Goddess Photography

02/09/2026

Today I was reminded again about the why when I started my photography adventure that is Goddess Photography.

I don't remember the exact moment when I moved from my standard work as a portrait, festival and wedding photographer to what I have moved into: A photographer working with almost exclusively women (even though I truly believe many men could benefit from the way I work, I just don't advertise with that really). But I remember the shift.

So here's the lowdown about the big WHY. Earlier today I was scrolling through some old photo's of myself and I saw how very slowly along that period of time I allowed myself to shine. To let go. To no longer listen to the imprinted voices and actually believe (even if just for a moment) that I was worth it.

Because when I was younger, I was bullied. A lot. And I was told I wasn't good enough. Too small, too big, too quiet, too much, too little. It was never enough. And for the longest of time I believed those voices. But looking back through those old pictures I saw the shift.

Maybe it was in working with women like Wild and Sacred Women - Margo Awanata that I was able to see more of myself. Maybe it was in the letting go of old patterns. Maybe it was in the friendships that I developed in that period of time and maybe it was slowly letting go of all of those ingrained trains of thought. But probably it was all of the above and more.

And I realised that I want other women to have that experience. To see themselves in the light that I saw myself. And to have that experience captured and solidified in photographs so they can always tap back into those moments, especially in those times when they are needed the most.

That's why I'm currently working on a new offering. On an experience rather than just a photoshoot. And I was wondering, in order for you to have it feel like an experience, what would you need? Let me know.

[Added photo's of Merel who helped me run a test shoot for the basic plans for this kind of experience]

25/08/2026

Another late night behind my computer and I just had another happy recipient of my work.

There's still so much to work on, but I'm really making quick progress in these hours!

Next up: Finishing two weddings!

[Attached photographs are of the lovely wedding of Jenny & Dom I was happy enough to photograph earlier this year in the beautiful city of Bath]

24/08/2026

When the world has turned quiet and the kid has gone to sleep, I love working on photographs. Some of them are done in no time, some of them require some more of my time and attention, but by the time I'm finished with a photograph there's always that little bit of dopamine.

In the quiet of the late evening (and sometimes in the night, even though lately that hasn't happened much as with the kid being home for the holidays I'm spent by the evening...) I usually get to do some of my best work. There's very little distractions left and I can enjoy that moment of hyperfocus. That little bit of total concentration. And it works.

This is my favourite time of day to spend on my work. Truly. And maybe it's my undiagnosed ADHD, maybe it's something else, but the magic of the late evening and night just gives me that little bit extra to add to photographs I think...

Do you have favourite moments in a day?

[Photograph of the first day of Path of the Priestess by Wild and Sacred Women - Margo Awanata earlier this year]

23/08/2026

There's nothing like a live meeting with fellow sisters to awaken me again.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur with the holidays, festivals, weddings and sort of al around trying to keep myself afloat. It is in those moments that posting on social media is one of the first things to go. Like, I do consume some reels & posts in downtimes, but I forget that I actually have to post on here.

But today I got together with a group of wonderful sisters to heal part of what was done to women in the past: the witch hunts.

In Wageningen there has been a monument as part of an art exhibition, existing of 439 stakes. All of them dedicated to women (most of them), men and children who were killed as witches in the past. Most of them have names on them, some only have 'woman' or 'man' on them, or 'daughter of', as sometimes history has forgotten their name.

On the last moments of the monument still being here (it will be dismantled next week), Wild and Sacred Women - Margo Awanata decided we should get together and hold a ritual. And so we did. It was beautiful, powerful and healing. And part of the ritual was me saying that I do not longer want to be invisible, so here I am. Stepping back out of the void.

It's taking that step that's a thing, but it is important to me, so here we are.

Let me know what you think of the photographs.

22/07/2026

Aanstaande zaterdag (25 juli) heb ik nog één plekje vrij voor een minishoot op een prachtige locatie bij Apeldoorn.

Roept deze jou, wees er dan snel bij. Voor alle verdere informatie, zie mijn post van 6 juli jongstleden.

Zie ik je dan?

[Foto van Marijke in een van de jurken die ik meeneem naar de minishoot]

06/07/2026

After checking my calendar I realised I have one more free Saturday evening this month and I think it would be lovely to allow you to work with me one on one. Now in order to keep it affordable for as many people as I can, this will be an evening of mini sessions.

So... The photoshoot slots are going to be thirty minutes each and there's very limited availability. Especially if you want that special golden hour light, you're going to have to book it quickly!

