“Taking photos allows me to show other people how I see the world”

This week, Joram van Hartingsveldt shares some of his favourite photographs.

Joram, who is originally from the Netherlands and moved to St Helens in 2012, has been taking photographs for the past 25 years but six years ago took up a black and white photo challenge.

Here, in our latest Behind The Lens showcase, Joram tells us what inspires his photography and where his ultimate perfect picture place would be.

If you would like to appear in our Behind The Lens feature, email heidi.summerfield@newsquest.co.uk

Click here to join St Helens Star Camera Club.

St Helens Star Camera Club member Joram van Hartingsveldt

When and why did you take up photography?

I started taking photos about 25 years ago. I worked as an editor for my school’s newspaper and I had the idea of adding photos to articles, which had rarely been done before. We were the first editors who could use computers to make the magazine, and with the internet starting to become available, we also found a professional printer. This made adding photos a much easier process, in proper halftone rather than the blotchy photocopies we were used to seeing.

Around that time, I came to the realisation I wanted to do something with film and television, so I joined the local broadcaster, making radio and TV productions, as well as taking journalistic photos for the text-based news broadcasts.

I then studied at the Dutch Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, though I focused mainly on sound design, as part of my studies I was also required to take photos and do camera work.

In 2012, I moved to St Helens. As part of my new life here, I didn’t do as much photography, but I did start making videos for YouTube. At the time, Let’s Play Minecraft series was the bandwagon to be on, and I figured I could make more professional looking videos with my film production background. Video editing was not really a thing in that genre on YouTube back then.

The entrance cone at the World of Glass, covered in snow

Eventually I felt this wasn’t really what I wanted to continue doing, so I once again picked up the camera and started taking more photos.

About six years ago, there was a challenge doing the rounds on Facebook, where people would challenge their friends to take seven black and white photos for seven days. The only simple rules were that the subject of the photos could not be people, and the photographer shouldn’t give any explanation why they picked each photo. Inevitably, I got tagged by a friend to participate as well, so I looked at what photos I had made that I could use, and I found I had eight suitable images. I couldn’t make up my mind about which one of these I wouldn’t include, so instead of seven, I decided to do it for eight days. And when I posted the eighth one, I figured, I might as well continue.

I have now posted more than 2,200 black and white photos, but these are mainly only on my personal Facebook page. I made an Instagram account not too long ago, where I have now been posting one black and white photo each day, for a little over 500 days. These photos are publicly visible on my account @7days7photos.

I now also work together with the musician ‘donkerbot’, and with the St Helens based book publisher Skobeloff Publishing as a graphic designer.

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What do you love about taking pictures?

If you go out to take photos, it forces you to slow down, and really look around you. You need to observe your surroundings in a completely different way. I often like to focus on details, things that I notice. Taking photos allows me to show other people how I see the world. Especially for a project like what I’m working on, to take at least one photo every day, I’m always on the lookout for those little details, or just something out of the ordinary. You don’t notice how many interesting things there are until you start looking for it. Even on days when I’ve not taken a picture somewhere outside, I have a near endless supply of little details to photograph in my house. There’s always something somewhere that deserves a little spotlight.

Where is your favourite place to take pictures and why?

There are so many places where I enjoy taking photos. I can always find something in Liverpool city centre. In St Helens, I’ve taken a lot of photos near Sutton Mill Dam. There’s lots of birds there, with little ducklings at the right time of the year. I initially took part in the St Helens Star’s 2023 project of taking a photo in the first week of each month, on the same location, and this is the place I chose. Sadly, due to a personal tragedy, I was not able to complete my series for this project, but on the days I was there and I did take photos, it helped me cope with the situation.

A black and white macro photo of an LED

What is your favourite subject matter and why?

I can really enjoy taking photos of just about anything. I’m not really good with people, so I do tend to choose other subjects. I have photographed people, but I’m just not good at directing them. Animals can be a rewarding subject, because it’s a bit of a game of chance, but when you’re lucky and you get that one good shot, usually the result is an amazing photo.

Other than that, I also enjoy taking pictures of small items and details. I have some accessories with which I can take macro photos, so I can get very close to a small object, sometimes to the point where it becomes abstract. We’re not used to seeing these minuscule details so large, so it can be difficult to find out what it is you’re looking at.

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Rusty fence on Moss Bank Road

What do you enjoy about being part of our Camera Club on Facebook?

I personally don’t post a lot of my photos in the group, because I see so many other great photos already. For me, that’s the value of the group, to see what others have captured, and how they see St Helens. Landscapes from other parts of the borough I don’t visit, or wildlife from park areas I don’t regularly go to myself, I enjoy seeing all these photos of subjects I otherwise would never have seen.

If you could photograph anyone/any place/anything, who/what would it be?

I’ve taken photos of the moon, as seen from Earth, so maybe a photo of Earth, as seen from the moon would be my dream, but I’m afraid that’s an unlikely scenario. I think what I’d really enjoy doing would be to travel to different places and take photos of everything I can find beauty in there. Japan is a country I’d like to visit one day, at least, it looks great in anime films, so that would be a vision I’d want to try and capture.

A mouse, hiding in the plants next to Sutton Brook