Welcome to my blog! My name is Aukje Kastelijn, and I live in the Netherlands in a small town near Rotterdam.
I took the plunge, and decided to start a blog to share my journey in photography. It started late august of 2014. Up till august I had been taking pictures on holidays with a Canon powershot s95. I approached photography as something that should not take too much time. I wanted the photo’s as a reminder of the beauty I came across, but I considered the process of taking a photo as an interference with what I was doing. My man owned a DSLR, but I was never tempted to try his camera. The size, form factor and amount of buttons put me off.
So, what happened?
I did the Leica M testdrive. Because of some coincidence I was invited, and I decided to go for it. And then I fell in love. I just loved (and still do!) the process of focussing and framing through the rangefinder. And the sound of the shutter alone was almost enough to convince me. I loved the images that came out, I could hardly believe it was me who had created them.
To be clear, I do not believe buying a Leica makes me a better photographer. But being the photographer I am, the images I take simply look better. More important, I get inspired, I want to go out to get more images, and my ambition grows with every picture I take. So I started the journey with this fabulous camera.
I have a lot to learn, both from a technical and an artistic point of view. With this blog, I want to share my passion for photography. I want to share the discoveries I make with different techniques. I want to share the excitement when I succeed in capturing something beautiful. And I hope my experiences will inspire someone else to go out and do the same.
You can find more of my photo’s on instagram (mostly film): https://www.instagram.com/aukjek/
Fascinating camera !!
Hi Aukje!
Hi Aukje!
You mentioned in Hamish Gill’s 35mmc.com site that you had shot some Tri-X 400. How did those photos turn out?
Tony
Hi Tony,
Thanks for asking. I am very anxious to find out myself. As you probably know, patience is a virtue in film photography. I decided to use AG photo lab again, but mail between The Netherlands and the UK can be slow. I mailed them my film on november 18th, and I have had a message that they have dispatched my photos last Tuesday, so I expect them in my mailbox any day now.
Aukje
I hope you’ll show some of them!
How did you herniate the disc in your back?
No specific reason, it happened gradually over time. It’s actually quite common for people around the age of 40, but usually it doesn’t cause this much problems…
I see. I have back problems but nothing serious. I thought maybe you’d been lifting something heavy.
I have had back problems in the past, like sciatica. That’s not related to my herniated disc, but led me to ignore the signs for quite a while. So by the time I got to the doctor I suffered from paralysis in my toe and ankle. Earlier would have been better 😉 . Just to say that you should take care of yourself!
Thanks Aukje.
I like your fotos -A friend gave a gift Rollei 35S – So I research and bumped onto your page. Great work!
Thank you for visiting and your nice compliment. That is a very nice and small camera. I always enjoy shooting it. Although for me colour seems to be difficult, I am not really sure why. But I do get great results with black and white film.