Laura Vink
She turned a hobby into a job, won a prize, wrote a book and in 2017 her photo series Loonse en Drunense Duinen appeared in a National Geographic publication. Photographer Laura Vink is the example of 'follow your dreams.'Text: Larissa Schaule Jullens
Image: Laura Vink
No swimming today
“I received my first digital camera on my seventeenth birthday. I'm now 34, which means I've been taking photographs for more than half my life. This is one of my favorite photos, taken in the early days of my photography. From the age of 16 until a year after graduating, I worked as a part-time job in various swimming pools. There I would give swimming lessons or I would stand at the edge of the pool to supervise. In the summer of 2008, the Sportfondsbad in Amsterdam East was being renovated and I went there with my camera. I didn't have a specific plan, I just thought it would be cool to see that huge tank without water. I got the inspiration when I stood at the bottom and realized how beautiful those blue-green tiles were. And especially because they were no longer new. I put my camera on a tripod, adjusted it, climbed up a scaffolding, took off my pants and stood over the edge with my bare legs. A colleague acted as a 'voice-controlled remote control' and pressed the button to take the photo.”
Brabant Sahara
“My interest in photography was sparked by my love for travelling. The further away the better, I thought. Funnily enough, it was the photography that made me discover how beautiful the Netherlands is. This photo comes from my series that I made about the Loonse and Drunense Duinen. Also called the Brabant Sahara. Ever since I experienced a storm here, this landscape has fascinated me enormously. It is the wind that shapes the landscape here: meter-high dunes, trees that have almost completely 'blasted' so that you only see the tops and of course beautiful patterns in the sand. When photographing, I always make sure that I don't 'walk through my photo' and ruin the patterns, because then I have to wait for the wind to undo my footsteps.”
reindeer
“I wake up before the alarm clock. Out the window I see that the sky is bright blue and the sun is almost rising. While my traveling companions are still sleeping in the cabin, I put on dozens of layers of clothing. We are in Swedish Lapland and outside is a beautiful winter wonderland with a temperature of 15 degrees below zero. In the distance I see a small herd of reindeer, digging in the snow for a breakfast of moss. I slowly walk towards them, but they don't care about that Michelin figure with bright pink ski pants. I'm standing in snow up to my knees when one of the reindeer walks aside. I also quickly take a few steps to the side - which is not so smooth in the deep snow - so that I can use the trees as a frame in the photo. The reindeer stops right between the trees and looks at me, as if posing. I take the photo and then the reindeer walks quietly. I will never forget this moment!”
Please
here a look at Laura's website.
