Mijn naam is Etienne Mathijsen.
Photography played a role in my life since I was born. My grandpa was an avid photographer, documenting my whole childhood, developing prints himself. When I was 8 years old, I got my first camera. A Kodak Ektra 200. Driving my parents nuts because the 110 film cartridges with max 24 frames could simply not keep up with my drive to capture interesting scenes. After several years of reduced interest, I picked it up again in 2004 when I bought my first DSLR. Still photographing in automatic mode I sometimes felt euphoric and frustrated at the same time when by chance something great came out of my camera without knowing how I could have achieved the same result, or even better, in manual mode. I got better at it over the years. Now the feeling is mostly euphoric as I manage to create the images I pictured in my mind. I document reality. I don’t like virtual realities created in post-production, and limit myself to some color corrections and occasional cropping. What you see is what was there. I’m currently preparing for graduation at Pentagoon. My graduation project is Dark Light. Or the inspiring play of natural light and shadows. In this exposition you’ll find a selection of recent work. Unfortunately my grandpa is no longer with us to see how he inspired me. But I still use his tripod... |