Maria Van Rooijen

I am a photographer since 2003.
My main subject is portraits. Time changes us, beauty fades, expression changes, a photograph saves it and gives us the opportunity to look at it again and again.
To see the changes, the development, and enjoy forever what has faded in time.I like the face as it is, the very soul of the face. The expression you see when you take your time, when you look twice. When the photographed person gives you a look inside without purpose..

My favorite is the series of Almerisa, a Bosnian girl who came to Holland as a refugee and is photographed by Rineke Dijkstra from 1994
until now. In the last portrait she is holding her baby. It is heartbreaking and beautiful.

Then I like the city. What happens in the streets, the architecture, the urban landscape...
But I like the rural landscape as well, especially the Spanish, as we saw it walking from Valencia to Santiago.


I am married and have a son of 23 .I live and work in Amsterdam.

Fotoacademie Amsterdam 1999-2003