Why I started Eindhoven Creative Community

Creativity was always there somewhere

My mother died from ALS when I was young. She was very creative and loved painting. Even after she became ill, she kept doing it for as long as her hands allowed her to. Her paintings still hang in the homes of family and friends. To me, they are not only a memory of her, but also a reminder of how important creativity can be in someone’s life.

My own path started very differently. I worked in engineering, and for a long time creativity did not play a major role in my work. Photography changed that. At first it was mainly a hobby. Later it became my work as well, and by now I have been doing it professionally for seven years. Photography increasingly became a way to turn ideas into reality, meet people and challenge myself to do things I might otherwise not have tried so quickly.

My mother’s story has always been somewhere in the background of that. Not as a reason to change my life overnight, but as a question that keeps returning: if there is something you really want to do, why not try?

Becoming a father changed the way I looked at it

When my son was born in 2023, I started thinking more consciously about what I would like to pass on to him later. Not so much in possessions or big life lessons, but in how you use your time and what you do with the things that give you energy.

I was already making photos and videos for my work, but I also wanted to create a non-commercial photography project that went beyond simply making beautiful images. Because ALS is so close to me personally, the idea grew to create a calendar and raise money for Stichting ALS Nederland.

From the ALS Car Calendar to Classics for Charity

The basic idea behind the ALS Car Calendar sounded straightforward: twelve months, so twelve different photoshoots with classic cars and models. In practice, of course, there was much more involved. Finding cars, contacting owners, arranging models, finding locations, planning shoots, photographing, selecting, editing and finally bringing everything together in one calendar.

It took an enormous amount of time, but I also enjoyed it immensely. Especially because more and more people started helping. Car owners, models, assistants, someone for the design and someone for the website. Slowly it became much more than just my own photography project.

What stayed with me most is how enjoyable it is when people create something together from their own interests and can connect that to a good cause at the same time.

Organising twelve separate shoots is pretty intensive. Afterwards I wanted to see whether the same idea could work in another format. That led to Classics for Charity: one photography event bringing together classic cars, photographers, models and volunteers.

That event taught me a lot. Not everything worked the way I had imagined beforehand, especially when you look at the amount we ultimately raised for ALS. But one part worked much better than I expected: the people.

Photographers who did not know one another started working together. Models contributed ideas for poses. Car owners shared their stories. Small groups formed everywhere, creating something together. Looking back, that may have been the part of the entire day I enjoyed most.

That is where the idea for ECC began

After Classics for Charity, that feeling stayed with me. Apparently I do not only enjoy making things myself. I enjoy organising something that helps other people find one another and start creating together just as much.

At the same time, I realised that I was missing a community of people from Eindhoven who felt the same way. Photographers, videographers, models and other creatives who enjoy going out together, trying an idea, organising something or occasionally using their creativity for a good cause.

That is how Eindhoven Creative Community came into being. Not as a tightly designed company or a formal networking club, but mainly as a place where local makers can find one another more easily.

Creating things together

That is also why ECC does not have to be only about photography for me. Photography is an important part of it because that is where my own background lies, but ultimately it is mainly about making things together.

That can be a simple photowalk through Eindhoven. A shared shoot. Going to an event together. Helping someone with an idea. Learning from one another. Or coming up with something bigger where we use our creativity for other people.

Not every idea has to become a large project straight away. What interests me is simply that a group of people exists in which new ideas can emerge.

The Eindhoven Photography Challenge

The Eindhoven Photography Challenge is a good example of that for me. The idea is to have as many different people as possible photograph Eindhoven from their own perspective.

I could come up with and execute an idea like that myself, but within a community it becomes much more interesting. Everyone sees the same city differently, knows different people and brings their own network and creativity. Together, that can produce something that is much harder to achieve alone.

And perhaps something completely different will grow out of it afterwards. I do not need to know that in advance.

A logical next step

Looking back now, Eindhoven Creative Community mainly feels like the logical next step after everything that came before it.

My mother showed me how valuable creativity can be and kept painting for as long as her hands allowed her to. When my son was born, I started thinking more about what I want to pass on and how I want to spend my time. The ALS Car Calendar was my first major non-commercial project in which photography and doing something meaningful for someone else came together. Classics for Charity then showed me how much energy I get from bringing people together.

For me, ECC is the next step in that story: a community in which we can come up with ideas and make things together. A place where you can meet new people, try something different and where we might occasionally use our shared creativity for a good cause as well.

I do not know exactly where all of that will lead yet. That is precisely what I like about it.

Earlier projects