Retro//Reflection, what’s that about?

Once or twice per month I send out a letter with a handful of (my) photographs and share a bit of insight on the ‘why?’ or ‘how?’. As an enthusiastic photographer, anything goes.

Maybe you’ll learn something?
Or perhaps it will spark some inspiration?

Here’s a short Q&A (with myself, I know, it’s weird …):

Who are you?

My name is Ronald and if you’re curious, you can read a bit about me here.

I pretty much have two main photography ‘projects’: my personal website where I show collections of photos that I think have something in common with each other, or maybe tell a (short) story, and a website dedicated to the most southern province of the Netherlands (and it’s surroundings): Limburg.

Apart from that I have a whole lot of other photographs that maybe don’t fit in a collection or a not related to Limburg, but I still want to show (I mean, what’s the point if they are just collecting digital dust?).

Or at least have a (digital) place where I can look at them … Might as well be a place where other people can look at them too :)

Why the name “Retroreflection”?

I thought long and hard about how to name this ‘letter’: From My Point Of View, BeyondFocus, Photo(n)s Matter, and plain Ronald Smeets Photography, but none really felt like a good fit. A while ago at work1 we discussed a setup that uses retroreflectors for position measurement and I thought well this might be a fitting name, since it kind of describes photography (light) and my nature to be reflective.

But, why should I subscribe?

Well … maybe you’re like me - an (enthusiastic) (amateur) photographer who is looking for something different better than the usual algorithm-dictated, ad-filled and/or influencer-pushed stream of photographs. Maybe you’re curious about other photographers around the world that share their work, or to learn about photographers that don’t have a youtube channel with lots of subscribers. Or simply to see interesting images independent of the gear that has been used :)

Maybe you even like to read a thing or two about these images by those photographers? It always inspires me when I read about other photographer’s images - why they took the photo, how they process/edit etc.

Well … that is what this is all about: once or twice per month2 I'll send out an e-mail that contains a handful of (my) photographs and share a bit of insight on them. As an enthusiastic amateur, anything goes.

Maybe you’ll learn something?
Perhaps it will even spark some inspiration?