An interview with London based photographer and artist Sipke Visser

The photographer Sipke works and lives in London, but thanks to a mutual friend we teamed up in The Netherlands to do a photoshoot in order to let me introduce myself to the readers of this website. We talked a bit and Sipke’s story intrigued me: How does a young guy from the Netherlands end up working in the professional photo-industry in London? It’s not like there aren’t any good photographers over there. What’s it like to leave everything you know (including your language) behind and start from scratch in a very competitive industry in one of the largest city’s of Europe?

You might think Sipke just has a great talent for photography. But you’d be wrong. In today’s world ‘having talent’ is not enough. It takes hard work and a determined mindset if you wish to reach anything. You might also think Sipke is one of those guys that always knew ‘exactly what to do’ when he grew up. Wrong again. Sipke actually studied ‘International Relations’ at the University of Amsterdam. A social and political study that takes up to six years to complete. His graduation thesis focussed on ‘The influence of American Foreign Policy on Colombia’. Go figure…

Sipke had always been carrying around a camera though. He was the guy that provided the University’s paper with photographs and he took original portraits of friends and other students whenever possible. After he finished his study he wanted to find out how good he could become using just his camera. So he applied for a place at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. His portfolio got him accepted. At the same time he started working in a local photographer’s shop. After working, studying and experimenting for two years Sipke felt ‘being around people that care about photography as much as you’ was the most important thing. This could also be realized by working in the industry! Although working would not provide as much room for experiment or playing around, the actual process of learning the tricks of the trade and adopting new techniques will happen a lot faster in the real world than on the University. And: He could experiment all he wanted in his own time.

So when his girlfriend found a job in London Sipke decided to quit his job and the University, pack his stuff and move to London. Problem was… it wasn’t like London was waiting for him to arrive. With no job, no friends, no network of photographers or agency’s how was he ever going to find work? Not to mention good work?

Sipke started doing whatever he could. And that meant sending out letters and phonecalls. Literally hundreds of them! Sipke contacted everybody and anybody. One lucky break was all it took. Finally he got one. A man running a small photo-studio saw the potential and decided he could use it. He hired Sipke as his assistant and made him work his ass off. But Sipke did learn the tools of the trade and beggars can’t be choosers… Sipke was now working in the industry and he just kept sending out letters and promoting himself and his work. After about a year Sipke was so fed up with the hours and the bad pay he decided to quit. But this time around it didn’t take long to find a new – and better – job.

With a mix of knowledge and experimenting from the university, the tools of the trade he had picked up along the way and perhaps a bit of bravery Sipke’s new job was to be the assistant and aid photographers could rent when they rented a photographer’s studio and everything with it. The studio can be used for photo-shoots or you could transport everything to a desired location. You’d have everything you need for a high quality photo-shoot including the digital assistant, Sipke. He’ll take care of the setting up the digital workflow (camera’s and computers) and everything else you might need. While the photographer shoots, Sipke monitors the computers and provides real-time feedback.

Please… try not to smile!

These days Sipke’s job consists of processing raw photo-shoots for graphic designers, agency’s, the fashion industry, free lance photographers, portraits and everything else that comes along. Sipke picks up the raw photo, gets briefed and digitally enhances the photo’s until the desired result is reached. A great way to meet and work with a lot of dedicated professionals.

Apart from the commercial work Sipke also photographs and manages his own projects. Currently Sipke works on three different ones and all of them are the opposite of his daily job as they are not commercial. In fact: They’re anything but! Sipke is actually giving away his photo’s. One of the projects he is now currently working on is called ‘Drop-in Portraits’. It works like this: Sipke places an ad on the website Gumtree offering to do free ‘drop-inn’ photoshoots. Anyone can request a portrait. Apart from the ‘Please, try not to smile!’ there are no strings attached. A person responding to the ad can decide for themselves how they wish to be photographed. This experiment had led to unexpected results as people are much more open and personal when you don’t tell them how to behave while doing the shoot. The viewer can see they are ‘real people’ and you almost feel like you gets to know them a little bit.

The 3rd of July Sipke will co-host an exhibition at The Viewfinder Gallery in Greenwich. Sipke’s part of the exhibition is called ‘Drop-in Portraits’. Because not all of you live in the U.K. you can also view a selection of his work on his website. Sipke’s working on another project as well called ‘A Sort Of Diary’. All and all you could say he’s doing quite well in downtown London. Should you ever require a hard working no-nonsense photographer, you can always contact Sipke.