Ilvy Njiokiktjien

A much-lauded Dutch documentary photographer, Canon Ambassador Ilvy Njiokiktjien has worked all over the world, taking photographs for major global publishers and NGOs.

After leaving school in the Netherlands, Ilvy spent a year studying in the United States, before returning home to study journalism and photography. She bought her first camera in 2002, and just four years later won her first photographic award. The prize was a Canon EOS-1D, and from that point her course was set.

A total of 287 multimedia productions from 48 countries were entered in the World Press Photo Multimedia Contest, with chair of the jury, Vincent Laforet, commenting that "the jury appreciated the restraint that the authors demonstrated in the telling of this story. All of the multimedia elements and careful attention to detail served to push the narrative forward, as opposed to distracting from it."

Ilvy's work has since appeared in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, National Geographic and The Guardian. She also works with NGOs, including UNICEF, and her images have been displayed in a number of museums, as well as at Visa pour l'Image festival of photojournalism in 2012. In 2013, Ilvy was named Photographer of the Nation in the Netherlands and, in 2017, became a member of the prestigious VII photo agency.

Despite the accolades and recognition from her peers, one of the achievements Ilvy is most proud of is earning the trust of the people who allow her into their communities to record their lives in detail. It's this passion for people and the opportunity to tell interesting stories that led her to photograph the extreme right Kommandokorps organisation in South Africa. Not sharing their beliefs but determined to portray the people involved in a fair way, she still considers this the hardest story she's told.

Ilvy regularly delivers lectures and workshops on documentary photography, and when she's not travelling the world she works out of a converted cell in a former prison in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

WARNING: this gallery includes images that some readers may find disturbing.

How do you gain the acceptance of people whose situations you are documenting?

"For most images I take the time to sit down with people and talk. It's important to get to know someone, to understand the challenges they're dealing with. Even if someone has opposing views to me, I try to be tolerant. I think people realise this quickly and trust that I'll be objective."


How do you deal with someone objecting to their picture being taken?

"This happens quite a lot, especially now people are aware of the impact of social media. Very occasionally people react aggressively; usually I try to diffuse the situation by explaining to them what I'm doing. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. I always stay calm, as I don't want things to get out of hand."


Do you take certain gear with you for specific stories, or are you ready for anything?

"I always take everything with me. I never travel with only a selection of my gear, because I never know if I'll be travelling from one assignment to the other."


What are people most surprised by when you tell them what you do for a living?

"I think many people think I spend most of my time taking pictures, but unfortunately a lot of time goes into organising things. I spend quite a lot of time behind my computer, not only organising new projects but also spending quite some time on admin, grant applications and so on."


What has been the greatest obstacle that you've faced in your career?

"The biggest challenge was the bad start I had in journalism school. The teacher was sick the full year and I never had a proper education. This gave me a lack of self confidence when I got out into the real photojournalism world. It took me several internships and many more years to gain trust in myself and realise that I could actually 'make it' as a photographer."

"Incorporating video and photography into a multimedia presentation at the same time requires a different mindset. There's definitely a requirement for more planning when you need to shoot both because [if you're working with someone else] you don't want to be in each other's way too much when you're shooting on the day."


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Website:  www.ilvynjiokiktjien.com