De Donkere Kamer

In this episode, I speak with Pauline Vermare, curator of Photography at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Pauline is a photography historian, curator, and writer who previously worked at MoMA, the International Center of Photography (ICP), and as Curatorial Director at Magnum Photos. She shares how her path through these institutions shaped her vision, and what it means to work with photography inside a large encyclopedic museum like the Brooklyn Museum.
The conversation moves beyond career highlights into deeper territory: photography as a tool for representation, memory, conflict, and healing. Pauline reflects on her upbringing between France, Japan, and Hong Kong, the influence of her father, her long-standing connection to Japan, and her profound admiration for photographers such as Saul Leiter. She also speaks about museums as places of joy, agency, and responsibility, especially in times of political and social uncertainty.
This episode is an intimate and thoughtful exploration of lineage, curiosity, and a central question that runs through Pauline’s work: what can photography do; for individuals, for communities, and for the world at large?

Want to learn directly from international photographers? Each month, I host a live online masterclass with an international photographer who dives deep into a subject they have truly mastered. These sessions include space for personal questions and honest conversations about both the highs and lows of a photographic career. You can explore upcoming masterclasses and book your ticket ⁠here.⁠

In this episode I’m speaking to you from Patagonia, a place where you don’t only arrive physically, but also internally. A place that, quietly and steadily, is teaching me something very simple and very profound: to slow down. To soften. To loosen my grip.
I share my two words of the year: calmness and beauty. Not as concepts, but as lived experiences. As directions I’m consciously moving toward. And as qualities that are slowly reshaping how I work, how I create, how I relate, and how I run my business.
We’re living in a time where the photography industry is shifting fast. AI is changing how images are produced. Editorial markets are under pressure. Old structures are dissolving. That can feel unsettling. But here, in this landscape, I’m discovering that panic doesn’t create clarity. Forcing doesn’t create direction. And hustling harder is rarely the answer.
What does create space is calmness.
I talk about how slowing down is not the same as falling behind. How you can build, create and generate income from a calmer nervous system. How calmness is not passive, but rooted in self-trust. And how beauty, in nature, in work, in attention, can become a compass in times of transition.
This episode also connects to my upcoming online masterclass with Lars Lindemann, former Director of Photography at GEO Magazine and now working as a curator, mentor and strategist in the photo industry. He will share what is really happening inside the editorial world, why it is changing, and how photographers can reposition themselves not underneath editorial, but alongside it.
This masterclass is not only for editorial photographers. It’s for anyone who wants to understand the larger ecosystem of photography and explore new ways of positioning their work.
You can sign up here
I hope this episode invites you to slow down. To observe your own patterns. Maybe even to choose a word for your year. And to remember that sometimes you are only one small step away from a complete shift.

In this episode, I take you to a remote estancia in southern Patagonia, where wind, silence, and distance force me to slow down—and at the same time sharpen my senses. I share what this workation is teaching me about flexible entrepreneurship, staying relevant as a photographer in the age of AI, and why your authentic voice matters more than ever.
I’m spending nearly two weeks in southern Patagonia, on a vast estancia of 40,000 hectares, 300 kilometers from the nearest shop. In this episode, I share my insights from this extreme context: how I continue working with limited internet, why slowing down is sometimes essential, and what this place teaches me about focus, intuition, and flexibility—in both life and entrepreneurship.
I dive deeper into the impact of AI on photography. Not as hype, but as a reality that is already taking over certain forms of photography. And more importantly: what does that mean for you as a photographer? How do you stay relevant? Where does real value lie today? Spoiler: not in efficiency alone, but in story, humanity, and a distinct photographic voice.
I also share why structure and rhythm are essential even on a workation, and why moments of “doing nothing”—walking, silence, space—often turn out to be the most strategic moments of all. Many of my new ideas were born here, including the seed for a workshop in Patagonia in 2027.
This connects seamlessly with the master workshop taking place this year in the French Alps, from June 2 to 6, together with Awoiska van der Molen. In this intimate workshop (max. 10 photographers), we don’t guide you toward making more images, but toward deepening your authentic photographic voice: what makes your work unmistakably yours, how you differentiate yourself from trends (and from AI), and how you create a stronger connection between your work and the viewer.
I will be present throughout the entire workshop as well, including business insight sessions on positioning, sales, marketing, and entrepreneurship.
If this resonates—if you feel the need to slow down in order to become sharper, and you want to create not more, but more precisely—then you’ll find all the information here.
Not sure whether it’s for you? You’re always welcome to reach out and explore together: [email protected]

