About Ruud

Hi

My name is Ruud van Ruitenbeek and no, that is not my eye! I am a self taught photographer from the Netherlands. Photography is not my main job but, it is my way of focussing my creativity. I was taught the basics of photography by my father at the age of 12 and have been taking photographs ever since. I remember my joy at getting my first camera. It was a Lubitel 2, a cheap Russian twin lens reflex camera that looked a bit like my father's Rolleiflex 4x4 (I thought then.) With the help of this 6x6 medium format camera, which was totally manual of course, I acquired some basic knowledge of aperture, shutterspeeds, depth of field, etc. My father taught me some rules regarding composition, the one I remember best is "always have something in the foreground of a landscape that gives the viewer a sense of proportion." I also remember learning that photography had everything to do with light. It creates images, but it can also destroy them, something I was made very aware of in the improvised darkroom when my father carefully covered all the little cracks through which light might spill in. Over the years I have learned a lot more about photography, one of the important things being that you should not be too afraid to break the rules!

From the Lubitel 2 I upgraded to my first SLR: an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic-F. Fifteen years later followed the change to Canon: an EOS 10 and a few years ago I went digital with the Canon 10D. Recently I have upgraded to the Canon 5D with its full frame sensor size. I sometimes miss the feeling of exitement and anticipation of watching an image slowly appear on the paper floating in the developer tray, but I am totally converted, in all senses of the word, to the digital format. The amount of control I now have over an image allows me to produce images that were not possible before. Another important advantage is not having to spend a lot of money on buying films and having them developed.

I like images that tell a story. The most interesting ones, I find, are those that can tell many stories at the same time. Some of these stories can be true, but none need to be. I want to invite the viewer to think about my images, wander into them, and make up their own stories. As can be seen from my work, I also like symmetry and rhythm in pictures. With my photography I try to surprise; to engage the viewer and make them see beauty where it is not expected.

Travelling is another of my passions. It helps me to find new subject material. I am in the fortunate position of being able to travel for work and endeavour to combine business trips with my love of photography. So, apart from the North West of England, where I made my home about 15 years ago, I have seen some bits of the world, but fortunately there is a lot more to explore. Being able to observe and participate in other cultures (something I had to do after moving to the UK as well!) gives me a useful perspective on what could easily be dismissed by some as just 'strange' or even 'inferior'.

You can browse and search my work, starting on the Galleries page. I would welcome any feedback or questions about my photographs.

PS The pictures are meant to be printed and look better on your wall than on your monitor