SEE & BE

A retreat in photography and personal growth with Gert Willem Haasnoot.

From snapshots to photographs: a visual journey of discovery towards yourself.

Photography is about seeing: truly looking, while also becoming aware that you are the person doing the looking, from your own perspective and through your own lens. A strong photograph wants to say something through light, form, colour and composition. In doing so, you reveal something about the world and about yourself. Photography can therefore also be a meaningful way to discover more about who you are.

Photographer and coach Gert Willem Haasnoot

Gert Willem began photographing as a way to express the pain caused by the death of a friend and the depression that followed, which lasted six years. Photography offered him a creative rather than self-destructive way to engage with what he was going through. As he photographed, he came to know himself better and realised that a good photograph is not only about technique, but especially about what you see, what you want to say and what story you want to tell.

He has since exhibited and published his work widely, while continuing to regard photography as an ongoing journey of discovery.

During this five-day retreat we explore what you look at, how you look, what you want to communicate, which visual form fits that message and what this says about where you are in your life. Photographic technique is included, but it remains in service of your visual story. That is what helps turn an image into a meaningful photograph.

The oldest homeless man in Amsterdam

In this retreat you discover more about yourself, not only through words but particularly through images. You create photographs and use them as source material for your own story. That story does not have to be finished. In fact, what remains unresolved can be a rich source to work from. You leave the retreat with a fuller story about yourself and with stronger photographic skills.

Lost

Incurable: the impact of ALS

Exhibition “Ecce Homo — see the human being”, 2023

About photographer and coach Gert Willem Haasnoot

Gert Willem Haasnoot studied psychology in Groningen, competed in kickboxing and worked in nightlife as a doorman. After his studies he spent time in business and ran his own training company.

In 2016 he became seriously ill and experienced a severe depression caused by overwork, an intense lifestyle and unresolved experiences from the past. Photography gave him a way to visualise his pain and supported his own journey of discovery. In 2021 he moved to the Salvation Army, where he works as an interim manager. There he increasingly developed his photography, including powerful black-and-white portraits of people at the margins of society. His work has been exhibited several times throughout the Netherlands.