Leen Thijsse grew up as the youngest of seven children in the Dutch fishing village of Scheveningen, where traditional clothing was still a part of daily life. The family home was always bustling, not just with his parents, two sisters, and four brothers, but also with visitors like the local accountant, a truck driver, or a mechanic, who often joined them for meals. “During prayer, I always had to stab my fork into the meatball, or one of my brothers would steal it from me.” Their home was situated above the office of his father’s trucking company, which he had inherited. Behind the house there were stables and sheds where horses, chickens, dogs, cats, and doves and donkeys roamed freely. “Though we lived in a fishing village, it felt a lot like a farm.”

As a child, he would play outside the house, gazing out at the fishermen and ships in the harbour. At night, he would listen to the wind rattling the masts, as the lighthouse’s beam projected both creative images and frightening shadows through his bedroom curtains on the walls. “One time, in the middle of the night, a whirlwind blew my balcony doors open. I had tied them to my bed with the cord of my bathrobe. So there I was, standing with my bed in the rain on the balcony.” Leen’s family lived close-knit lives. His uncle was their next-door neighbour, and his grandfather had built the six houses along the street that led to the yard, back when the area was still dominated by sand dunes, before the harbour was constructed. Around the corner lived his grandmother and one of his aunts. By the time he was twelve, Leen was spending Wednesday afternoons cleaning trucks in the yard, and even learning to drive them from the harbour to the washing station. He also picked up skills in welding, engine repair, and spray painting. School held little interest for him; he preferred working with his hands, a skill that would serve him well later in life. His homework was often done by his brothers.

As he grew older, Leen began accompanying the truck drivers on weekends and school vacations, delivering fish and other cargo to Belgium, France, and Germany. His mind wasn’t set on academic success or even climbing the career ladder. What Leen really craved was experience—especially the
chance to travel. Eventually, photography would become his gateway to seeing the world, offering him a unique perspective through the lens of his camera. “Photography was unknown to me but I always had stacks of travelbooks and I was fascinated by the art of printing.”

At just seventeen, Leen sets off on an adventure, travelling like a nomad for almost a year as he hitch-hikes across the United States and Canada, bound for Alaska. His journey takes him to Whitehorse, a remote Canadian city and the northernmost stop on the Greyhound Express. After being stuck by a snowstorm for three days in Whitehorse, he secures a ride to Anchorage, Alaska. Alongside two fellow travellers, they take turns keeping the truck driver awake as they pass through a surreal landscape.

When his funds start running low, Leen hitch-hikes to Whitehorse to catch the Greyhound back to New York. It is here, in the bustling city, that his love for the Big Apple began to emerge. However, when he attempts to collect his return ticket to Amsterdam, he discovers that the travel agency has gone bankrupt. Desperate, he heads to the Dutch embassy for help. As he waits, a taxi driver with long, hippie hair—who bears a resemblance to Leen himself—asks him where he’s heading.

‘Rockefeller Center, but I’m out of money,’ Leen admits.

‘Get in,’ says the driver, who once hitch-hiked across Europe himself. ‘You can’t walk there with a heavy backpack.’

Leen contacts his brother in The Netherlands, who manages to secure a first class ticket for him. After days of sleeping in the aisles of musty, crowded buses filled with smelly backpackers, the other people looked surprised to see the long-haired, smelly young man in first class. For Leen this luxurious end to his overseas adventure was an unexpected surprise.

Leen nailed the perfect shot, which would later be used in a massive panoramic billboard advertisement. It felt like more than just luck. It felt like a gift from above. From that moment, Leen realized that he didn’t just take photos; he receives them. This marks the start of an extraordinary career, with one monumental project after another for global brands like Renault, Audi, FedEx, Kikkoman and Bank of America. He even served as Tiger Woods’ personal photographer for three years and captured a helicopter shot over the Twin Towers—a photo that would later take on a profoundly different significance.

