Instagram Influencer Spotlight On: Quinten Thijs @quintenthijss

1) Tell us a little about yourself. What are you doing now and where do you come from?

I am a 20-year old Belgian with a passion for traveling, nature and exploring the world.
One year ago I started making photos to try to show my travels and the way I view things.
Photography makes it possible for me to show people how beautiful the world can be.
My goal is to take a normal shot everyone takes, but to make it a little bit different, more creative, more special. I always try to shoot in good weather conditions with a lot of sunshine. The ultimate thing I want to achieve is when people look at my gallery, they want to go traveling or want to explore!

2) What are your topics of interest? What do you post on Instagram the most?

I post travel pictures from places I visit with a big love for nature.
This can be a beautiful landscape, but also a roadtrip van, sunsets or beautiful cities.
My Instagram shows photos which will make people want to go on vacation.

3) How did your Instagram name come about?

It’s just my real name Quinten Thijs.
When I wanted to create my Insta, it appeared I already made an account once, but couldn’t delete it. That’s why I add another ‘s’ to my name: quintenthijss.
I choose not to create a fantasy name, but prefer people to remember my real name. That’s why my Instagram name is also my real name.

4) What are some apps you use to edit your photos? Share with us your photo-editing routine!

I bought Adobe Lightroom. That’s the software I use for almost all of my photos. It’s not my intention to create a whole new image, but to apply slight edits. Created my own presets, I am able to add a little bit of sunlight to my photos, to get the warm/summer feeling pictures I want to show.
The only app I use next to Lightroom is VSCO cam. Mostly after applying my own preset, I add a soft VSCO-filter on top to finish the picture.
The Hypebeast x VSCO filters are the ones I use the most, since it gives a soft and light effect to the photos. But once again, it’s not my intention to be an editing-artist. I’m much rather a photographer who makes his pictures a little bit better with his own Lightroom presets and sometimes a VSCO filter on top.

5) Any Instagrammers whom you really like? Which Instagrammer inspires you the most?

Since I want to get a summerfeeling feed with soft and warm tones, photographers with this kind of feed inspire me the most.
One of my absolute favorites is Samuel Elkins (@samuelelkins). He is young but amazingly talented photographer based in San Francisco who takes portraits in beautiful sunny conditions, but he also shoots when it’s pouring rain. Combining portraits and beautiful nature, he always manages to create something unique.
Next to him I really like Jason Charles Hill (@jasoncharleshill), Sam Dameshek (@sam_dameshek), Emily Ristevski (@helloemilie) and Lauren Bullen (@gypsea-lust). All of these photographers make me wanna explore and go out.
Ofcourse I mustn’t forget @scottborrero, @brahmino and the talented @haylsa.
In general, the artist with a soft, warm and sunny feed who inspire others to travel and explore, are my favorites. I’m mostly grateful to be able to learn so much from watching their galleries.

6) If there’s one thing your fellow Instagrammers just gotta try now, what’s it gonna be?

Go out and explore!
Some people just gotta learn how to travel. People my age are always working, sitting behind their computer or smartphone, or just stay inside. In my opinion they’re wasting their youth, since this is THE time of your life to explore the world.
That’s why I started using Instagram, to make other’s warm to go traveling and go outside.
At home you’re just the normal person you are everyday. When traveling abroad, you can be whoever you want to be!
My favorite quote to explain this is: “Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.” This says it all!

7) What’s your favorite part about being an influencer?

Definitely, as the word ‘influencer’ says it, to have a positive influence on people. When people tell me they visited a certain place because of my photos, that’s the ultimate achievement. People going out and creating the wanderlust and the desire to travel, because of my photos, that’s my biggest goal and definitely my favorite part about influencing on Instagram.

8) What are some of your top tips to brands for running campaigns? How do you maintain authenticity?

Create your own style!
You can always look at other artist to get some inspiration, that’s something I do too, but it’s so important to be yourself and creating your own thing. If you like it, do it!
The best possible achievement for a brand running campaigns is people recognising your brand just because of the certain style. In photography it’s the same thing: when you see a photo without the artist’s name, but you can immediately tell who made it, that’s the best thing a photographer can achieve.
So if you see a campaign spot from a company which is not mentioned, but you name the company just by seeing that particular style of creating, the campaign is perfect.
My advice: create your own thing, be authentic and people will love your thing so much more. You are you for a reason, not to copy from others!

9) What would your advice be on the importance of quality and original content?

As I mentioned above: everyone is different and that’s just how it’s supposed to be. Why copying others if you also can create your own style?
There are so many artists these days, you have to be different.
Do what you love and you’ll love what you do!

10) What do you like best about partnering with brands?

Partnering with brands is a beautiful chance to create relationships. The best part about it is that both the brand AND the artist benefit from the collaboration, so everyone wins.
Brands giving young artist the chance to grow and be a long-term advantage for the company is for me the best marketing strategy possible.
There are so many brands that only collaborate with big artists who already proved to be talented and well-known. I like smaller brands who work together with small starting/young artists and photographers. When both parties show eachother’s name and work together on the long-term, it could be such a beautiful relationship.
Young talent deserves so much more support.

Topics:

• Nature & Outdoors
• Photography
• Travel

Country:

Belgium