1 / 250 s | 2.8 f | 100 ISO
Way of seeing
Ålesund | 09 - 2026
What is your photography style? That was the question an employee at the Leica Store in Amsterdam asked me while we were talking about my possible new camera, the Leica M11-P. I remember not really knowing how to answer.
For a long time, I thought I did. I considered myself an interior photographer. I love architecture, design, and the way a space can make you feel. A lot of the photographs I had made up until that point were connected to that world. But the longer I photographed, the less complete that answer started to feel.
I found myself photographing much more than interiors. Sometimes a place. Sometimes a person. Sometimes nothing more than a feeling I wanted to remember. The subjects were different, but something about the photographs felt connected.
Photography has slowly become a way of documenting my life. Not because everything I photograph is important, but because carrying a camera makes me pay attention, and above all makes me happy. It makes me look differently. It makes certain moments stand out. When I press the shutter, I am not only keeping a photograph. I am keeping a small part of how I experienced that moment.
I do not think my style is defined by what I photograph. It is defined by the way I see.
人生 | Jinsei — my life
Perhaps that is also why the Leica M11-P felt right. Moving from the Q3 43 to the M11-P was not simply a change of camera. It was a conscious decision to slow down and become more involved in making the photograph. I want to look. I want to choose. I want to focus. It asks something from me before the photograph can exist. And somehow, that feels much closer to what photography has become for me.
There is a funny coincidence in all of this. During pilot school, every student was given a nickname. Mine was “My Life.” At the time, I had no idea how strangely appropriate that name would become. Because if I had to answer that question about my photography style again, I think I finally know what I would say.
My life.
That is the answer. I photograph my life. The places I find myself in, the people I meet, and the moments that make me pause. Not to define them. Not always to tell a story. I simply want to remember how the world looked through my eyes that day.
And maybe not all questions can have or need a final answer. A photography style is always evolving, just as the world we capture is always in motion.
Isn’t that the intriguing part of photography?
