advice to future students?

Make sure you really want this. As annoying it may sound, think about what your future after art school will look like. Appreciate your classmates - you share a very specific and important time together. I still miss mine and we meet regularly to catch up. And of course: enjoy all the experiments, time and free projects you are able to do at WdKA!

Name your favourite recent project.

My baby: Project Filles! This project is a collaboration with Simone van de Wetering, writer and urban sociologist, aiming to create and share stories about the girls growing up in suburban spaces. Last year we went to the Paris’ Banlieue and hung out with the young girls growing up there. Simone wrote down their stories and I photographed them. We have got to do what we love, got inspired and discovered we connected really well. Therefore, this project got expanded. I-D magazine shared our Paris story: ‘Filles de Banlieue’. Some time later we participated in the Young Art Night at van Abbemuseum with our photo series and exhibited at Springhouse Amsterdam. Now we are working towards the new series, with the new girls, this time from in the Bijlmer, Amsterdam. Hopefully, in a couple of years we can fill a book full of stories from the big cities' suburbs all over the world.

Please visit Sofie's website for more stories!