Namaste Steemit!

Sieger Joostens is the name that has been given to the body which holds me. I’m a traveler and photographer. I’ll introduce myself with some words and share self portraits in between.

Arches - 2017

Written in Resource Magazine:

Today’s photographer of the day is Sieger Joostens, a 22-year-old Belgian photographer. He studied photography at the School of Arts in Ghent (KASK), and went on to study philosophy in Leuven. However, he never completed these studies. After several years, he’s taken up the investigation of ‘the invisible’ in philosophy and spiritualism.
For Joostens, it all began 10 years ago when he perceived the camera as a tool to observe. And that’s how he grew up: “Wandering around, not only to simply see the world but also in a search for who he was and what we’re doing here on earth. Whilst searching for his deepest nature, he ended up in nature itself. Using photography to translate the impressions he gets.”
And yet, Joostens never covers just one specific genre of photography. Whether portrait, landscape, street, macro, night or abstract, he seems to enjoy it all, while he loves to experiment with light and colors at night or wander around nature. In fact, you could call him “experimental”—he seeks to combine a variety of techniques to create an interesting image. “History is just a series of stories in your head, the future is still imagination so the only real thing is present itself. The moment is what fascinates me, makes me wonder, gives me images, thoughts and happiness. This is how I share it.” says Joostens.

See the article including photos

La Gomera, Canary Islands. Looking over El Teide, Tenerife - 2015

Now

In meantime, I became 25 years old and after working and saving money I have been traveling low-budget through Europe, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Caribbean islands, Central America and currently I’m on a road-trip though the United States.

Proudly I can say that my work has been exposed several times (and it’s being exposed at the moment in Madrid). My photos have been recognized several times by winning contests and being published, for example by Nikon Belgium, 1x.com and digifotopro. Recently I won a contest by the Government of Spain and its national park of La Gomera, Garajonay. Some years ago I worked for the Belgian Government of Education as a photographer, but I'm fully independent now.

Being a photographer, or visual artist, has been a bumpy ride too. I often reject what I do, my interest swings back and forth and so does my motivation. Art is completely interwoven with the development of myself and always changes wherever I go or whatever I do. It’s only when I was studying philosophy that I realized how my own thinking creates the way I photograph. Trying to create an income as a photographer is not easy either. I'm stubborn, although I had opportunities to take over the photography business of an older friend, I don't want too. Commercial photography as in weddings, fashion shoots, product photography, etc... are not what I want to do in my life. And if I don't fully enjoy doing it, I won't simply do it for the money either! My goal is to earn money with what I love doing.

“Find a job that makes you happy and you will never work one day in your entire life”
— Mark Twain

During a fashion shoot the models wanted me in the frame - 2011

Philosophy

As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was re-directed to something better! Breathe and be patient.

Everything you approach in life with positivity, will eventually come to you. You are the gardener, creating the garden. Your mind has very, very fertile soil with infinite possibilities. Choose carefully which seeds you plant, wisely water the plants your garden grows, and pull the weeds which are obstructing you to become who you can fully be. And again, be patient with yourself... Nothing blooms all year!

An experiment with photoshop - 2013

If you want to know how I made this, I could make a step-to-step guide with photoshop. Simply comment to let me know!

Goal

What I wish to accomplish on steemit to is create a blog where people can ask questions about photography and I will share my knowledge and tips with love. Also there will be tutorials on how I made specific images and what techniques I use. I'll create series from time to time, from old to new, presenting my work on steemit and explaining how I achieved them. Every time again I want to try new things, be flexible, bend like bamboo, experiment.

I recently made my own portfolio, please feel free to visit it and give me feedback;
http://siegerjoostens.com

An experiment with a strobe - double and tripple flash in one shot - 2010

On cryptocurrency

I got into crypto somewhere August 2017 and after doubling my investment in one month time I went deeply into the cryptoworld which led me to steemit. At this point I’m a hodler of Bitcoin, NEO, Ethereum, SmartCash, Request Network, Venchain and Kucoin. Smartcash, Kucoin and NEO are all paying out dividends so I’ll probably stick to them for a while, having a nice passive income. In between I do some daytrading also, based on news and hype. (if you plan on signing up to kucoin, feel free to use my link)

Complete controle - 2010

Thanks for your attention, hopefully I got you interested in my future posts. As I mentioned earlier, you can see my photography on my new website https://siegerjoostens.com.

Find me on Facebook & Instagram
or even 1x.com - DeviantArt - Behance

And I can already tell that I will share some drone photography from the Californian coast soon!
If you like this post, you know what to do! :)

Peace

All my work is under copyright, thank you!