I am Rene Kuipers, 48, and I live in Heemskerk, The Netherlands. I started photography when I was about 16. I used an analog Minolta Dynax 7000i and mainly used diafilm because it was the cheapest option. I had no idea what I was doing. I loved the technical part of photography. I photographed everything! Landscapes, architecture, my holidays, except people! Many years later, I took a photography course and learned a lot about photography techniques, which helped me a lot to make better images.

I also came into contact with studio portrait photography through a friend. That was an eye-opener for me! I liked using studio flashes to control the light where I wanted it to be. Again, a few years later, I mainly shot portraits, especially of dancers from a dance school of a friend of mine. And I have my studio to do all that.

My main goal is just to make nice portraits of people, I'm not particularly trying to become a professional, but if it comes my way, we will see!

I am delighted that I am one of the winners! I can't believe some of my photos are winning entries. Cool, and proof that I'm probably doing the right thing!

I photographed Tooske as the Girl with a pearl earring, inspired by Johannes Vermeer's painting. I gave it my own touch and feel. But the look in her eyes and on her face is absolutely stunning! I had her in my studio several times. She's a natural model. It's almost impossible not to take a good picture of her. The second photo is also from Tooske.

I was inspired by a famous Dutch photographer (Gemmy Woud-Binnendijk). She created miniature rooms and later put a real model in them. I wanted to create something like this myself, and so did a series of images created with Tooske and her two sisters Jet and Floortje who are also very photogenic!

Listen and learn from critique given at your work! It will definitely help you to get better at it.

Just try to do what you love to do, and make beautiful images!