Mireille Duiven

Tell us about your career?

I am a brand creative and art photographer. I connect people to beauty. I do that in different ways. Through my company Lucky Lois I help entrepreneurs with visual branding. When you are inspired, want to make an impact, and communicate this distinctly and stylishly, then you take yourself, your work, and your customers seriously. That makes the world a more beautiful place.

With Lois in space, I make art photography for your home or workplace. Beauty is in everyday materials, nature, shape, and color. It is the source of my inspiration and tells stories with it that leave room for the imagination.

I also teach at Academy Artemis in Amsterdam. I try to impart my love for creativity and beauty to the students. To encourage them to look at things differently.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

I am happy. This is due to at least two important things.

With my knowledge and skills, I can make other people happy. I am grateful that I have followed my heart and arranged my life to do what makes me happy.

But it is also that I have been able to give the sadness of not having children a place. I went through the fertility process for two years. Then, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. I had surgery for it, but I couldn’t keep up the treatments any longer. It cost me too much joy in life. So the pain of not having children remained, and I had to find a way to deal with it.

I decided at one point that I didn’t want to become an embittered woman and that I wanted to enjoy the children around me. My nieces and nephew, children of friends, and my stepson. Of course, the sadness is there too. Every now and then, it surfaces unexpectedly. Then, when watching a loving family scene in a movie or on the street, that painful spot is suddenly touched. Then I have to cry very hard. I allow that to happen. Of course, I do walk away from the scene, but the sadness is allowed to be there. It no longer dominates my life.

Teaching also fulfills a primal urge or desire, or however, you want to call it. The students can be my children in terms of age. I can give them something, and they provide something to me. They can move me, make me laugh, and their wisdom inspires me. They have no idea how happy it makes me when they say that it was fun teaching aer a block!

What’s the best and worst part of getting older for you?

I like that I feel more and more confident. I know myself better and better. I know better which situations I like and which I don’t like. I can choose better. I used to do things I thought I should do. That remains a learning process even now.

What is less beautiful about getting older is that my body changes. But I have resolved not to let that affect me. At any age, you can look wistfully at how you used to look. So in 10 years, I’ll probably be thinking, “What was I worried about back then?” So I better be happy with how I look now.

And I love having role models. So to do that, I make mood boards with pictures of women about how I want to feel and how I can look when I’m older. And also, you helped me with And Bloom to create a beautiful picture of the future. So take care of yourself, put on something beautiful and enjoy life!

Favorite thing to do when no one is around?

When I am photographing, I like to be alone. Then I am in my creative bubble. I can then feel like when I used to play as a child. Being in the now, complete freedom and making something beautiful where you can invent a whole story. I love it.

I have peace about myself and am in the middle of life. I have a large garden with lots of flowers and grasses. People come by to buy an art piece, to chat, or to eat something nice. And there is a trip coming up to see a great exhibition somewhere.

If you could turn back time, what would you do differently?

I should have stood up for myself much better during the fertility process. There was a very long fixed trajectory at the hospital where I was treated. This did not fit my situation. I later heard from other women in the same condition that it can be done differently. Then it was too late. But again, I have overcome that. It is okay.