About
About me
My name is Anna, and thank you for showing interest in me, my journey, and my photography!
When I was a child - I must have been 7 or 8 years old - I received a camcorder for my birthday. The first film I ever made was of a pigeon. Filming however wasn’t my medium, something didn't feel quite right quite right. I didn’t pick up another camera for a solid 5, 6 years.
Flash forward to my sweet 16: My school organised what is called MUNs, Model United Nations, where young high school students would recreate a mock UN conference. I first attended as a delegate, someone who would draft resolutions, but I discovered my passion the next year when I joined the Press team. I absolutely loved it. I begged my mum for a proper camera and she kindly (and reluctantly) bought me one. A Nikon D something, my first ever camera which wasn’t disposable. This is how I got into photography.
My mother is French and my father Dutch. I spent my early childhood in Vietnam and Laos, my adolescent years in the Netherlands, started university in Bordeaux, France, and completed my Masters in Nijmegen, Netherlands. After residing in Morlaix, France, with my parents during the 2020 Covid19 pandemic, I now currently reside in Kingston, Ontario Canada, with my wife. I am also enrolled in a political science PhD programme at the University of Ottawa.
About my projects
I travel a lot, experience various cultures and languages and landscapes and people. This greatly influences my photography, where in the middle of the chaos which is my life, I try to find moments of peace. Nature is my biggest source of inspiration, between adoration, awe, and fear.
There is often a sense of solitude in my photographs. This sense of solitude is emphasised by the use of black and white photography. I don't necessarily pre-plan my shots - I let myself be guided by my environment and its mood. In this environment however, a few things catch my eyes: water reflections, strong architectural angles, and nature's details. I often work from small to large or large to small - bridging different scales and again emphasising the notion of situating the gaze within an environment. I thereby anchor my own gaze within this frame.
While most of my photography is black and white, colours are also fundamental in how I frame my shots. Strong hues - just as much as sharp architectural angles - shape the way in which I will frame my own gaze: which colours catches my eye? What combination of hues has caught my attention? Sunsets or midday offer in this way different colour and light shades which influence the type of shot I seek; water reflections for instance are often taken at midday when light is the strongest and sharpest.