About me

I’m a hobby photographer living in Ottawa, Canada. I was born in the Netherlands and lived there for most of my life. I currently work as a digital chip design engineer for a high tech company in Ottawa.

Photography is my main hobby and creative outlet. My interest in photography started in high school where we had a photo club and a darkroom. My photography skills are mostly self-taught and learned through some part-time courses and workshops. I was part of the former Ottawa based photo group “Dante Was Here” with who I participated in several photo exhibits.

I like to create natural looking photographs that are well crafted and that speak for themselves. No lofty bla bla. Strong lines and shapes is what I often aim for. With respect to model photography; the result has to look elegant and human. No plastic looking skin or an overly polished look.

I photograph both digitally and with black & white film. Neither is better than the other but both have their pros and cons. For me, using black & white film, developing and printing in the darkroom is fun to do. It also pushes me to get it right in the camera and not on the computer. Most black & white photographs shown here are shot on black & white film with either a 35mm or medium format camera and printed in my home darkroom. Most colour photographs are shot with a digital SLR camera and some are scans from 35mm slides.

My current camera for film is the Mamiya 645 AFDIII. I find that the 645 film format (56 x 42mm) is a nice balance between a larger negative format and a not too big camera. It also is a modern camera with TTL metering and autofocus. I have the 45mm, 80mm, 75-150mm AF-D lenses and the 50mm shift lens. For film, I only use black & white negative film these days as I can develop and print that myself at home. Colour is now digital only for me with previously a Canon 5D mk2 but now a Canon R6 mk2.

Menno Spijker