An essay on seeing familiar things for the first time
The file name stares back from the folder: maturenl_24_03_29_irenka_photographing_my_old_s_new
It looks like a relic from a forgotten database—part Dutch ("maturenl" could hint at mature Netherlands or a username), part Slavic name (Irenka: a diminutive of Irene, carrying warmth), part date (24 March 2029), and part mission statement: photographing my old as new.
What does it mean to photograph what is old so that it becomes new again? And who is Irenka?
The string maturenl 24 03 29 irenka photographing my old s new gives us several clues: maturenl 24 03 29 irenka photographing my old s new
maturenl – Likely refers to a mature model (40s–60s) based in the Netherlands. This could be a personal tag, a studio code, or a category on a modeling platform.24 03 29 – Date in YYYY/MM/DD or YY/MM/DD format: March 29, 2024.irenka – The photographer’s name. Irenka is a Slavic-origin name (Polish, Czech, Ukrainian), suggesting possible Eastern European background, though working in NL.photographing my old s new – Likely shorthand for “photographing my old versus new” or “my old self / old objects alongside new ones.”Keep It Calm: Maintain a calm and peaceful environment. This helps the baby stay calm.
Natural Light: If possible, use natural light. It's soft and flattering. Position the baby near a window with soft, indirect light.
Simple Backgrounds: Use simple backgrounds that won't distract from the baby. Textures like wood, wicker, or plain colors work well.
Comfortable Posing:
Focus on Details: Capture close-ups of the baby's tiny features, like hands, feet, and face.
Involve Parents: If you're photographing in a home setting, consider including parents in some shots for a more personal feel.
We live in a culture obsessed with the new-in-itself: the unboxed, the untouched, the shiny. Professional photography serves this obsession—product shots, real estate staging, wedding portraits smoothed of pores.
Irenka (the character evoked by the name) practices the opposite: the second gaze. MatureNL 24 03 29 Irenka: Photographing My Old
The first gaze sees what is fresh. The second gaze sees what has lasted.
To photograph something old as new is not to lie about its age. It is to recognize that age is not decay but patina—a word from the Latin patina (dish), later meaning the green film on old bronze. Patina is not damage; it is time made visible.
When Irenka photographs a cracked vase, she does not hide the crack. She lights it so the crack becomes a river on a map. The vase is old; the river is new.
In Zen aesthetics, there is wabi-sabi: the beauty of imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness. Irenka’s work is wabi-sabi with a Dutch precision—clean backgrounds, careful aperture, but always a wrinkle, a scratch, a faded thread left in focus. maturenl – Likely refers to a mature model
