Pro photographer Wesley Verhoeve loves getting solo hobbyists together as a community

Wesley Verhoeve is an independent curator, writer, and most notably photographer whose images have appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, Wired, Volkskrant, and New York Magazine. After years working abroad, the Limburg native can call the Netherlands home again.

Now based in Amsterdam, Wesley splits his time between commissioned work for publications and companies, personal and curatorial projects, and helping fellow photographers define and share their own stories. He is the creator of Process, a widely read weekly newsletter about photography and creative work, which blends personal storytelling with thoughtful insight and practical tools.

Verhoeve sat down with the Dam Yankee podcast, in partnership with NL Times, to talk about career pivots, documenting the road less traveled, and the popular events he hosts for photographers around the world.

Dam Yankee: Before photography, you were working in the music industry. What caused the shift?

Wesley Verhoeve: I worked in music for 10 years and after those 10 years, I was just kind of done with it in terms of... I think in hindsight, we now maybe would call it a 'small burnout.' And it was more about the politics and the social aspects of the music industry. It's very kind of toxic, strange, politicky environment.

Over the course of three years, I sort of accidentally segued to photography, I was very happy doing that. I was a little bit tired of the music industry. I was running a label at the time that I also owned, still own. It was a very small company, but closing the office down allowed me for the first time to really like travel the US properly because I was just doing LA, New York, LA, New York, LA, New York.

So I picked these 12 cities and I had this idea that I wanted to see what the creative communities were like there. And I started chatting with some people and photographing them and then it got completely out of hand. And across those 12 cities, I photographed and interviewed 600 creative people. And then that was a project that I started putting out and it got sponsored.

So in the process of that segue moment from music to photography, I realized how much energy I was getting from being able to follow my curiosity and meet these people and learn from them and see what was going on and what's so special about, for instance, Charleston, South Carolina. Turns out lots of things.

DY: Growing up in Limburg, did you always have a fascination with America?

WV: Well, I also first want to acknowledge the fact that, of course, it's also a huge privilege of mine that I got to, because of my job, do all that traveling. The fascination is because as a child, my two main interests culturally were comic books, which are always set in New York, and rap music.

Rap is not only from New York, but that is where it started and the part of the genre that I was most interested in. And then of course there's movies. It's really like the soft power of American culture through entertainment and culture.

DY: You host these events called photo walks and you've got one coming up. Tell us what people can expect from them.

WV: The photo walks are kind of a result of my desire to bring people from my newsletter readership together in person. It's a newsletter really mostly for photographers, but also other kinds of visual creatives in general. And as it goes, most people in the photography world are towards the introspective, shy side of things.

So oftentimes it's also quite a solitary hobby or job because it's just like a thing that you do by yourself. And the more we put people together, the more we learn together, the more we enjoy the craft together. And it's just like the social element of the craft gets really enhanced.

So instead of, you know, Johnny or Kim walking by themselves through the city, we get together with 60, 70, 80 people and walk around for a couple hours. And it's not really about the photography on that day. But people, of course, all bring their cameras, they're taking pictures, they get to nerd out. But it's about the social aspect. And then that's very satisfying to see people form friendships.

Then later when I see on their Instagram story, like two weeks later, people are hanging out and they're making a zine together or whatever it might be. So it's really just here's this group of people that do a thing creatively by themselves. Let's throw them all together.

Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the full videos on YouTube. Verhoeve goes on to geek out on cameras from the 60s, talks about growing up surrounded by art books, and explains his lack of formal training.

Verhoeve prides himself on realizing his work outside of the internet and into physical form. If you’d like to see his photos in real life, his new exhibition opened on June 13 at Photo Festival Naarden and will run through July 6. Tickets can be purchased for 9.75 euros.

He is hosting a photo walk in Amsterdam on that same date. The event is currently at capacity but it is still possible to join the waiting list. Those who snag a spot will be treated to the Dutch premiere of Or Something, a feature film about a long walk through New York City.