Ruben Van Vreckem is a 20-year-old photographer based in Brussels. We featured a selection of his work on the @worldphotoorg feed. He says: "I am always seeking out adventure to capture what I see. I'm traveling in my Ford Transit 2003 campervan, which makes it possible to wake up in a new location every day!"
Hi Ruben. Please introduce your self and your photography to our audience
Hi Matthew. My name is Ruben, I'm a 20-year-old photographer based in Brussels, Belgium. Currently, I’m attending my last year in photo-school which will end in June. I enrolled in photography 6 years ago by filming my friends at our local skatepark. I decided to start making small YouTube videos and started to shoot my friends while skateboarding. Things got more serious when I started to film with better and bigger skaters, in better skateparks and in 2014 I changed high school for art school. From that moment I got more into photography, I started shooting film, I created and shared more content and started to make my photography what it is today.
I started my own company 6 months ago to add the commercial part of photography to my career. I recently bought myself a campervan to combine traveling, work and school more easily which results in the content I make these days.
Tell us about the series of images we featured. Do you have afavourite, and why?
I made the selection from my recent aerial work made with my DJI Mavic. I went on a 14 day-road trip from Brussel to Lake Bled, Slovenia. I did this last summer at the end of September but the weather was not that great. Lots of rain, lots of storms and blocked roads, but it was such a good experience! It's a various selection of nature shots, sometimes there's an urban feeling involved in the frame too. I like to create types of lines inside my photos, these guides help the viewer through the frame. I'm always trying to combine these lines with a unique situation of light. I'm always aiming for sunrise or sunset.
Why photography? What does the medium mean to you?
Photography enables me to share my view and experiences with the world. It's very cool to share my point of view with the people around me. Doing what you love is my number one rule, and photography made it possible to do what I like the most - shooting photos.
Do you have a photographic philosophy?
Uhmm, this is a hard one. There's one quote by James Barkman that keeps going through my head when I’'m out in the field: "There’s no better way to get inspired than living on the road and waking up in a new location every day." And that's something that makes you want to start the day and go for it every single time.
What inspires you?
What inspires me are mainly my best friends @djesper and @charlespacque, these guys are legends. We got real close in photo school. They quit school last year but we've spent lots of time shooting photos, hitting the road and working our asses off. These guys get me hyped and motivated all day, and every time we meet up with each other, it's a day to remember.
What else inspires me: different photographers. I'm a huge fan of Chris Burkard, James Barkman, and Matthew Vandeputt. All these artists are such a big source of inspiration, motivation and help me build up my career step by step.
rubenvanvreckem.com
@rubenvanvreckem
@worldphotoorg
