Patricia
Photographer Patricia Nauta was selected as Leidsch Dagblad’s stadsfotograaf (city photographer) in September 2017. In this role, she is responsible for producing a photo essay for the newspaper every Friday for one year, with a focus on Leidenaars and ways the city has changed over the years. A daunting challenge to say the least! Patricia is usually on the other side of the lens, so to speak, but kindly agreed to this interview in November 2017. Patricia, 54, lives in Voorschoten with her husband and two sons.
“I was born here in Leiden … I lived for 18 years in Amsterdam. Ten years ago I came back to this town and to my roots … I live only 100 meters from the Leiden border in Voorschoten.”
“I left Leiden when I finished high school. I went to the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Art,. It’s a famous art school in Holland. When I was young I wanted to go there because it was trendy, and a lot of famous artists were working there. And so I moved to Amsterdam. I think it was ’84 or ’85. Before that I was studying at the Royal Academy of Arts in Den Haag. But I thought this was too traditional. So after one year I stopped. Then I worked one year in a studio Leiden as a painter.”
Painting was Patricia’s first artistic focus. “I started painting when I was a child. And I also had lessons when I was 10 years old. I have always been making things since I was very small. Creating things … I didn’t know what else to do. I considered studying art history or history or psychology … But I’m a practical person. I want to do things. But I’m always working hard to achieve something.”
“So I came to Amsterdam in the ‘80s. It was a different time … It was difficult to find a space to live, so I started to live in squatted houses. It was very cold. I didn’t like it much because it was very uncertain … We didn’t have a shower or warm water. It was very primitive. After one year or so I found a really nice place to stay. So I finished the art academy. And then I worked in a very big studio in Amsterdam … I was doing paintings and also some mixed media things, also with photography … I met a man [Patricia’s ex-husband] who was a graphic designer. And we started to have a studio together. We made book covers, magazines websites, illustrations etc.”
“I bought my first [Apple] computer and I taught myself all the programs … We became quite successful. But then I got children and then my concentration was a little bit less. (laughs) I thought it was better to look for a stable income. And so I worked for a magazine for a very long time. Then my partner and me separated. So I got a contract to be a graphic designer at the [Intermediair] magazine. It was very nice. So I had a sort of base income. And also did freelance work, particularly graphic design. Then suddenly I thought I don’t like to see all these nice photographs and images of others,. I want to do it myself. So I went to the Fotoacademie in Amsterdam.”
“I learned a lot there. I did my exams about five years ago. And since then I’m really full time doing photography, graphic design … My job [at Intermediair] was also finished. The magazine went bankrupt because all the advertisements went online. So there was no money to print anymore. Everyone got fired. (laughs) This magazine doesn’t exist anymore.” She misses her days at Intermediair. “It was very nice to work with other people. Journalists and others working all together to make a nice magazine.”
The stadsfotograaf assignment rotates each year to a different photographer. In past years, photographers had to apply to a committee for the position. “This year they decided to do it a different way, to choose someone themselves. So they called me [to see] if I wanted to be the stadsfotograaf. (laughs) Otherwise I [wouldn’t have done it] I think because I don’t like these competitions. So I thought, yeah, this is a good opportunity, and I can’t refuse it.”
For the stadsfotograaf assignment “I have freedom to do what I want. So [the newspaper doesn’t] give me suggestions. I just have to find something. But it can’t be news or events because [these] are already in the paper. So I have to think what’s interesting, what do I like.” The assignment focuses on people in Leiden and surrounding towns, and Patricia’s photos often highlight ways in which the city is changing over time. “I like to make pictures of people who are not normally in the news … I like [photographing] forgotten people or places.”
“It’s a little bit of history of Leiden and the people who live here. And sometimes a little of my own history. [On a recent assignment at a Leiden wharf] I discovered that the owner is family … it was the last wharf in Leiden. And I was talking to this guy, I also interview them. And he told me a story about a house in Leiden with horse heads on it, and that rang a bell because my mother told me the same story about her grandmother. And then I discovered we were family, that he’s my distant cousin. (laughs) It was very nice. I made a portrait of four people working there in front of a big ship. And then we came together and looking at his photo album from around 1900, and a really beautiful picture with my family in it. So it was very special … so it’s also like an adventure.”
Patricia enjoys giving art workshops at schools. “Last year I [gave] lessons to children … one part is photography, but there’s also painting and storytelling and new media.” The school is located in Merenwijk. “It’s a poorer part of Leiden, in the north part. This school is almost entirely Moroccan children. And they have fewer chances to be someone in this world … So the director of the school and I and some teachers we have a common vision to work with the children and to stimulate them.”
