Laura Vink, photographer

"I got my first digital camera on my seventeenth birthday. I am now 34, which means I have been photographing for more than half my life. This is one of my favorite photos, taken in the early days of my photography. From when I was 16 until a year after I graduated, I worked as a side job in various swimming pools. There I would give swimming lessons or stand at the edge of the pool to supervise. In the summer of 2008, the Sportfondsenbad in Amsterdam-East was being renovated and I went there with my camera. I had no specific plan, it just seemed cool to see that huge tank without water. The inspiration came when I stood at the bottom and realized how beautiful those blue-green tiles were. And especially since they were no longer new. I put my camera on a tripod, set it up, climbed up via a scaffold, took off my pants and went bare-legged over the edge. A colleague acted as a 'voice remote control' and presses the button to take the picture."

"My interest in photography was sparked by my love of travel. The further away, the better, I thought. Funnily enough, it was also precisely photography that made me discover how beautiful the Netherlands is. This photo is from my series I made about the Loonse and Drunense Dunes. Also called the Brabant Sahara. Since I experienced a storm here, this landscape fascinates me enormously. It is the wind that shapes the landscape here: meter-high dunes, trees that are almost completely 'snowed in' so you only see the tops and of course beautiful patterns in the sand. When photographing I am always careful not to 'walk through my picture' and ruin the patterns, because then I have to wait for the wind to undo my footsteps."

"I wake up before the alarm. Out the window, I see that the sky is brilliant blue and the sun is about to rise. While my travel party is still asleep in the cabin, I put on tig 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 small herds of reindeer, they are digging in the snow for a breakfast of moss. Slowly I walk toward them, but they don't care about that Michelin doll wearing bright pink ski pants. I am just up to my knees in the snow when one of the reindeer walks aside. Quickly I also take a few steps to the side - which is not so easy in the deep snow - so that I can use the trees as a frame in the photo. Right between the trees the reindeer stands and looks at me, as if posing. I take the picture and then the reindeer calmly walks on. I will never forget this moment!"

Take a look at Laura's website here.