EDR #46 The Aesthetics of Athletics: Interview with Erik van Leeuwen, photographer

Erik van Leeuwen is one of the most prominent and beloved photographers in the Netherlands. If you are a runner and participate in any events, no doubt he has already taken your photograph. Most likely, you are looking in great shape and like the complete package. Erik always makes us look like better runners than what we might actually be. His photographs create and tell compelling stories. And thus, since he is also a fellow-Leiden Atletiek athlete, I wanted to get to know his own story better. How did he become a photographer, what are the logistics involved and what are his aesthetic considerations when taking photographs. He's followed Sifan Hassan's and Femke Bol's careers right from their very beginnings. So yeah: of course we talk about them both. 

I hope you enjoy this episode. I enjoyed making it. Let the good times roll. 

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Episode Overview: 

• Introduction: Erik van Leeuwen, of Wassenaar
• IT worker, runner photographer
• AF: What enabled you to go down the path of becoming a photographer? 
• EvL: “I started taking photographs in 2005 and then one thing led to another The first camera I bought was a Sony Digital … slightly better than the average. It cost around 1,200 euros.” 
• “In the beginning the pictures I made were lucky shots. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I did a course … You try and learn from others.” 
• AF “I think it is possible, nowadays, to downplay the skill involved in photography, now that the cameras are so advanced. How do you focus on composition?”
• Being a photographer or being a person with a camera. “There is a difference between taking a snapshot and a good photograph.” 
• Taking photographs in stadia and along marathon courses: every race has different options. 
• The logistics of taking photographs during a marathon 
• Light and angles: too much is a problem; avoiding taking photographs at standing height
• The labour of taking photographs in all conditions
• Hollandse licht and clouds
• “After a marathon, I’ll be editing for two or three hours … making the day of work pretty long. I’ll cut down from about 1000 photographs to 100 and then edit and name each photograph.”
• Daphne Schippers’s image on the milk carton
• Taking photographs which tell the story: Femke Bol in tears after falling. 
• What EvL is looking forward to in 2025

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Links: 

Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press

Strava: Andy Fuller

Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden

Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com

Subscription:  Patreon