Welcome! How nice that you’re taking a look inside my autistic mind. Well, I try to show through my photography how I experience the world. My name is Tommy Metten. I live together with my girlfriend, 2 kids and 2 cats in the heart of Amsterdam. Creativity is very important within our family, but so is who you are, your personality, and being allowed to be who you are. From experience, I know how important it is to be able to be who you are. In 2024 I have had an autism diagnosis. This did not simply come my way, but because I was not doing well mentally at that time, the psychologist treating me suggested that we explore together whether I am autistic. Well, “am”, I think, is more accurate. The diagnosis and guidance have given me a lot of understanding and also clarity about who I am, what I was like as a child, what my teenage years were like, and all the years after that.

Autism plays a big role in my life. Not that I function defectively, but it affects my experience, how I receive stimuli, doing things and interacting with others. From my perspective, there is too little understanding of this among people without autism, and I am regularly misunderstood or people take my needs into account in ways that do not feel good to me. I am still learning about myself every day, which is probably something every person experiences, but that is an assumption. See how easily that happens, imagining yourself in someone else’s position. Fortunately, I notice that at my kids’ school, there is an increasing focus on the individual and on taking this into account. My wish is also that people with neurodiversity are listened to more and more.

In 2023, I decided to start the basic photography course at FotoAcademie Amsterdam. This turned the spark that had always been inside me, but had never really been able to come out because of school and my surroundings. A real passion for photography was born. I started with street photography, just to give it a name. Personally, I do not really like putting labels on things. I have had a lot of fun photographing on the streets and, through this, gained more experience. But I felt that I was missing tools that I needed to develop further as a photographer. Because of this, in 2024 I decided to start the Conceptual Photography course at FotoAcademie Amsterdam. The first year taught me so much about photography, but not just photography. It also taught me about who I am as a photographer/person. After the first year, I decided to continue my journey on my own. This journey has had its ups and downs, which caused me to lose my way for a while, in the sense of: what do I want to do with my photography?

This has led me to wanting to be an autonomous photographer. I also want to use my work to try to translate what autism means to me and how I see the world and society, in a way that is not overly serious or political. I find it important to tell a story or touch a feeling with my photography. I also enjoy the challenge of letting people think for themselves about what they see and not being too concrete in the titles I give my images. I notice in myself that life rushes past you, and because of this you forget to stop and take a moment to appreciate the beautiful moments in life. This also includes enjoying art and creativity in all its forms. I notice that presenting my work in black and white really attracts me, but I do not want this to be leading, so I also work in colour. But you will not come across colour too often.I find presenting an image in black and white a good way to keep the subject leading, while colour can sometimes demand too much attention.