Willem Douven Photography

Self-taught photographer Willem Douven plays with light, shapes, colors and compositions

He chooses projects nearby: nature and the relationship between people and the environment.

Nature, environment, space and image have always naturally intertwined in his life. Willem Douven is therefore the son of an architect, but his eye was perhaps most influenced by the view of his grandfather who was a painter who tried to capture the inscrutability of nature on canvas with lasting astonishment.

Willem photographs with love for the world. But also from the need to escape that world and create a new reality. Beyond the issues of the day, he goes for a hike, observes and pushes the shutter. Intuitive and instinctive. Each trip yields fields full of inspiration that he explores photographically. The connection to what he sees, in that one moment, is what he tries to grasp. Framed coincidence, where time seems to stand still.

That there are several night blues. How shades blend with lines and shapes. That things

appear and disappear. And the sometimes minimal moment in between. Magical order or beauty of the unfinished. Willem evokes a world that we often quickly pass by. His images are figurative, sometimes they tend towards the abstract. In both cases he leaves plenty of room for the viewer's imagination.