… a stranger in a strange land,
with the maximum curiosity and respect, exploring and tasting;
with the innate directness and humility, observing and portraying.
This is Stijn’s Grand Tour.
一期一会。
About me
West is so different from East, the Netherlands is so different from China.
As a Chinese living in the Netherlands, maybe unlike the others, cultural collision and identity crisis are something I experience on daily basis. What is prejudice and stereotype? Where is the common ground between right and wrong, left and right? Can people from different backgrounds truly understand each other? I always ponder, yet never reconcile.
Photography, or simply taking pictures, is something I always like ever since my teen-age. (But the fact that I am a Chinese does not automatically mean taking photos is my thing.) To me, photography is the process of observing the world, frame it with my own interpretation, and share the idea with people. In the last years, I started treating my photos with a little bit more care, regardless of my totally untalented unskillful eyes and hands. More and more so, I decided to become an amateur photographer, or a hobbyist.
Interestingly, it is photography that helps me find the peace when living in the whirlpool of cultural collision. Through the lens, conflicts are obscured, subtle empathy is put in focus and rediscovered. Regardless of race, gender, age; the very simple moments of humanity, to that is what I believe pure photography dedicates.
So I created this portfolio site to share those simple moments in my grand tour of life. I created this site at the age of 30. In Chinese philosophy, age 30 is the age a person "stands firm". I should have done this sooner though, luckily it is not yet too late I guess. Anyway, "to the time to life, rather than to life in time."
Please select a gallery from the main menu to join the journey:
Le Moment - photos about stuff, objects, instants, feelings, etc.
Le People - people is the subject, obviously
Le Voyage - glimpses of places I have been, it is all about city, country, etc.
SEP 2024
- Feel the rain and wind, smell the grassland and earth:
Le Voyage "The untold tales of Faroe Islands"
Le Voyage "The untold tales of Faroe Islands"
- Relive an era that has been lost in history: Le Voyage
"Minsk: Echoes from the Age of the Steel Torrent"
"Minsk: Echoes from the Age of the Steel Torrent"
- Decode another untranslatable concept: Le People
“市井”: The Very Ground Floor of Every City
“市井”: The Very Ground Floor of Every City
- Walk like an Egyptian, not a tourist; in Le Voyage
- Find an emerald dream in Azores, in Le Voyage
- Do You Hear The People Sing? in Le People