Member Profile: Marianne Van Boekhold

About me:

Do you consider yourself a Professional/Semi-Pro/Amateur/Beginner photographer?

I’m an amateur photographer in progress.

Who are you?

Hi I'm Marianne, 60 years young, living with my husband, two grown- up sons and my German Shepherd, in Venray, a town in Limburg the Netherlands. At the moment I don't have a job, but it looks like I will next week as a Streetwise Instructor. It's a job where you teach primary school children, from the age four up to twelve, how to anticipate traffic in a safe way. I am looking forward to starting with the new job if everything goes well. I love the outdoors and being in it. I love every season to take my camera and capture their beauty. Smell the forest, hear the birds and feel the warmth, wind and cold. Don’t like the rain though.

Your Photography Journey

It began when I got a camera from my brother somewhere at the age of fourteen. It was a Kodak Instamatic with the use of flash cubes on it. Some of our other members will know that. I couldn’t use it too much because buying a film roll and developing the photos cost a lot of money. But luckily, that all changed with digital cameras and mobile phones with a good camera. I started to take snapshots of family members and friends with my mobile phone.

My youngest son had an old Canon 1200D and he said that I had to upgrade my photography skills with a real camera, so he gave me his camera with the challenge to shoot manually from the start - But I didn’t even know how to use it! He said you have to figure it out for yourself. My real journey started from that day on.

I followed some courses but they didn’t work for me. They were never complete and everything was going too fast for me to understand in one workshop. One day, while scrolling on Facebook, I came across TSOP and it grabbed my attention immediately. First, I just followed TSOP but then in 2020, I became a member. It was the best thing I did for my photography. Everything felt in place like a puzzle. I started with the Beginner Photography Course and then a little bit of the other courses. I know not the right way but I was so curious. I will finish the ones I like the most and need to develop my photography skills. The first one is finishing Lightroom, and a bit of Photoshop. After that, I will finish Guide to Studio Lighting, Headshot Photography, Portrait Retouching, Fine Art Landscape and Pro Landscape. So I have a long road ahead in learning, and the best thing is with TSOP you can do it all in your own time.

What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned from TSOP?

Step out of your comfort zone once in a while, and enjoy the making of and the environment where you shoot the photos. Don’t give up try again. An opinion is just an opinion, do what you want to do with it.

What is your preferred genre?

I love shooting portraits of people most purely; to show them their beauty as they are, with very little editing. I only do a little colour change, highlights, remove little objects and turn colour into black and white - but not too much though!

The techniques I use are long exposure, ICM, High key and blurry backgrounds with portraits and wide open aperture for dreamy photos with macro.

What inspires you to create photography?

To capture the moment and beauty of people, nature, animals and buildings. Also making “Art” with Abstract photography.

Who are some other photographers you’re inspired by?

Not someone specific. Everyone who takes photos that grabs me and makes me look again, makes me smile, wonder, and tells a story. It can be anyone though.

Describe the first photo you took during your learning journey.

©*Marianne Van Boekhold One of my first portrait photographs*

©*Marianne Van Boekhold A recent portrait*

I don't know what my first one was, but I do know what I did wrong when I took my first portrait photos. I always had a slow shutter speed creating a blurry photo. And now my photos are sharp where they have to be: the eyes. I am much more alert on how to get the best photo, and what it takes to shoot a good photo and with the learning skills from TSOP hoping to shoot the best photo one day.

My favourite photograph:

©*Marianne Van Boekhold* My favourite photo that I’ve taken

What is your favourite photograph that you’ve taken?

I have several but one I’m very proud of - I don't mean in technical ability, but what the person said to me after I gave her the photo.

My mother and father-in-law were 50 years married and I wanted to give them something special. I did a photoshoot with them at their home. I had a backdrop with me and shot with natural light. My father-in-law has early dementia so sometimes he has a different look in his eyes, as if he wasn’t there and he didn't want to pose. I begged him and told him it would only take 5 minutes. He finally agreed and I had to work very fast. I told them how to pose and they did it like pros. After 5 minutes I had what I wanted and I was so pleased.

I printed it on canvas and had it framed with a wooden frame and gave it to them at their party. A couple of weeks later my mother-in-law told me that she was so happy with the photo because I captured my father-in-law the way he was before the dementia had taken over his personality. That was the most beautiful and sweetest compliment I have ever gotten. It hangs in their bedroom now.

What’s next for Marianne?

I have to finish some courses of TSOP this year, and I want to develop my portrait, landscape and abstract photography skills. And make a beautiful photobook one day.

Conclusion

I still have a long way to go with learning photography. Slowly I develop into the photographer I want to be. My favourite part of photography today is that you can see the result immediately and you can always delete it. You don’t have to wait to see when printed, it saves a lot of money. Photography makes me look more intensely at people, old buildings or modern ones and makes me experience nature at its best. It just makes me happy.

Where can people follow you?

Insta: annephotography.nl

FB : Marianne van Boekhold-Postma