In deze aflevering neem ik je mee naar een afgelegen estancia in Zuid-Patagonië, waar wind, stilte en afstand me dwingen te vertragen en tegelijk messcherp maken. Ik deel wat deze workation me leert over flexibel ondernemen, relevant blijven als fotograaf in tijden van AI, en waarom jouw authentieke stem belangrijker is dan ooit.
Ik zit bijna twee weken in Zuid-Patagonië, op een gigantische estancia van 40.000 hectare, op 300 kilometer van de dichtstbijzijnde winkel. In deze aflevering deel ik mijn bevindingen vanuit deze extreme context: hoe ik hier blijf werken met beperkt internet, waarom vertraging soms noodzakelijk is, en wat deze plek me leert over focus, intuïtie en flexibiliteit , in leven én ondernemerschap.
Ik ga dieper in op de impact van AI op fotografie. Niet als hype, maar als realiteit die bepaalde vormen van fotografie simpelweg overneemt. En vooral: wat betekent dat voor jou als fotograaf? Hoe blijf je relevant? Waar zit vandaag echte waarde? Spoiler: niet in efficiëntie alleen, maar in verhaal, menselijkheid en een uitgesproken fotografische stem.
Daarnaast deel ik waarom structuur en ritme ook op een workation essentieel zijn, en waarom momenten van “niets doen” -wandelen, stilte, ruimte - vaak de meest strategische momenten blijken te zijn. Veel van mijn nieuwe ideeën zijn hier ontstaan, waaronder het zaadje voor een workshop in Patagonië in 2027.
Dat sluit naadloos aan bij de master workshop die dit jaar al doorgaat in de Franse Alpen, van 2 tot 6 juni, samen met Awoiska van der Molen. In deze intieme workshop (max. 10 fotografen) begeleiden we je niet in méér beelden maken, maar in het verdiepen van jouw authentieke fotografische stem:
wat maakt jouw werk van jou, hoe onderscheid je je van trends (en van AI), en hoe verbind je je werk sterker met je kijker.
Ikzelf ben er ook de hele tijd bij, inclusief business insight sessies rond positionering, sales, marketing en ondernemerschap.
Voel je dat dit resoneert, dat je wilt vertragen om scherper te worden, en niet méér maar juister wilt creëren — dan vind je alle info hier.
Twijfel je of het iets voor jou is? Dan mag je me altijd even contacteren om te sparren: [email protected]

In this episode, I’m joined by American photographer Mark Mahaney, whose work spans major editorial and commercial clients including Time Magazine, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Nike, Levi’s, and more. We recorded in New York City, inside the studio of legendary portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, where Mark once assisted and absorbed lessons that still shape his way of working today.
We talk about photography as a human practice, about respect, communication, and integrity on set, and why those values matter just as much as technical skill. Mark reflects on how publishing his book Polar Night and the forced pause of COVID fundamentally changed his approach, pushing him toward a more intuitive, varied, and story-driven way of working.
The conversation moves between extremes: from seven intense minutes photographing Elon Musk to weeks spent editing, because for Mark, the real creative work often begins after the shoot. We explore the tension between developing a recognizable voice and staying creatively alive, the blurred line between assignment and personal work, and what it means to photograph powerful figures without simply reinforcing their mythology.
This episode is for photographers and creatives who sense that their work wants to be more than a style, and who are searching for a way of working that aligns with who they are: artistically, ethically, and personally.
You can explore Mark Mahaney’s work ⁠here⁠
If this conversation resonates and you feel called to go deeper into your own photographic core, you’re warmly invited to join my upcoming five-day retreat in the French Alps (June 2–6), co-hosted with renowned Dutch photographer Awoiska van der Molen. This retreat is not about producing new work, but about discovering and defining the essence that already runs through everything you’ve made, creatively, intuitively, and professionally.You can sign up ⁠here⁠ or get all info.