Kristel Schneider
Kristel Schneider is a full-time photographer with a ardour for artwork and nature. Her work explores the patterns, textures, lights, and hues of nature. She is an intuitive artist with a watch for element; she goals at creating intimate compositions
to evoke a sure feeling within the viewer by means of her private use of pure mild, her selection of climate components and the rhythm of nature. Images is greater than only a ardour, for her it’s a method of inventive residing and one of the simplest ways to specific herself.
She grew up within the Netherlands and lived an enormous a part of her grownup life in Amsterdam. She studied human sources administration and communication and had labored as a communication advisor for a pharmaceutical firm earlier than she determined to
transfer to Auvergne, France, in 2007 to turn out to be a full-time photographer. Since 2009 she has labored as a full-time photographer and has carried out a number of personal commissions and photograph assignments. Her work could be present in varied publications, magazines, and books. She is repeatedly invited to current her work at photograph festivals all through Europe. She revealed her first e book, Variations in Timber, in December 2017. And in October 2023 she launched her 2nd e book RIVERSCAPE.
Charlotte Parkin
Head of Advertising and marketing & Sub Editor for On Panorama. Dabble in digital pictures, open water swimmer, cooking buff & yogi.
I first chatted with Kristel again in 2018 when she launched her first e book, VARIATIONS WITH TREES. What struck me was her dedication and her imaginative and prescient for her panorama pictures. She stated within the interview, “Images is now greater than only a ardour for me; it is a way of life and one of the simplest ways to specific myself extra creatively.“
From doing many interviews, I do know the painstaking hours that should be spent researching topics, being out within the panorama in all weathers with the digital camera, put up processing and compiling images for the e book. Her lifestyle has clearly enabled her to creatively inform the intimate story of “The River Allier” (The lifeblood of the Auvergne panorama, stretching 425 km from South to North within the coronary heart of France).
She has collaborated with the pianist Fabrizio Paterlini, who wrote an album impressed by the photographs and concepts from Kristel’s e book (to be launched quickly!). An incredible instance of how music and pictures can work collectively to create nice items of inventive output.
Would you want to begin by telling readers a little bit about your self – the place you grew up, what your early pursuits had been, and what you went on to do?
I spent my childhood within the Netherlands, near the serene forests and white dunes. Though the world was stunning, I did not at all times admire the pure wonders round me, particularly as my buddies would usually go to the seaside whereas my household took us on trip within the Italian Dolomites. My father cherished lengthy hikes, and so we spent our holidays at greater altitudes, carrying sufficient provides in our backpacks for whole-day treks. On weekends and after faculty, I usually discovered myself on the tennis courts. This modified quickly after I moved to Amsterdam and began a profession within the company world. It made me journey lots, professionally and privately. My ardour for pictures began in Asia, the place I fell in love with the cultures and captured intimate scenes of locals and their vibrant environment.
Ultimately, I moved to Auvergne, in central France, the place I used to be in a position to reconnect with the mountains and forests that had captivated me throughout my youth. It was then that I really realised simply how valuable these recollections and experiences had been from my childhood.
At what level did pictures turn out to be greater than a passion? Did something particularly immediate this?
My fortieth 12 months proved to be a turning level in my life. I used to be on the verge of burning out, so I made a decision to step off the company treadmill to deal with my pictures.
Though I’m primarily self-taught in pictures, I enrolled in varied masterclasses and night programs on the Amsterdam Photograph Academy. After transferring to France, I made pictures my main focus and began organising my very own workshops. My consumer base shortly expanded past France to the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, and even the USA. Quickly, I obtained my first assignments and joined Nordic Imaginative and prescient Fotoreizen, the Dutch photograph journey firm. At the moment and nonetheless now, I’m the one lady amongst a staff of 11 photographers (https://fotoreizen.internet/staff). Gender inequality continues to be fairly frequent within the (nature) pictures trade. Nonetheless, I’m happy to see extra ladies getting into the skilled world, though progress stays sluggish in all features. Images has turn out to be my inventive lifestyle, and though my revenue is way decrease, I’ve no regrets concerning the resolution to show my life round.
You labored as a communication advisor for a pharmaceutical firm earlier than you moved to being a full-time panorama photographer. How did you handle the transition?
I take into account myself lucky that my employer allowed me to work independently throughout a transition interval to finalise my tasks in France. This gradual method allowed me to step by step say farewell to the company world and welcome my new life. When my contract ended, I had a short second of doubt, questioning if I had made the suitable selection. Nonetheless, as I targeted extra on my pictures, my considerations light away, and I used to be in a position to embrace a brand new way of life, one which was extra inventive and fulfilling.
