Two new hobbies are born

I vaguely remember a diary passage from when I was around sixteen, that one thing I wanted to do was to travel. It wasn’t a clear goal, not even a clear dream, but more a vague notion in the back of my head.  

I also didn’t do anything with photography. I drew and painted, and that was it for creating images. Designing and making clothes followed from my education in Fashion and Design, but still no pictures.

This changed when I started working at Canon Europe in 1997. I finished college in 1994 and worked a low-paying retail job at a haberdashery store, followed by a brief stint as marketing assistant (printing order forms, mostly) at some vague mail order company that sold wax coats.

At Canon, my pay was almost twice as much, which meant, that for the first time I made enough to travel, and I could give the vague notion to travel room to bloom. I got serious information on cameras, as well. Although I was working in the digital copier department the newsletters heavily featured photography. And there was a lot of buzz around the latest compact camera innovation, the APS camera’s with had smaller film rolls, which means a compact camera getting even more compact.

And that became my first camera. An, at the time, state of the art Ixus APS camera. It was tiny and it could shoot three formats: 4:3, 16:9 and panoramic.

And I got it, because I booked my first holiday to a faraway country, India.

I started two new hobbies…

1998 – India

My first time taking photos for me, I was pointing and clicking. I had some inkling of composition from drawing and painting classes, but it wasn’t exactly a conscious effort if a photo turned out nicer than a standard tourist picture. One of the other travelers did bring an SLR with changeable lenses. To me that sounded as a lot of work, much too complicated. The only complication now was getting more APS film rolls, which were slightly harder to come by than regular 35mm rolls.

I did however take my first Photoshop steps and experimented the hell out of some possibilities. And I managed to very convincingly remove a car from one of my photo’s. Looking at that photo now, after years with actual courses and more experiences, I am still impressed by myself here.

1999 – Syria & Jordan

The following year, In Syria and Jordan (and a little bit of Libanon) I still had my Ixus. Still mostly pointing and clicking, sometimes trying to copy the iconic photos on the cover of travel guides. Though maybe, in the back of my brain, something started to think the compact camera wasn’t enough anymore, seeing the amazing photography in the Canon newsletter. And there were some challenges taking photos in less then optimal circumstances, like trying to take decent pictures in dark spaces without the flash.

More galleries will follow …

• 2000 – Myanmar
• 2001 – Malaysian Borneo
• 2002 – Ruta Maya: Mexico & Guatemala
• 2003 – Morocco: Royal Cities
• 2003 – India (South)
• 2004 – Morocco
• 2005 – Indonesia: Sunda Islands
• 2006 – Egypt
• 2007 – Thailand
• 2008 – India (North & Rajasthan)
• 2009 – Morocco (with Belly Dance lessons)
• 2009 – Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia
• 2010 – India (South)
• 2011 – Costa Rica, Nicaragua & Panama
• 2012 – Singapore, Malaysia & Thailand
• 2013 – Jordan
• 2014 – India: Ladakh
• 2015 – Indonesia: Bali & Lombok