Bio
Thomas Van Den Driessche was born in Leuven in 1979. After working for several years for the International Committee of the Red Cross, he became a freelance photographer and co-founded the branding and content agency Studio Fiftyfifty (2014–2025). He has collaborated regularly with magazines and newspapers of the international press, including Le Monde, Monocle, Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur, The New York Times and The Guardian.
Deeply rooted in the documentary tradition, his photography is often frontal and tries to dissect reality, with particular attention paid to the portrait. His projects deal with contemporary India and its rapid industrialisation, and with the post-industrial territory of Charleroi and the complex mutations of identity in this Belgian city.
His work has been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, the Images Singulières festival in Sète, the Boutographies in Montpellier, the Circulation(s) festival in Paris, the International Biennial of Photography and Visual Arts of Liège, the FORMAT festival in Derby, the Hamburg Photo Triennial and the Images festival in Vevey.
In 2013 he was nominated twice for the Prix Pictet. His first book, “How to be a photographer in four lessons”, was published by André Frère Éditions in 2013 and launched at the Grand Palais during Paris Photo. In it, he pretends to teach photography in a very personal way, with a gentle irony that highlights the stereotypes and excesses of certain trends in contemporary photography.
Some of his work is part of the collections of the Centre Pompidou and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
He was a member of the jury of the Humanitarian Visa d’Or in 2011 and of the Boutographies festival in 2014.
Thomas lives and works in Waterloo, Belgium.
- 1979Born in Leuven, Belgium.
- 2010Laureate of the PX3 international photography prize in Paris, again in 2011. The Shift shown at the BnF and Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris.
- 2011Jury member of the Humanitarian Visa d’Or.
- 2012Welcome to Tata City at the Circulation(s) festival in Paris and at Fotografia Europea, Reggio Emilia.
- 2013Twice nominated for the Prix Pictet. First book, How to Be a Photographer in Four Lessons, published by André Frère Éditions and launched at Paris Photo. Shown at the Rencontres d’Arles and Images Singulières, Sète.
- 2014Strangely Dampremy exhibited at the BnF, Paris, with the Bourse du Talent. Jury member of the Boutographies, Montpellier.
- 2015How to Be a Photographer at the Hamburg Photo Triennial and the Łódź Fotofestiwal.
- 2016The Centre Pompidou acquires the eleven original pages and cover of the How to Be a Photographer notebook for its collection.