Pictas Focus: Interview with the artist
Talking with Dillen van der Molen
Happy Wednesday everyone! I’m happy to share with you a brand new Interview with the Artist. Today’s guest is Dillen, and you can follow him at the following links.
Facebook
Vero
Vero Black and White
Instagram
Let’s start!
Q: Hey Dillen! I’m happy to have you here with us today talking about yourself and your photography. Would you please start by telling us more about you?
A: Hello everyone, first of all, I want to thank Pictas for giving me the opportunity to tell a bit about myself and my story of colors. My name is Dillen van der Molen, I’m 39 years old, probably 40 when this interview gets published. I used to work in healthcare in the city where I lived, Doorn/Driebergen, Netherlands. In 2012 I had to quit this paid job because I became more and more chronically physically sick. Even though I bought my first camera in 2011, a Canon 700d DSLR, I started to be more active in photography only around 2014, when I bought another camera, a Canon 80D DSLR. It was at that point in time I decided I should stop being fearful regarding my sight disability, and since I no longer had a job, photography became my full-time hobby. In 2016 I moved back to Groningen, the city where I currently live, in support of InspireMedia and FotoSipkes. I started to be more consistent with my photography and to go out on the streets of the city more often, say on a daily basis. At that time I used the first Canon mirrorless camera, the Canon EOS R. Three years ago, I switched my gear to a different brand and tried FujiFilm. I bought the FujiFilm X-H2, which is my current camera. As I mentioned before, photography for me is a hobby and not a paid job, though I practice it daily. When I can, I help friends and the people I get to know in this shared passion for photography.
Q: You mentioned about your sight disability. As a visual impaired artist, what part of the creative process is the more difficult?
A: Bad, stormy, rainy, and dark weather conditions, especially in the evening or at night, are often a real challenge for me. My vision becomes blurrier and more pixelated during these times, making it harder to stay focused and observe clearly. That's why I mostly photograph during the daytime in daylight, as it offers the best visibility for me to work. I often compare my eyesight to a grainy photograph, like those old vintage monochrome photos, but with even more distortion and grain.
In addition to being visually impaired, I am also chronically physically ill. Strong pain flares can make it difficult to stay focused. If the pain becomes too intense during my walks, I shorten them and go home. I work within walking distance of my home so I can return quickly if needed. Sometimes, it helps to sit and wait for a few seconds until the pain subsides, allowing me to continue with what I was doing.
Sometimes, it looks like I'm standing or sitting and observing the scene, and that's often true because observation is a big part of photography. However, for me, it can also mean waiting for the pain to go away. When the pain flares are strong, they make me less focused. Once the pain stops, I become more focused and alert again.
Q: Ouch, that’s bad! How much your limited vision impact on your creativity? I mean, not on the technical side of how you create images, but more on the messages and the feelings you want to convey with them
A: Not so much because I think I’ve found my way to live with my disabilities for years now and I’ve totally accepted this life. Finding the hobby of photography and being active with it on a daily basis has created a great positive outcome for me dealing with my eyesight impairment and chronic illness. I sure have my good and bad days, but who doesn’t? Maybe I have a bit more than somebody who is healthier. But I daily walk by the biggest hospital in Groningen called UMCG hospital. That reminds me to count my blessings because somebody in there is fighting for his or her life and would love to have a day like I would have. I also worked in healthcare myself (got my diplomas in that) before I got sick, and this also reminds me that things could be worse — a reality check.
Q: I believe that’s a very positive and healthy approach.
Do you think your sight issues are more a limit or an opportunity when it comes to the creative field?
A: I would go for opportunity on this one. I don’t photograph with my glasses on, which I do have but I don’t wear them as much as I probably should. My glasses do make my visibility better by 20%. And I don’t wear glasses while editing behind my desktop. So everything I do is with a vision of 40/45%. I think that my eyesight disability is an opportunity to create work that only I can do. That’s how I look at this matter. It makes my work/creative flow different than somebody with better eyesight. Yes, there can be mistakes in my work; I’m aware of that because my eyesight is compromised. So making things while editing or photographing is not 100% precise, but to be honest, neither is my eyesight. If you want to read more about my eyesight, I invite you to read the Q&A on @500px where I was recruited a few years ago (https://tinyurl.com/nhf87h5a) or in Dutch, the interview by our local TV/radio station RTVNoord (https://tinyurl.com/mrsw3367). If you look and zoom in on the blue photo with the yellow helicopter in the reflection on the Martinitoren and the photo with the roses on the sidewalk with the bicycle on the left side, you can probably see that these images have a more grainy texture than the other photos I selected to showcase in this interview. The extra grain added is something I often do while editing my photos in Lightroom/Photoshop to make to make them look closer to what I actually see. And this style of editing has become a bit of my creative digital signature.
Q: That makes sense. Have you ever wondered how your photographic journey would be if you had no sight issues?
A: Interesting question, I never really thought of that, maybe because I’ve been living my whole life with an eyesight impairment. My eyesight surely got better after the eye operations on both eyes when I got the new plastic lenses implants, back when I was a young teenager. But then I also wasn’t active yet in photography, which I am now. Maybe my work would have been a bit more precise at times. But I think I wouldn’t have created the same work I create now and wouldn't make them in the same way I do this now. Because my eyesight isn’t 100% and I have much pain at times, I work more with my feelings. Everything I do is more based on feeling, the way I do things on the editing side of photography. When I edit my work, I often go back in my thoughts, thinking back to the moment. How did that moment feel while capturing that photo? Or what were the weather conditions at that time—cold or warm, dark, stormy, or light? Or how I’m feeling at the moment while editing that photo. Do I have ongoing pain or not? Did I feel good at that moment of capturing that photo or editing that photo, or was I feeling bad? Everything I do is more based on feeling than on what I really can see, and that’s a reflection on my creativity. That makes a Dillen van der Molen photo. I often say I look/feel/create beyond what I can’t see.
Q: I love this last sentence.
Thank you so much for telling your story and sharing your unique way of creating art.
A: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and maybe found it inspiring. Thank you, Matteo/Team Pictas, for the publication support. Much appreciated. If you have any questions regarding my work, please feel free to contact me on any of my socials
That’s all for today. Thanks again for taking the time to read.
Learn, create and inspire together!
Great shots Dillen and I love how your photography is based on working with your feelings.
What an extraordinary talent , over coming all obstacles as this photographer has Is so greatly inspiring.
A true master of photography.