“I’m always thinking about new projects, and sometimes I make a project and then I sell it to a newspaper. So the children on the beach [a photographic series] I sold to the Volkskrant. So they published this big article. And now I’m working with a journalist on children with handicaps. Family portraits with one child who has Down’s syndrome. And [the journalist] did interviews with the children. How does it feel to have a brother who has [Down’s syndrome]? How do they cope with it as a family? And I took pictures of them playing together and solo portraits. So we want to go to the newspaper and then sell it. So you have a lot of freedom to do what you want.”
Patricia enjoys her work most “when I have the freedom to do what I want. Sometimes I also work for a [commissioned] assignment. And sometimes that’s difficult. It depends a little bit on the people also and the subjects. Sometimes I have to do something and I think ‘wow, how can I make this interesting?’ You go to an office and the surroundings are really boring, and you have to be really creative” to do something interesting.
“I really [prefer to shoot photos] outside. Usually I make portraits outside, in nature. I like that because people feel more comfortable and you can walk around.”
Clients find Patricia through word of mouth. She doesn’t have an agent and doesn’t do much marketing. “I have to do [more marketing]. (laughs) It’s not a nice part of the job to sell yourself. But I have to do it a little bit more and … but I also like the freedom to work on my own projects.”
“I don’t know a lot of photographers who have an agent. If you’re very famous maybe you have a gallery or something. But I don’t have a gallery … you have some agents in Holland where you can upload your photographs and people can go to the website and buy your photos for publication … but a friend of mine does this and she says you only get like five Euro for one picture, so it’s not much.” (laughs)
Is it difficult for an artist to mentally relax? “I really like to think about what I’m planning to do. It’s always going in your mind. But I can also go walking one day or something totally different … I have my mobile phone to take pictures when I’m walking. I have a dog, and I always have my cell phone.”
It’s getting harder for photographers to earn a living due to expectations that images should be available for free or at low prices online. “The income not what it used to be” for freelance photographers. “And then you have to travel and pay. It’s crazy. People think they can get everything for free. ‘Can you send me your digital image? I want to use it.’ Then I say ‘OK, well, I also need to earn some money.’ And then ‘oh, hmmmm.’ It’s strange.” As a freelance photographer, you have to love what you’re doing.
“I think this year I will be very busy with the [stadsfotograaf assignment]. And I really like it.” It’s a big commitment.“For one year no holiday. (laughs) … And then I want to make a book” based on the year’s stadsfotograaf photographs. “My husband writes the text, so we work together. It’s very nice. He’s a doctor, and he’s a good writer. I tell the stories [related to the photos] and he makes a good story out of it, also with history. It’s a very good combination. So that will be this year. I hope to have a book in September.”
“And I also want to give more lessons to adults … I’m making lessons on the computer. Because a lot of people don’t know how their camera works, the basics of photography, how to make manual photographs … And then I want to do portraits and still lifes. Working with lights, going outside. Give [the students] homework and then we come back here to the studio and discuss the work. I like that.”
Patricia is still painting in her spare time. “But it’s more for myself. I like to make portraits. I like painting. You don’t need anyone to do it, and you have all the freedom you want.” (laughs) … Now I’m doing it just for fun.”
In the Fall of 2017, Patricia moved into a shared studio in the large artist building at Haagweg 4 in Leiden. The studio has high ceilings and good natural light. “I hope I can make portraits with daylight here … It’s a nice space here because you can always walk to someone else to chat or show your work. It’s nice not staying home every day.” The studio is about a 5-10 minute bike ride from her home.
One of Patricia’s most memorable photo projects was a series she did in 2015 and 2016 with Syrian refugees. The refugees were living in a Leiden University building. “It wasn’t a house, it was more like a working space. They didn’t have any facilities to live. It became more and more difficult for them because of these circumstances. Before the Ramadan holiday they had to move there suddenly. I knew that, but a lot of people didn’t know. All the volunteers who worked with them didn’t know. I came there and I took a picture of them moving in a bus. It was three Syrian brothers on the bus, children, and they were looking out the window at the place they were leaving,and you could see the frightened faces.”
Patricia submitted this photo for an annual Dutch news photography competition. “I’m not really a news photographer, but I was one of the prize winners in the Silver Camera competition for Regional news. It was very nice to be there among the big [photographers] of Holland.” (laughs)
Patricia Nauta’s photographs can be seen on her website at http://patricianauta.nl
Photo by Taco van der Eb
