Who are you and what’s your profession?

My name is Robert-Paul Jansen, and I am a real-estate developer from the Netherlands. But I’m also a photographer, husband and father of two sons (8 and 10) and a baby to be born in the beginning of 2014. In photography I make money selling my work through Stocksy (a stock photography co-operative owned and operated by artists), selling prints and through commissions (architecture). Photography is my passion and my way to release the stress of my job. When I’m taking photos I relax and I enjoy walking in nature, find small miracles.. I love to dwell through forests on my own and preferably avoid paths doing it.

What’s your rig?

My main camera is the new Fujifilm X-E2. The last two years I have used the Fujifilm X100 and X-Pro1 until I decided to sell it to buy a full frame Canon three months ago. It took me two months to made me see that it wasn’t the right choice and a few reviews to made me run to the store and get the new X-E2.  I love the quality and size of the Fuji X system and I’m really glad to be using it again, feels like coming home. I currently have two lenses, where I use the 14mm for my landscape photography the 35mm is used for everything else. I’m planning to get the soon to be released 56mm 1.2 to complete my lens selection. I also shoot a lot with my iPhone 5, actually .. the iPhone made me photograph my surroundings four years ago, it was the start of this wonderful journey called photography. I love processing on the iPhone, because it’s so simple and fun to do. I don’t use many accessories as I like my gear to be kept to a minimum and I only use natural light. I do use a tripod, a GorillaPod Hybrid (+ Griptight for the iPhone) and a B+W ND110 filter. I got the ND filter after reading Flixelpix’s “the Long Exposure” e-book and love using it. With the camera I also got two extra Fuji batteries as that is one of the few disadvantages of the Fuji X system. But it’s a disadvantage that’s easily solved, you just need some spares when you go out. I always use the Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards, so I’m always sure the cards can handle the data when I’m shooting panoramas for instance. I carry my gear in small camerabag : the ONA Bowery Field Tan. This bag really has a clean styling and an incredibly high quality durable build. It’s a perfect fit for my Fuji X gear.

What hardware do you use?

My computer is the Dell 17R, a 17” Windows laptop. I prefer a laptop because I like to be able to process my images wherever I want to. I recently upgraded from a 15”screen to this 17”screen and that’s a big advantage using Lightroom. I keep my photos on a separate portable hard drive. I love apple products, so I also use my iPhone 5 and iPad to keep up with everything online. 

What software do you use?

Lightroom 5 is my main software to process my RAW images. I have used Photoshop in the past, but with the arrival of Lightroom 5 I have never used it. So when I got my current laptop, I never installed it. I have used several presets in Lightroom like VSCOfilm, Lite.ly and the Rebecca Lily Presets. These offer a great starting point in the processing of images. I recently started making my own set of presets. I want to start using only a few of them so I can have an easier processing and my work will be more cohesive. For my website I have been using a Squarespace website, which I recently upgraded with a new design. I plan to put more effort and time in my website and use less photosharing sites. Why Squarespace? It’s easy to use and it looks great. My .JPG photos are backed up to Flickr and Dropbox so I can always have access to them, wherever I am. It wouldn’t be the first time when clients ask me to re-send their images, with Dropbox I can do that with just a few clicks. I also save the .JPG and the original RAWs to my portable hard drive as a backup. On my iPhone I primarily process my photos with Mattebox, VSCOcam and Snapseed.

What would be your dream rig?

I’m actually quite happy with my current camera setup, but hey .. I’ve only had it for just a few weeks! I would like to get my hands on the X100s as a walk-around camera and the 56mm 1.2 lens I mentioned before. I am quite curious to the new X-Pro1 successor, but for now the X-E2 has got everything I need ánd is much smaller and faster than the X-Pro1 I owned before. I would love a new function in the Fuji X cameras, where it would captures three separate images with varied exposures and it would combine these in-camera, creating a single image with better dynamic range. I would love a 70-200mm f/2.8 and I wouldn’t mind a 1:1 macro lens .. I know Fuji will have great things for us in the future. We’ll see what ends up in my bag. And then there is that Hasselblad. I’ve always wanted to use a Hasselblad, but that’s something I hopefully will bump into in the future. It’s good to -not- own your dream camera.

What’s your favorite photography quote?

I’m not really a quote-person .. but this quote is very close to how I think about photography. For me all what matters is the final image. The beauty of it or the story it holds.  There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs – Ansel Adams