About

An Untraitional documentary photographer.

I do not take for granted that I only succeeded in the above after 5 years and dozens of - sometimes brutal - rejections. I never expected my goals to be linear from beginning to its final destination, I have never faltered in my steadfast step.

I graduated secondary school in 2007 with only one goal, attending drama-school. I am very ambitious. I want to stand on the stage, inspiring people, telling stories and make an impact.

I do not exist in drafts or engage in a plan B.

Fast forward

I appreciate the beauty of the everyday, in its reality. This simple fact changed everything.

After 9 years of studying in five cities all across The Netherlands, I graduated at one of the best drama-schools in the country. I had emerged victorious! My big dream became reality and the world lay at my feet - and at that precise moment I took a dramatic decision.

During my years of study, I came to an important realisation. I love storytelling and breathing life into stories, but - and here is the crux of the matter - I do not want to take it out of context or expose it, merely because there is a spotlight directed at it.

Exactly that which had been missing in theatre-life was found in a passion that lay dormant in the shadows of my big dreams for years; photography.

My epiphany revealed that my future is not rooted in theatre. I would miss the freedom of sharing my own voice and feel limited by the requirement to bend to a director, script or producer.

I want my stories to move, trigger and inspire. I want to be independent, follow my own narrative, but above all: I want to build a stage to tell stories in the real world.

During my studies photography became my safe haven and release. It did not take long for me to register at Company’s House and devote every available second to my company. In Morocco, where I was to record a photo-series,- for a school assignment, would you believe. I officially took the decision to sacrifice everything that I had been working for in the last few years.

I chose happiness and started to work full-time as a documentary photographer and creative entrepreneur.

Apart from being a photographer, I am also a mentor-coach in storytelling entrepreneurship, during which I am using my years of expertise as an educated storyteller to help ambitious businesspeople to separate their brand from the crowd with a personal touch.

Furthermore, I have my own podcast where, through various stories and personal anecdotes, I reveal my true voice.

In short, in my heart and soul I am a storyteller, not easily defined or fitted neatly in one particular box. The same goes for my photographic art.

I won’t turn back in life to press the red button initiating plan B. Not to park my dreams for my true love - my husband, who waited patiently all this time - but to follow my heart, as I have always done.

To this day, I have been working joyfully as a documentary photographer for years. It allows me to travel all around the world to reveal the most diverse stories to and within the real world.

Iconic moments in my life

My birth

I was born by caesarean, during which they got me on my thigh. The result was a newborn with 9 stitches and a scar for life. I also had jet-black hair and a red skin, which caused the hospital’s cleaner to wonder out loud whether my mother had married a Native American.

The summer of 88

The trip of a lifetime.

In 2010 I went traveling by myself for the second year in a row. This time I wanted to go to India. My choice had been based on nothing more or less than a friend’s simple photograph which had caught my eye years before. It was the journey of a lifetime. Here I battled the odds and came out victorious, causing my adolescence to be crushed by the abrupt arrival of adulthood. You see, it so happened that I became seriously ill and had to spend time in intensive care. It was a journey to remember, for more reasons than one.

SUMMER 2010

I said ‘yes.’

He proposed in 2017 in my favourite city, Paris. Three seasons later, we said ‘I do’ in the Belgium Ardennes; celebrating our love for an entire weekend. On Friday-evening, we made our entrance on my husbands old-timer motorbike, We were wedded at the hottest time of day, ate in the fresh air and danced under the starlit skies until sunrise. It was a weekend to never to forget.

21 july 2018

Adventuring.

My husband and I left for Asia to travel through Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. This was to be out last big trip before I got pregnant. It was a journey to never to forget. We earned our diving certificate and we had multiple dives in Thailand and at the Philippines. We took magnificent motorcycle rides, a spectacular multi-day cruise past the uninhabited islands and we learned to surf.

2019 / 2020

The year 2020

The infamous Coronavirus year. But not necessarily to us, though in many ways, this year was life-changing for us. I was expecting, we bought our dream home; a near derelict farm at the countryside of the east of The Netherland and I launched an online course for the first time - which later became an entire new branch within my business as a mentor coach in storytelling entrepreneurship.

2020

I became a mum

The most incredible experience of my life occurred in the dawn of 2021. I gave birth. ‘I can see little dark hairs’ and there she was. The most beautiful, most precious thing that my arms have ever embraced, to never let go, our daughter, Reza. I did not foresee the mind-blowing transformation that rippled over me when she came into my life.

24 January 2021

Prev.

iconische momenten uit mijn leven

My birth

I was born by caesarean, during which they got me on my thigh. The result was a newborn with 9 stitches and a scar for life. I also had jet-black hair and a red skin, which caused the hospital’s cleaner to wonder out loud whether my mother had married a Native American.

The summer of 88

The trip of a lifetime.

