MARIËLLE VERHOEF–VAN LIER 14.12.1971 As a young girl, I was already fascinated by photography. At first, I mainly wanted to be in front of the camera myself, but soon I wanted to be the one pressing the shutter. I took my first photograph around the age of eight, using my parents’ camera, with my doll Rosa as a patient model. When I was twelve, I received my first camera of my own: a disc camera, which used a rotating disc holding fifteen exposures. The image quality was modest, but it marked the beginning of a long photographic career. That career truly took off when, at seventeen, I was given an old analog SLR with a 50 mm lens. Everything was manual: focusing, aperture, and shutter speed. The ISO was determined by the film you loaded into the camera. A world apart from today, but an excellent training ground. More than 45 years later, I now of course photograph digitally, using, among others, a Canon RP, Canon 250D, and an Olympus PEN. I am largely self-taught: aside from a few workshops, I learned everything through hands-on practice and by observing others. My greatest love is travel photography, with “travel” interpreted broadly: from a museum around the corner to a long-distance journey through Japan. I try to capture what makes a place special, such as a particular architectural style, remarkable animals, the people, or the food—always with an eye for the small and the unusual. That is why I photograph under the name Zandkorrel (Grain of Sand), inspired by a quote from William Blake: “to see the world in a grain of sand.” Since 2008, I have published a “grain of sand” almost every week on my travel blog: a short story accompanied by photographs. Photography is an essential part of who I am. In my everyday life, I am a psychologist and work as a researcher in the field of learning and development—also a profession in which keen observation is central. Facebook: Zandkorrel Fotografie