Bored Panda reached out to Nadia to learn more about her and her creative process. When asked what sparked her interest in street photography, she revealed a long-standing fascination with the lives of others. "As a child, I made drawings of people and wrote stories about them. Some of them, I knew, others I didn’t. It was pure fantasy. But the camera was never far away. I primarily used it to take pictures on holiday trips and later to fix the childhood of my kids till they got so bored with me asking them to be nice to the camera. Maybe, this might have been the initial reason why I turned to street photography although I cannot quite tell what made me so eager to take candid shots of people on the streets. It felt like the next thing."
When discussing the most enjoyable part of her creative process, Nadia shared that she loves the moment she decides to go out and take pictures, whenever she gets the chance. "The destination can be Ghent (the town where I live) or nearby cities such as Brussels or Ostend. I enjoy the early morning train travel, drinking a coffee, and having a camera next to me, in preparation for a day without prescriptions or outlines. It has become a kind of ritual that gives me energy and makes me feel good. Strolling about the streets, hoping for unexpected encounters with small stories or unwritten poems to pop up. These are magical moments for me. If I am able to freeze them, my heart jumps with joy, if I am not, I have my moment anyway."
Nadia admits she can't currently think of anything particularly challenging in her creative process. "It is of course a pity when I turn home in the evening, convinced of having shot at least five or six good scenes but my computer screen reveals that my expectations were a little bit too high. Anyway, no big deal, there are still many shooting days to come."
Many of Nadia's photographs capture scenes through windows, observing café visitors or train passengers. Curious about this, we asked what she finds most fascinating about photographing through windows. "I like to shoot through windows because they offer so much space for less, meanwhile plein air provides too much information showing faces too clear for my fantasy to open her eyes. Moreover, a window is a generous host, welcoming that delightful sunlight on its condensed dirty panes or those drops of morning dew leaping down its surface, enhancing mood. This host is even as generous as to reflect what is happening on the other side, bringing different stories together into one frame and presenting them as a new tale. It is the producer of a scenario in which it itself takes part in a Hitchcockian way; the transparent conductor leading an orchestra of capricious reflections, moods, textures, and color tones to a crescendo; a heady cocktail I am addicted to."
When selecting subjects to capture, Nadia shared that she prefers having more than one actor in the frame. "Not only the presence of a human subject but also an interesting reflection, a light/shadow play, an eye-catching color palette, etc. that merges with the character, altogether telling me a fascinating story, which I am eager to listen to and makes me click."
