Willem Wernsen.

BIOGRAPHY

Willem Wernsen, born in 1954 in Amersfoort, Netherlands, is a freelance photographer whose work is mainly social

documentary. Already as a young boy he was fascinated by black and white movies and by photography. With the few money he earned, displaying leaflets for a local grocery store, he bought second hand photobooks of the great photographers such as August Sander, Doisneau, Brassaï, Cartier-Bresson, Ed van der Elsken, Yousuf Karsh. These masters of photography would become a great inspiration for his future work. Only at the age of 24 he finally bought a camera of his own and started to photograph himself. Photograpy would turn out to be a passion, his tool to capture humanity in so many aspects. Over the years he succeeded in creating a massive body of work and developed his own recognizable style.

Bibliography

Beautiful People (2003) sold out.

Timeless (2011) sold out

Behind the Great Wall (2014), a photo journal of his 5-week trip to China in 1999.

On street Photography (2015), E-book.

101 Tips voor Straatfotografie’ (2019), in co-operation with a Belgian photographer Piet Van den Eynde. Sold out.

101 Tips for Street Photography , E-book in English, will be published in September 2019.

2022 : May "ZUIDERBUREN" a selection of photographs made in Flanders Belgium during the last 30 years. Sold out.

June 2023 2nd edition 101 Tips Voor Straatfotografie. Dit gedrukte Nederlandstalige boek is weer verkrijgbaar .!!

Exhibitions

2013 : His series "Chinese Factory Workers" was on display at the international FotoFestival Naarden, the Netherlands.

A year later, he participated as a member of the Dutch Naarden delegation to Photoville in New York.

2014 : “A Retrospective”, exhibition showing an overview of his work over a period of 35 years, including his China-series made in 1999 (Table d’Amis, Antwerp, Belgium).

In November 2014, he was invited to participate in the fifth Jinan International Photography Biennial at the Art Gallery of Shandong Art Museum in Jinan, China.

In December 2014, his "Chinese Factory Workers" series was included in the exhibition "Faces of China" on the occasion of the international photo festival Brugge Foto14 in Bruges, Belgium.

December 2014 : Exhibition ‘In search of contact’. Duo-exhibition with his partner Lieve De Bleeckere in his hometown Amersfoort, the Netherlands.

2016 : Participant in the Fotofestival 033Fotostad Amerfoort, the Netherlands. “Hofleven – Armen de Poth”, portraits of inhabitants of a medieval courtyard, on display on that location.

2018 : In the expositon “China Revisited’, photographs he made during his 3 trips to China (1999, 2014, 2017) were on display (Bredevoort, The Netherlands).

2019 : Also in the exhibition “La Chine, derrière La Grande Muraille”, a selection of photographs, made during this 3 trips to China will be shown (Abbaye de Cerisy-la-Forêt, France).

2022 : May "ZUIDERBUREN" a selection of photographs made in Flanders Belgium during the last 30 years.

2023 : October/retrospectief In Rietveldpaviljoen

Willem Wernsen gives lectures and workshops and webinars.

His works is published regularly in international photo- and art magazines.

He is a member of the Dutch Professional Photographers Association (DuPho-GKF).

willemwernsen.photographer@gmail.com

www.willemwernsen.com

I am Using:

Hasselblad 503CX +50mm -80mm-150mm

Rolleiflex T +80mm 3.5mm

FujiXT5 + 10-24mm F4.0- 16mm F1.4 - 16mm F2.8 WR- 23mm F2,0 WR- 35mm F2.0 WR- 50mm F2.0 WR

56mm F1,2-18-55mm F2.8/4

none of my work may be used in any way without my permission!