Photographer Ayla van de Bovenkamp

Ayla has been born in The Netherlands, but is really more a child of the world. Using every penny she had to travel the world with her camera and backpack to live her dream. Seeing the world from Asia to South America and from Africa to Sweden. This allowed her to look at life differently, because as she looked at all these cultures and people from different backgrounds, she was always able to capture the commonalities between these distant tribes from across the world.

In her early teens she always wanted to do a study in Photography. Despite her parents not being able to financially support her with this, she did not give up on her passion and dreams. Learning from just putting in hours and hours of photography and editing turned her into the artist she is today. Mostly self-taught she developed a unique style that got her to rise to fame in different places, one of them being the artistic platform “Ello.co”, where she has over 4,000 followers from all over the world and hundreds of thousands of people having seen and appreciated her art.

Understanding and helping people with different backgrounds is another passion of Ayla, that’s why she once chose to study Social Work. Her wide vision of the world gave her the opportunity to look differently in certain situations and see a perspective that most people would never be able to see, if it wasn’t for the magic of her photographs. 

This combination of passion, human interest and art combines this amazing lady into an international artist known internationally for not just her art form, but also her personality. From the looks of it, Ayla is only just getting started on the international stage and we believe she is here to stay. We have conducted a short interview with photographer Ayla van de Bovenkamp

Why do you simply love art and photography? What does this art form means to you?

For me it’s a lifestyle. It’s a form of presenting situations around me. It makes the world a more beautiful place. It gives an extra dimension to the world we live in right now. It gives people the opportunity to experience the world in a different way by the way it is presented and by the artist. 

It comes down to the boundaries of the art form, like with any art form there are boundaries and I personally was drawn to the fact that it’s a 2d presentation of 3d world and then the challenge for me is to use my imagination and fantasy to create a story within a still frame or picture. 

Even though there are the obvious boundaries of photography as an art form, you can play around so many things like light, composition and much more. 

Come on baby, get out of the shadow...

What's in People and what have you discovered so far about their behaviour that fascinates you?

People are so interesting: their culture, habits. I’ve also worked very closely with people as a social worker and got to know the inner workings of people in their most vulnerable, but because of that also most powerful positions, which is infinitely fascinating to me. 

La Punta

Of all these elements: a good composition, beautiful (natural) light, and if possible: a visable story and/or an emotion, which is your most favorited photograph, and why?

Shipibo Girl, there is a clear emotion: boredom, the contrast of lighting with her skin, the light is coming from all sides, even from the back side. The light falls beautifully into her face which makes it possible to see all the wonderful features of her face and expression. In this picture she was selling tapestry / embroidery to tourists and she was so clearly sick of it. Yet the setting and the composition makes it possible for people to create their own story around this picture, which makes it even more of a mystery as to why she looks the way she looks. 

Shipibo Girl

Who would you like to meet to have a real face-to-face discussion/observation (if you can choose anyone who has ever existed in the world)? Why did you choose this person?

Sadhguru, an Indian Guru. I’d like to meet him, because without too much of an ego he observes humans and humanity. He also shares that through speech, which to me is also a form of art. He seems humble, joyful and genuinely caring / loving towards all life, which fascinates me and inspires me to live from a vibration of love myself as well. 

Keep it up

Which is the most difficult (in your opinion) to capture in photography?

Nothing, really. When there is a will, there is a way. Which I do find important in any photo I try to take, is to create depth. So that there are multiple layers, not just a flat image. I guess this is one of my trademarks. 

Thank you!Thank you so much!This is great, thank you so much!

More info:

Ello: https://ello.co/aywai