It would not be the only time that seemingly inexplicable events of great significance and prophetic character happen to Leen. He continually receives pieces of a puzzle depicting the course of his life, particularly during encounters with predominantly Indigenous people like a Mexican elder of an almost hidden tribe around the year 2000. After a car shoot for Jeep in New Mexico, Leen is called upon by the chief. In a ceremonial manner, he hands Leen a medium-sized bow and arrow. ‘This is for protection’, the chief whispers to him, instructing Leen to hang the object above the entrance of his house. A gift that would later take on another different significance.

As Leen’s reputation grows, he is increasingly commissioned for travel reports. While these jobs don’t always pay well, money isn’t his primary goal. “In the beginning, I had to juggle projects to advance my career. One job for the portfolio, the other for the money. Maybe that’s why I’ve always walked the line between location photography and commercial work.” It was a constant challenge to rise above his competitors. Leen begins living out his dream, traveling the world to capture breathtaking images in some of the most stunning locations and staying in luxurious hotels. His portfolio thickens, his fees increase, and he begins winning prestigious awards in The Netherlands, Germany, United States, England and China. For the magazine Elegance—the first glossy in The Netherlands— and Outside magazine he creates travel reports in Kenya, Finland, Indonesia, Iceland and England. In England Leen takes photographs of Stonehenge. “Waiting alone at Stonehenge to see the sun come up was a challenge for me, but the stones stayed cold until sunrise and I didn’t see any ghosts.”

Iceland becomes his favourite destination. The fountains, the mist, the everlasting summer days, the floating rocks of ice. “It’s a mystical world and has a unique atmosphere. Iceland is like a rock dropped in the ocean from outer space. It’s truly another planet.” He visits Asian temples and the Borobudur and castles in the British countryside. While working on the item In the Footsteps of William and Mary, Leen’s fascination with estates is born. He is impressed how the British preserve their estates and buildings, especially in the Cotswolds, where every structure is built from the same local stone. “Pictures become more like paintings.” He visits the estate where William and Mary once stayed during their pursuit of William’s father-in-law, and the gardener – “Who was more arrogant than the Lord” – shows him a Delft Blue vase from that era. He gets full support from the National Trust and with each project, Leen moves closer to his intended jobs, now surrounded by personal assistants and guides who help him uncover the most picturesque locations on his route to Scotland.

His life has transformed. At Howard Castle in York, Leen meets the friendly Lord – whose family have lived on the estate for over three hundred years – and gets assigned the Prince Charles Room, while his assistant is relegated to the basement, three floors below.

Despite his rising status as a photographer, Leen still occasionally assists Jan Francis. For a magazine he had taken a breathtaking photo of Miss Holland at the time. After an event Francis asked Leen to take her to the train station, but instead, she went home with him and they ended up staying together for five years. Their relationship ultimately ends when their lives become incompatible due to their busy schedule. Leen shifts his focus from The Netherlands to the United States. The Dutch market falls short of his ambitions. “In the U.S., art directors give you freedom. They hire you as the specialist and trust you to do your job. Such mentality is liberating. What you need is the best art director, a great idea, and enough money. In The Netherlands, international jobs were rare, and for location shoots, the weather made it nearly impossible. It’s like getting a tropical assignment and being sent to the Dutch island of Vlieland with plastic palm trees...”

Meanwhile Leen had purchased a house in Miami Beach and fifteen years after buying his studio on Lindenstraat 44 he had all but left Amsterdam behind and decided it was time to sell it. His real estate agent soon called with good news: an American buyer had made a solid offer. Leen set up an appointment to sign the contract at the notary’s office. But as Leen reviews the paperwork, he is stunned to see the name and signature of the buyer: John Boyler—the same man who had commissioned his first job in the USA over a decade ago. An incredible coincidence. Boyler had recently become the new creative director of Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam. John is now one of the founding members of 72 and Sunny. 

Leen is stunned and asks: “Is John here?”

The notary confirmed he is in the next room together with his family.

“Is it really you who wants to buys my studio, John?” When Leen confronts him, John laughs and says: “If I had known it was your studio, I would have offered less!”

“It was as if these kinds of events were scripted. Me and John have lost track of each other many times but we have always crossed paths again in surprising ways.”