As a seven year old I won a plastic toy camera at a fair. My parents bought it a roll of film, tried it out for me and rejected its usefulness. The light leakage results made them decide that it sadly did not work properly. In my teens I had saved enough to get me a Ricoh 500 G.
Although I was admitted to the Rietveld academy when I was 17, something kept me off. When it was time to follow trough and start my training,
the need to be free from schools or institutes was stronger then my artistic ambitions.
At least for the time being. I needed to see the world, not classrooms and easels.
In my late twenties I carried a Pentax Spotmatic around. I sold it to pay the rent and when things picked up I got another Pentax on a visit to Edinburgh. In my imagination I always played with images that I could not capture with my camera and my understanding of available darkroom techniques did not offer any options to realize my ‘previews’ either. No matter what I did, my camera only met holidays and vacation trips, incidental family occasions and sunsets on any given day. Whatever was waiting inside did not show itself in the outer world; that was yet to come.
The arrival of digital camera’s and digital post processing brought the tools I had been waiting for; although I did not realize this at first. In 2005 I got a digital point-and-shoot Canon for my webdesign business and my digital clients. I registered myself at photo.net and got my feet wet in the contemporary photography world. At that time, digital photography was considered not-done, fake and unworthy. We were not allowed to post digital images on their forums. I had no choice but to accept the analog purists’ policy. I am happy that they buried this line of thought for good.
When the powershot broke down I got a Nikon compact that was able to shoot RAW images. Working the files with Adobe Camera Raw made me realize how much more was possible and how close this process was to using a dark room. Something got triggered and with patience and impatience I started down the road of reading, viewing, studying, practicing and equipping myself and my camera bag. I was on my way to catch up with archived inspiration and probabilities.
Now, years later, I have made a few documentaries and created product images for websites and catalogues. Over time I have built a body of personal work of which I present different selections on this website. A good portion of these images comes from endless walks on the streets. In the Netherlands and India to be precise; the countries where my wife and I spend our life. This website is my departure from anonymity. The albums, galleries and sale sections free the artist by introducing his work to the market at large.
>I am confident that my work contains enough opportunities to find worthy additions to your collection or to your personal or working life. Whatever their destinations, I am honored by your choices and grateful for your visit. Enjoy your stay.
Michiel Mussies