Through the lens of Inge Jansen

Stepping out into the big, wide world

Inge has temporarily traded her home in Huizen, the Netherlands, for America. She is currently cycling from North America to Argentina. She only has one camera, one lens and an iPhone with her, and she uses these to try and capture her journey. Inge says: "I'm looking forward to capturing people in Central and South America as they go about their daily lives. That should hopefully produce some lovely pictures. There are always so many beautiful things to see, from architecture to street photography, portraits and gorgeous landscapes. Maybe I'll make a nice book of the best pictures when I get back home."

How her photo blog became a success

When we ask her how she started out as a photographer, she answers: "I got my first camera with two kit lenses from my dad. Soon I went out and bought a better lens for it and that's how my hobby began. I mainly photographed wildlife. Eventually I started a photo blog about my hometown and I began running features. That's how I ended up in farmer Klein's barn where the cow photos were taken."

Inge's photo blog was successful and that led to a lot of opportunities for her. She was able to open her own studio and experiment more with photography. Inge says: "I mainly take lots of photos of animals. This is what led to me starring on the program Het Perfecte Plaatje twice as a guest judge."

Spontaneous moments

Inge doesn't really prepare because she loves spontaneous moments. Inge says: "And ideally, I also want natural light. If that shines through nicely, then I'm really happy. I also don't do much post-processing on my photos."

Inge explains that she is reliant on many factors when photographing animals. Inge says: "Animals don't take direction and if something doesn't work out, you just have to accept that. With wildlife photography, it's a matter of time and expertise. The more often you try and the more you know, the better your chances of getting that special photo.

Favourite piece

My favourite photo is still the photo of the cows, especially Farmer Klein's cows. Inge says: "Huizen used to be one of the largest cheese-exporting villages in the Netherlands, but there were no cows to be seen in the region. However, there appeared to be one farmer who kept his cows at home in an old barn over the winter. Cows aren't kept like that these days, but for many people, this photo gives a snapshot of how things used to be on the farm. It was lucky for me that I was still able to capture it like that."