In 2010 I went traveling by myself for the second year in a row. This time I wanted to go to India. My choice had been based on nothing more or less than a friend’s simple photograph which had caught my eye years before. It was the journey of a lifetime. Here I battled the odds and came out victorious, causing my adolescence to be crushed by the abrupt arrival of adulthood. You see, it so happened that I became seriously ill and had to spend time in intensive care. It was a journey to remember, for more reasons than one.

summer 2010

I said ‘yes.’

He proposed in 2017 in my favourite city, Paris. Three seasons later, we said ‘I do’ in the Belgium Ardennes; celebrating our love for an entire weekend. On Friday-evening, we made our entrance on my husbands old-timer motorbike, We were wedded at the hottest time of day, ate in the fresh air and danced under the starlit skies until sunrise. It was a weekend to never to forget.

21 july 20218

Adventuring.

My husband and I left for Asia to travel through Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. This was to be out last big trip before I got pregnant. It was a journey to never to forget. We earned our diving certificate and we had multiple dives in Thailand and at the Philippines. We took magnificent motorcycle rides, a spectacular multi-day cruise past the uninhabited islands and we learned to surf.

2019 / 2020

The year 2020

The infamous Coronavirus year. But not necessarily to us, though in many ways, this year was life-changing for us. I was expecting, we bought our dream home; a near derelict farm at the countryside of the east of The Netherland and I launched an online course for the first time - which later became an entire new branch within my business as a mentor coach in storytelling entrepreneurship.

2020

I became a mum

The most incredible experience of my life occurred in the dawn of 2021. I gave birth. ‘I can see little dark hairs’ and there she was. The most beautiful, most precious thing that my arms have ever embraced, to never let go, our daughter, Reza. I did not foresee the mind-blowing transformation that rippled over me when she came into my life.

24 January 2021

Prev.

No mirror in a changing-room

Damaging your freshly polished toenails.

The last bit of toothpaste

‘Home is where the heart is’ in whitewash on cheap wood hung decoratively on the wall

Saying goodbye

There are several things that are beyond me. Those aspects in life that are useless to me or dreadfully annoying, because, in my humble opinion, they do not work the way they ought to. Long story short, these are the things I think are stupid.

Failure to stand to the right on escalators or unnecessary driving on the left lane

3% battery remaining

Mediocrity

‘What’s wrong with voicing your opinion’ and ‘Stay positive!’

‘ready to eat’ avocados with the consistency of a stone

Printers

Nightly roadworks when you are finally able to drive your car at 130 kilometres an hour

The right-wrong and red pen system at schools

The phenomenon ‘Daddy-day’

Pay inequality

Stupid!

Photo bucket-list

I have already been able to work in dozens of European countries, but I would love to go to Latin America some day for a photoreportage

MY WORK IN WORDS

The everyday
Meaningful
Vulnerable
Truth seeking
Artful
Documentary
Emotive
Cinematic
Playful
Authenticity

I hope to, one day, be the owner of my own studio on our own land in the east of The Netherlands.

I would love to carry out my vision and mission internationally, as storyteller.

mijn favorITES

My muze Paris

My family

Photography

Traveling

The love of my life

Curious whether we are a match?

I will capture your story

with love and care.

Please feel free to send me a message by means of the contact form and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Get In Touch

About

I graduated secondary school in 2007 with only one goal, attending drama-school. I am very ambitious. I want to stand on the stage, inspiring people, telling stories and make an impact.

I do not exist in drafts or engage in a plan B.

Fast forward

I appreciate the beauty of the everyday, in its reality. This simple fact changed everything.

Exactly that which had been missing in theatre-life was found in a passion that lay dormant in the shadows of my big dreams for years; photography.

I won’t turn back in life to press the red button initiating plan B. Not to park my dreams for my true love - my husband, who waited patiently all this time - but to follow my heart, as I have always done.

To this day, I have been working joyfully as a documentary photographer for years. It allows me to travel all around the world to reveal the most diverse stories to and within the real world.

Iconic moments in my life

My birth

I was born by caesarean, during which they got me on my thigh. The result was a newborn with 9 stitches and a scar for life. I also had jet-black hair and a red skin, which caused the hospital’s cleaner to wonder out loud whether my mother had married a Native American.

The summer of 88

The trip of a lifetime.

SUMMER 2010

I said ‘yes.’

21 july 2018

Adventuring.

2019 / 2020

The year 2020

2020

I became a mum

24 January 2021

Next

Prev.

iconische momenten uit mijn leven

My birth

I was born by caesarean, during which they got me on my thigh. The result was a newborn with 9 stitches and a scar for life. I also had jet-black hair and a red skin, which caused the hospital’s cleaner to wonder out loud whether my mother had married a Native American.

The summer of 88

The trip of a lifetime.

summer 2010

I said ‘yes.’

21 july 20218

Adventuring.

2019 / 2020

The year 2020

2020

I became a mum

24 January 2021

Next

Prev.

Stupid!

Photo bucket-list

mijn favorITES

WIANDA BONGEN