Hendrik Kerstens (born 1956, The Hague, The Netherlands) did not receive formal artistic training. However, driven by a desire to pursue a more creative path, he left the business world in 1995 at the age of forty to devote himself fully to photography. During this transition, his wife Anna supported the family financially, allowing Kerstens to study photography while caring for their young daughter, Paula—a reversal of traditional roles that profoundly shaped both his personal and artistic life.Fatherhood left a lasting mark on Kerstens. Through photography, he began to explore his feelings of responsibility, vulnerability, and deep affection toward Paula, initially capturing intimate, documentary-style images of their everyday life. As Paula matured, both physically and emotionally, Kerstens sought new artistic ways to express this evolution. This search led him to reinterpret the timeless aesthetics of the 17th-century Dutch Masters, transforming his daughter into the central subject of a contemporary dialogue with classical portraiture.Hendrik Kerstens lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
