SDk: How long have you been taking photographs with the aim of becoming a serious photog-
rapher? We ask this because your personal style and tech-
nique are well refined, even though some commentators obviously think your genre is undefined.
Jenny Boot: Five years. I’m now in my third year of formal study.
You studied at the Fotoacademy first in Groningen and are now studying at that institution’s campus in Amsterdam. Can you tell us something about the Fotoacademy for readers who are unfamiliar with it. For example, what kind of reput-
ation does it have? What is it like to study there?
It is probably the best institution of higher education for photog-
raphy in Holland. It has very high standards, the work load is intensive... and it’s expensive. They guarantee their graduates will find work in photography within two years of their grad-
uation – although obviously it’s easier to break into certain fields of work than in others. They’re oriented towards photography publications and artistic photog-
raphy, not standard commercial work like weddings, family port-
raits and the like.
You left your formal studies at the Fotoacademy for two years because, as stated in your SDk profile, you wanted to “cultivate [your] own style”. What do you think you needed that the Fotoacademy wasn’t providing?
It can be very repetitive and not so creative, so I thought I needed to go out alone to develop my own style. But another, important reason why I had to take a break is the intense workload. The pres-
sure of studying there means there is no time for anything else, your own work, nothing – it is absolutely full time. Only about half of the students who start at the Fotoacademie actually finish at all.
And why, specifically, did you return to the Fotoacademy? What are the skills you think you need to learn that only the academy can provide?
When I left, I discovered I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. I needed to learn more technique in formal training, and also to expand my conceptual thinking.
I have a lot of ideas, but I always work within certain technical and conceptual limits. I need to ex-
pand my limits to develop.
My teachers at the Fotoacademie, and other photographers, don’t have much comment on the content of my work – they focus on the technical aspects of what I’m doing.
In your article for SDk you pro-
vide an insight into how you ventured into the genres of eroticism, fetishism and BDSM. Are you happy with your treat-
ment of these themes? Have you anything more to say about your development in these genres and your fascination with them?
Yes, I am happy with what I have done. I don’t regret anything. It’s all a matter of making progress in my work. Pictures I’m not happy with I don’t publish or show. It’s difficult to change those things; I don’t try to re-make them, I move on to the next idea.
I’ve always been fascinated with power relations between people and with the differences between people in this context. [Establish-
ed Dutch photographer] Reyer
Boxem encouraged me to dig more into my unconscious, in a general sense, and this is the result. The Blue series was my “breakthrough”, so to speak: it was the first time my unconscious fantasies and feelings came to the surface and were depicted in my images.
I don’t like clichéd or stereotypical BDSM imagery with whips, the usual bondage scenes, and the like. I like portraying the emotion-
al side of BDSM, the dynamics of complex power relations and especially trust. I really like my
