I’ve always struggled starting writing blogs, stories or any sort of content for that matter. Mainly because of the question; Where do I start? Does anybody even want to read this? These questions I kept asking myself whenever I tried to write, which blocked me from even putting the first word down.
After many nights of googling on how to start a blog, in the hopes of suddenly discovering this awakening wave of inspiration and motivation, I always bumped into the same answer; start by telling some more about yourself, who are you? (As if that’s an easy question)
So here goes nothing.
As the header of this post might have already revealed, my name is Pieter. A name that never truly resonated with myself but also one I don’t particularly dislike. It always has been funny and fascinating to me how parents just get to decide how their child is named, and therefore called for their rest of their lives, unless you have the guts to go and change it of course.
My parents gave me a true Dutch name which makes sense since I guess because I was born in a small place called ‘Driebergen’ in The Netherlands.
In a nutshell I’m an animal lover that loves to travel, create and capture stories to share with others.
My love for animals definitely got sparked by growing up amongst many pets, from cats and dogs to goats and pigs.
The love for animals and nature I share with my mother and since I can remember she has always been busy taking care of our beloved animal family.
Changing our backyard into a chicken and pig pen or harvesting honey from the bee colony next to our shed. You might assume I grew up at a farm or something similar, which I would have loved, but that was actually not the case at all.
I will always remember how our neighbours would complain about the loud noises of the goats since we lived in just a regular suburban area, having goats in the garden wasn’t quite ‘normal’.
As much as I’m drawn to the outdoors and living a life amongst animals and nature, I’m also intrigued by the city life. The rough edges of urban areas and the amount of different people all living together in one place is fascinating to me.
Now that I’m reflecting on my past to tell you some more about who I really am, I realise that many of my passions and interests are inspired by the ones of my mother.
– The question of how much of your own characteristics are based upon nature or nurture has always been super interesting to me and I will definitely write more about this in the future. –
Whenever we had the opportunity to go travel when I was a kid my mother would take her camera with, taking many pictures of not only me and my brothers but also of the beautiful countries we had the privilege to visit. Her being a flight attendant contributed heavily to the fact we traveled so much as a family. To her it was really important for us to see as much of the world as we could in order to better understand it. This sense of importance always stuck with me.
Often I would grab her camera for myself during these travels, I loved doing this and it’s is how my fascination for photography started to grow. Taking photographs of people across the world is still one of my favourite things to do.
As I grew older, having finished high school, it was time for the next step. Going to college; it only seemed logical for me to apply for art school to study photography since I loved taking photos so much, so I did.
After the first year I dropped out, I felt like I was losing my creativity by all the assignments and certain styles we had to follow. Having the strong feeling that I had to finish at least some studies to get a degree, because without a degree your future won’t be that bright (at least that’s what I was made to believe), I applied for another Art school.
This time Fine Arts. Surely it will be different I thought, Fine Arts is more broad so there must be more freedom to create the things I want to create in my own way.
Yet after 2 years of studying Fine Arts, the same feeling started to surface. Getting taught how to create ‘Art’ felt wrong to me.
It only narrowed my creativity and took away all the fun in the process.
Making ‘Art’ for it to end up in fancy galleries or being displayed at trendy expositions wasn’t for me.
I realised Art school wasn’t going to work out and made the decision I would pave my own path in the world of creating art. Looking back at this time of my life I think this was a very important moment for me to find out who I really was and what I truly want to do with my life.
Don’t get me wrong, there are amazing aspects of studying at an Art School, I was able to explore many different disciplines and try out so much great stuff like silk screen printing, working with clay ovens and much more.
I wanted to create art that is accessible to all, that connects people from all the different layers of society. So I decided to go my own way, convinced that if I will keep doing what I love, I will end up in the right place with the right people around me.
Fast forward a couple of years and I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Of course I’ve endured the necessary bumps along the way for me to be in the place that I am now but I couldn’t be more content with where my life is going.
I found the love of my life [gaia], managed to get a decent paying job that enables me to do the things I want to do, while saving money for future goals, and all of that without getting a degree or following the path that society wanted me to follow.
Did I ever expect ending up where I am now, or working the job that I have? No, not at all, but to me that’s the beauty of life.
Following your own instincts and feelings, putting trust into the fact that life will unfold itself in the way it should, is what makes being alive so exciting for me.
I believe that this website, LensLore, is a perfect example of the above. By creating this platform with my partner, by publishing our art and to share this journey with the world, we hope to inspire others to do the same.
It can be scary at times but in the end it’s always so worth it.