The Sunday interview: 5 questions for Ronald Smeets

Today I will present Ronald Smeets, the author of Retro//Reflection. Ronald is an enthusiastic photographer who says: “I like to capture light. ... but that's just a fancy way to say that I make photos”.

1.     Why photography?

It's a great way to combine technical engineering stuff (the gear) with being a bit creative and artistic (the photos). I also like to go outside and be on my own, so photography fits very well in all that :)

2.     What is your favourite gear? (camera, lens)

I have been using various brands over the years - Canon, Panasonic, Nikon - but these last 6-7 years I'm shooting with the Fuji X system. Since this is my only setup, it has to be my favourite one I guess. I try to limit the amount of gear I use. So attached to a Fuji X-T5 I most often have the XF 16-55mm f2.8. Sometimes I switch to a longer lens (70-300) of wider (10-24), but I noticed that I do this less and less nowadays. Maybe I did find my favourite focal length after all these years? At least it must be somewhere between 16 and 55 ...

Occasionally I like to slow down, so I do have a nice Gitzo tripod as well as a set of Kase magnetic circular filters (no more screw on filters for me ;) for long exposure photography.

3.     What are your favourite subjects to photograph?

Mostly scenes without people in it :) If people are visible, they have a supporting role (silhouettes or to give sense of scale, things like that). I don't really have specific favourite subjects I think, although I like to photograph bodies of water (lakes or the sea) if I look at my catalog of photos. And mountains. At sunrise or sunset.

4.     Can you name a few of your favourite photographers?

A somewhat unexpected answer maybe, but I don't really have favourite photographers. Thing is, I didn't start photography because I saw amazing photographs from other photographers and had the urge to do that as well - I just liked the (technical) process of photography. Only some years later I started to learn about 'famous' photographers, like Ansel Adams (if you're talking about landscape photography). I have seen lots of awesome photographs and I like to flip through books about photography, but often I really can not tell you who's work it is. Maybe I should pay a bit more attention to that.

5.     What can Substack community expect from you/your publication in the future?

I started on Substack in October '23 so I think it is still early days. For the long term I plan to keep doing what I do now: 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?’. I specifically want to keep it 'slow', so no weekly newsletter, no dailiy Notes posts, no video. Focus is on the (longer form) writing and not the quick bites, there's already too much of that elsewhere on the internet. Maybe it would be a good thing for the world if people would slow down a bit more, but that's another can of worms  :)