THEO DEN EXTER 16.05.1962 When I was 20, I received an old Practica camera with a macro extension from my grandfather. The light meter was mounted on top of the body, and he had never managed to take a decent macro photograph with it. That intrigued me, and I began to explore it further. First, I had to repair the Pentacon lens. I still use vintage lenses, but now mounted (reversed) on a modern camera body. My first photographic steps had been taken. After that, I photographed in alternating periods. I developed film in the bathroom and printed the images on baryta paper. My favorite genres are very diverse: from macro to portrait, lensbabies, and also more technically challenging photographic work. My daily work involves directing people (project manager). This has many similarities with model photography. I even once got a permanent job because I photographed artistic nudes at home. If I could handle that, I could surely handle difficult colleagues as well. How do I see my own work? A difficult question. I always find other people’s photographs more beautiful and gladly let myself be inspired by them. When I take a beautiful photograph, it feels as if the universe briefly collaborates with me. As if a hidden door opens between the visible and the unseen. The light whispers secrets, the shapes slide into place. The world reveals itself not as it is, but as it was meant to be seen. My hands click the shutter, but it is my soul that captures. Not just an image, but an echo of something that exists beyond time. There is something sacred in the air, as if I have accidentally touched something holy without breaking it. And when I look at what I have captured, I feel it: the breath of the moment that decided, for a brief while, to entrust itself to me.