MICHELLE VAN DIJK

Capture the connection, South Africa

“ I’m a Dutch born, South African bred photographer, who makes it my mission to capture connection - through fashion photography and photojournalism.

Taking pictures, particularly of people, has been my passion for as long as I can remember, and to this present day I love nothing more than snapping shots of subjects that, in the blink of an eye (or should we say, the quick close of a camera shutter), makes them go from feeling like strangers to friends of the eyes that behold them.

Beauty, in its rawest, realest (and most relatable) expression, is something I see in everyone, and what I want, so strongly, for them to see in themselves. 

I work with those that have been bullied (either at their own hands or those of others) to bring them out of the shadows and into the light. To show up, and to be seen. Light and dark, now we mention it, is a concept that plays a pivotal part in my work. 

I work with it both literally and figuratively (juxtaposing poles like happiness and sadness, masculine and feminine, Yin and Yang) because the more you distinguish a difference between two separate sides of the spectrum, my muses, the more clear it becomes that we are all alike in that we sit somewhere on it.”