My name is Yilkee, but if you’ve come this far you might have figured that one out already, and I’m a sports (paintball) photographer.
I started playing paintball back in 2005 at the amazing P8CE field in Amsterdam. That’s also when I started shooting paintball picture. Back then my technical know how about sport photography was almost non-existent but that didn’t keep me from entering the field with my first DSLR + Kit lens. Those first pictures where nothing more that point and shoot as I lacked anything that resembles a vision. As time went by I got myself a telelens and started paying attention to the great paintball pictures you see in magazines and kept shooting whenever possible. Playing paintball had higher priority than shooting pictures back then.
As time went by I started loosing interest in playing the game but that didn’t mean I stopped loving the sport and the people around it. I still wanted to be part of the paintball community so amongst other things I started shooting more pictures on walk-on days and local events. This is when I discovered that I really like sports photography.
I like the fact that people, at sporting events, don’t mind that photographers are taking their picture. Nor do they look surprised when one passes by with al sorts of gear hanging around there sides. A sporting event, to me, is like a goldmine. There’s action, emotion, interesting characters, unique sceneries and much much more.
In 2010 I traveled all over Europe to shoot three out of four Millennium paintball events as well as local events. I had a blast doing it and met a few very cool photography friends in the process. I’m looking too keep doing this as well as expanding my sports portfolio with other action sports. I’m constantly learning more about photography and the various disciplines in order to widen my vision and creativity.
Aside from sports photography I also love gadgets, traveling and the web.
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