I am a self taught photographer based in Gent, Belgium. Currently studying at the Academy of fine arts of Ghent.
Although photography has always been in my life it is mainly the last 4 years that I started to take photography more seriously and that it became an important part of my life, who I am and how I look at the world.
Photography provides me the possibility to investigate, reflect and present on how I experience and see the world, myself and my place in time and space. Photography gives me the tool to manage, develop, present and use my slightly autistic personality to the fullest.
I’m an intuitive photographer absorbing and photographing people, situations, buildings, relations,…which I mostly encounter when I roam around. Most of the times I have my camera with me resulting in high volume of work. Often these photos are only a basis. I like to manipulate them and zoom into during post seeking and creating the level of structure, control and formatting I prefer/need, often creating a new image telling another story / image of what was maybe originally captured.
I often make what I call //series//. These are typically a set of 3 to 7 pictures which I feel should be presented and seen together as they tell a story and/or belong together from a style, mood,..point of view. Most of these series originate thoughtless and unplanned. It is after reviewing the result that they reveal themselves as a serie.
The last years , driven by my study at the Academy of fine arts, I started also to use a more project based approach. Moving forward I expect that this approach will become more important. This approach aims to investigate topics in depth and over a longer period of time. Taking more time to develop a body of work does not come naturally to me so even most of the realised projects are created within a relative short period. I’m currently working on couple of new projects. One project evolves around how places reflect the people who lived in them and another project will be a reportage / documentary photograpcial voyage I plan through the Balkans, Turkey and Georgië to investigate topics such as emigration, believe, East-West relationships,...
This is my portfolio. I'm pleased your are taking time to visit this site and explore my work.
If you want to talk about my work or discuss a collaboration please contact me.
Thierry Vanlee
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