ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The photo portrays Hans, a young Belgian man with hiv. His portrait was taken in his kitchen while he was talking about his journey in dealing with hiv and especially all the stigma and taboo that still is very present in society. His portrait is part of a series of portraits of men and women with hiv showing them. The photos were taking during individual interviews at their home, capturing the different emotions when sharing their story. Eleven people with hiv (of different gender, age, sexual orientation, background) contributed and 'donated' their face to reinforce the awareness about hiv.

AUTHOR
Growing up with a film director as dad, camera's, images, films, were just part of my daily life and being exposed to various forms of image processing during my childhood helped me to develop my visual sense early on. At university I graduated in archaeology and in addition I studied cultural and social anthropology. Through my photographic work I found a way to express my passion for people and culture, in portraits and street photography.
As I really seek to portray people as much as possible in a spontaneous and natural way, I prefer working in the living environment of the people I photograph. Once everything is set up for the shoot, I take time to talk and listen to people and when I sense that people are at ease with my presence, I start taking photo's.
As with portraits I really love street photography as for me it is all about capturing whatever happens in front of my lens, the spontanity and coincidence of life in the streets. I strive to improve and change my approach to photography every single day, challenging myself to express what I care about in an authentic way.

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