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Do you have a style?

Do you have a style?

Do other people tell you they can recognize your 'handwriting' in your photographs? How much do you value that?

Marcel Borgstijn's avatar
Marcel Borgstijn
Feb 28, 2023
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Do you have a style?
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My photowork

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The other day I visited my parents. In their living room they have 2 large photos of mine hanging at the wall. Photos I took like 15 years ago with ICM (Intentional Camera Movement). And… they’re in color. Two things I hardly do any more.

The 2 ICM photos on my parents' wall

For the last 10 years I primarily shoot in black and white. Why? Because I can. I like it. I’m not photographing to register what’s happening in front of my camera. I’m not photographing reality. What I shoot is my perception of reality. Not the truth, but the way I see it. 

Writing this down reminds me of a quote by Saul Leiter, one of my favorite photographers, though he is also famous for his color work:


“My photographs are fragments of endless possibilities”
- Saul Leiter 

Back to my parent’s house. My mother told me she’d like to have some new photos on her wall. I can imagine that as they’re there for a really long time. Still I do like them. I told her I can get her some new photos but only in black and white. She replies that she know…

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