The mini shoots will be held in a beautiful location just outside of Apeldoorn with different backgrounds in close surroundings and plenty of options for a diverse range of photos within the timeframe of half an hour. This location is impossible to reach with public transport so you'll need a car (or someone to drive you there).

Furthermore I will bring a handful of my client closet dresses that you can use for 'extra drama' (like the one pictured in the photo that's attached) but you can also wear your own clothes of course.

What you will get is thirty minutes of my undivided photography attention. Yes, that means we will laugh, dance, giggle and roll around in the sand, and trust me, those will be the best of photos. Afterwards I will send you a link with the option to choose three of your favourite images which you will receive digitally in high quality. In case you want to order more photos, that's also possible for an extra surcharge.

And of course now you are wondering what it will cost you to roll around in the sand, right? The price for this minishoot, including three images in high resolution will be €85.

So are you ready for fun, laughter and some beautiful photographs of you? Don't hesitate to quickly book your slot!

01/07/2026

Goodness mee, it's been a couple of crazy weeks.

With all the festivals, the heat, the sisterhood and the brothers on my path of photography I have hardly had time to breathe.

I'm right now recovering from all of that work with a bit of time off (yesterday was my first day off in 9 weeks, can you imagine?).

Over the next couple of days I have the last photo's to process and then it's almost time for the holidays with the kiddo too. Crazy times.

But honestly, it's been the best of weeks. With so much love, so many hugs and this much pleasure. I can hardly call it work!

For now it is surrendering to the tiredness a little bit and then onwards!

[Photo of the 2024 workshop that Margo Awanata and Mia Adamidou gave in Athens]

26/06/2026

Being in the middle of my high season, I’m just going to share this again…

More often than not I will spend hours and hours, and yes that’s on the limited days that I have between festivals until way after midnight quite regularly, to get things done.

In this moment of the season I’m really on track and those photo’s are coming to you very soon!

"Hey Anouk, where's all the photographs that you took yesterday?"

Recently I've been asked this question (or something similar) quite a lot and I do need to explain a bit about the process that happens after you've seen me run around with my camera.

Because images like the ones I make aren't just point & shoot. There's a whole process to make my images look as good as they do, so let's take you down that process.

First, from wherever we were and I saw you in front of my camera, I have to travel home. Just like you. And after a full day (or in some cases multiple days) of running around with my camera, by the time I get home I need to have a little moment to breathe.

Sometimes I offload my images on my computer that same day, sometimes that will be the day after. It just depends on how I feel and if I still have the energy to get off of the couch again.

So the offloading takes a little while since in most cases I did not just take two dozen images. Quite often I take hundreds or even thousands. You get it... It's a lot of images.

Then, when they have offloaded, I need to select the images that are good enough to post process. This means I have to load them into my culling program, go through them all, one by one, and do that selection process by hand. Sometimes I have to go back and forth for a minute between a few images to decide which is the better one.

In most cases this brings the number of images down to somewhere between about half to a quarter of the original images that I took. And knowing from above that I took somewhere between hundreds and thousands of images, that's still a lot.

From there I drag my images over to Lightroom and I start the process of post processing. This means I go over each and every image. One at a time. It means I adjust the lighting, touch up some spots left and right, adjust the contrast and for example the colour.

Each image gets my attention fully so this takes time. Some images are done real quick, others need more attention if for example a weird foot is floating around in the image that needs 'deleting'.

When all images are done (and we're talking a process of many hours here) I have to export all the images. This takes time too. I just have to wait. And when all of that is done, the person(s) who hired me to do this gets the images first, and in case of for example a festival, the visitors get them after the organisation has given me the go to release them.

This entire process takes days. And you might be wanting those images asap, but other clients that I have, have the same question. And especially in high season (as it is now) processing time gets a bit longer. Simply because I have so many sets of images to go through.

So I'm asking you to be patient. Yes, the images will come. I promise. But next to doing this I also have a life, a kid and I have just moved into a new house as well.

I love to do what I do, but know that what I do is as good as it is because I spend so much time doing it! It just takes a lot of love!

[Image of Wendy & Mariska at WILD WOMAN FEST earlier this month]

15/06/2026

This evening I was going through photos of retreats I have photographed in the past. This ‘Soul of Eve’ retreat I photographed back in 2022 reminded me of this time of year. Of the opportunities we have. In community. In softness. In being present in the moment. And I wanted to share that with you.