Hello Siebe! Please allow me to thank you for taking this interview and for contributing to this year release of Gaia. We all appreciate quality artists and we know that your photography is truly amazing! Could you please introduce yourself a bit?

Hi Gaia lovers, well as you might have noticed before my name is Siebe. I’m self taught photographer from The Netherlands, that is specialized in the photography of nature and city scenery.
What steps did you follow in order to become who you are right now? Being a successful photographer requires more than skill.

Well thats actually pretty simple, I worked my way up the ladder basically. It all started 5/6 years ago with a small compact camera that I bought (guess it was the olympus c-350) and that little camera fell in love with photogrphy from the verry first moment. I worked myself up very slowly by working with a wide range of cameras up to the Pro level that I’m currently on. It’s not the camera alone that helped me to become succesfull in photography, as I discovered photography Flickr was introduced. I’ve been posting photos on my flickr account for years and the community there really helped me on my way up.
That’s very nice to hear. What influenced you in your work and who are your favourite artists of today, Siebe?

Thats hard to say, If you asked me to name a few pro photographers that inspire me, I really had to struggle to come op even with one single name.. I get my inspiration out of the thousands of photos on flickr submitted by millions of people all over the world. I do have a couple of favorites, they are basically my best “flickr-friends” it’s a small group of amazingly talented photographers who’ve found eachother on flickr.. it’s still a miracle to me how that even happened..There is a list of “friends” on my about page on http://devetpan.com.
I totally understand your point of view. What was your motivation for joining the Gaia10 project and what do you think about its initiative?

Well in my daily life I’ve got a full time job as woodworker, every day I’m working with materials straight out of nature without trees there is basically no work for me left to do. And for my photography it’s basically the same, nature is what it’s mostly about. I really love the fact that other people care about the nature to, specially in a new and modern way like the Gaia project that’s running for a few years now.. Gaia brings the nature to your desktop with the best artists and most gorgeous designs.
I agree with you on that. Through Gaia, we’re trying to celebrate our planet, not to lament about its state. What do you think about expressing our ideas through art?

I think it’s great! I think there is no better way to express your love for the planet with others. Everyone has their own view of the nature and art allows you to see through the mind of others.. and thats pretty awesome.
Glad we’re sharing the same thoughts on this, actually, this is what Gaia is about. What are the best ways to make people aware of climate change, in your opinion?

I think that everybody knows that the climate is changing, bit they don’t really care.. As with my photography I’m always trying to share my view of the world by capturing the “regular” scenery that many not even notice in a new and refreshing way. Many people tell me that my photography is beautiful but it’s the nature that gives me the opportunity to show them these photos..
Gaia10 is a project that is trying to promote being a community. How well do you think people actually do that within the day-by-day life? Like how well do people create a community by the way they act daily, generally speaking?

I think the world is screwed-up and it gets worse day by day, people do not care about other people like they did 10 years ago. I get the impression that people only care about themselves instead of the community that they live in..  as long as they can live the life that the dream of it’s ok.. no matter how it harms their friends and family.  The way we live these days with social networks, digital products ect. make us live apart from each other. normally u used to stop by your friends to have chat, while you chat, text or call these days.. it all infects our way of living..

I totally agree with you on that, Siebe. One last question: what are your goals for the future and what should we expect from your quality photography work?

My future is undecided, I have a full time job as woodworker for now and I’ll be working on my photography career beside my daily job until the day arrives that I can live from it. So you can expect more dazzling gorgeous photo series from my side and maybe one day I’ll visit your country to photograph the unknown.

That would definitely be a great idea. Siebe, thank you very much for your time and for the interest. We wish you all the best in your future plans and would like to keep close for our next year’s release of Gaia!