When I adopted Tofu from Romania, I promised her the best life full of glorious adventures on beaches and in forests. I was used to my very active, workaholic border collie and the two of us were wandering forests for years already before we added Tofu (if you’re interested, you can find my previous post here).
Tofu turned out very traumatized and…. a bit less active than Se the border collie. She often refuses to walk and always lays on top of soft things, beds, couches, and windowsills if the blanket is available. I later learned this is quite typical behavior for cats, galgo’s and podenco’s, although we have no idea what kind of mix she is.
#1
Very Scary Pier In Normandy
Tofu was saved from a kill shelter in Romania at only 2 months. The dogs were in -20C in the snow in outside cages. I saw photos of the situation on Facebook and me and my partner decided to take her in. Based on just one photo of her in the shelter. After agreeing, she was taken out, checked and prepared for her long trip to the Netherlands.
She was and is scared. She is traumatized. She will turn 7 years old in a few days and she is still scared of so many things. The smallest situations trigger her, so we adjust and adjust and adjust. Being used to a hyperactive collie, I wanted my dogs to go for long forest walks twice a day, but this makes a border collie happy, not a traumatized, extremely sensitive, easily overstimulated rescue, so she doesn’t always come along. She loves sleeping on our bed and she loves open spaces, such as beaches (she has overview and therefore more control over the situation). We learn a lot from her and I am just extremely proud of how she has grown over time.
#2
Friend Hunt In Normandy
#3
Family Portrait
After almost 7 years with us, Tofu still feels safe on top of things, so our bed and our couch, where she has an overview of the situation. This elaborated into the walks; on one hand we had an active border collie who we wanted to take on hikes, on the other hand we had Tofu, traumatized, but also lazy. I started carrying her to at least give my collie the joy of making it to the park or forest or beach, but it turned out she liked it and it made her feel safe. It also turned out to be a photogenic moment to show all the different scenery we visited.
Travel photos truly are my favorite, because it means we are on an adventure. Now that Se, the collie, is 13 years old, we have to calm down a bit, but seeing new places, and beaches, is definitely our favorite thing to do.
#4
Dog-Outdoor
#5
Stormy Rotterdam Harbour
I do. I started with the photos because of a major, 4-year-long burnout, so I know the dangers and although what I can sometimes feel these days isn’t remotely close to what happened back then, I can feel really overwhelmed by pressure to be creative.
I’m not doing anything with that account nor the photos anymore as I am so busy with the little business that grew from it, but usually people really loved the photos. They found them original and funny and that is definitely what I wanted to communicate.
#6
Blossoms In Our Rotterdam Street
#7
Scary Funfair In Hossegor
I love capturing funny moments, funny faces, especially of the animals. My partner is DOP and he is majorly focused on lighting, so over the years he taught me the beauty of more aspects in photography, which I value so much now too.
I have always been creative, but not per se in other art forms. Photography always has had my preference. The world can be so mesmerizing and it amazes me that a camera can eternalize those views and even emphasizes it often by showing colors in the sky we didn’t see with the naked eye.
It was very much making memories. I’m a very down to earth person and when it comes to photography, I just want to remember as many moments as possible.
#8
Snow And Dubble Chins
#9
Dog-Outdoor
#10
Birthday In Rotterdam
