Michael Kooren

Michael Kooren

Based
Utrecht, The Netherlands
Born
Emmastad, Curacao
Status
Photographer
“I love it when my pictures make it to publication before everyone else’s.”

Beat

I cover everything in The Netherlands: sports, fashion, news, portraits and features.

One Shot

. Amsterdam, Netherlands. REUTERS/Michael Kooren
Participants are pictured on a barge during the annual Gay Canal Parade in Amsterdam.
“I like to think that you are only as good as your last images, so I have chosen one here from the latest Gay Pride Parade in Amsterdam. You can see participants and the general public watching the parade emerging from the smoke, which is lit up by sunshine through the trees.”

Profile

I’m a self-taught photographer, but I learnt the tricks of the trade while working with great colleagues – Acey Harper, John Moran, Bill Wax, Sandy Felsenthal and Erica Berger – for the Independent Florida Alligator, a student newspaper in Florida where I did an exchange program. After that, I went on to get a job as a staff photographer for a local newspaper in the Netherlands.

My first assignment for Reuters came when I was asked to cover the aftermath of an explosion at a fireworks depot in Enschede, a city in The Netherlands. After that, I began working on a regular basis for the agency.

The assignment that left the biggest mark on me was covering the 2010 World Cup. I was following the Dutch soccer team, who made it to the final, and I was assigned to photograph the World Cup trophy being presented to the winners. I was shooting with a massive lens - 800 mm – and the pressure was on. I shot seven images and I came through with flying colors. My picture made it into many publications, I was told.

Covering the World Cup is the assignment that excites me the most. Shooting tennis and other soccer tournaments is the icing on the cake.

I shoot pictures for a general audience: anyone who reads news in the papers, on the computer or on an iPad. I love it when my pictures make it to publication before everyone else’s.

I respect my Reuters colleagues: Eddie Keogh, Kai Pfaffenbach, Goran Tomasevic and so many others…

Behind the Scenes

. Netherlands. Guus Dubbelman
Reuters photographer Michael Kooren photographs Ban Ki-moon during a visit to the Peace Palace in the Hague.