In 2000 she received a BA in Social Work, and worked for 10 years as a refugee counselor. In 2008 she graduated with honors with a BA in Photography from the Photo Academy in Amsterdam. Her love for photography is what brought her to New York. She has worked as an editorial photographer for international newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Stern, Vrij Nederland, de Volkskrant.
She’s passionate about her long-term personal projects, creating portraits – through people and landscapes – of rarely seen communities. One of her projects is an ongoing portrait series, where she presents an insider’s view of everyday life of her adopted neighborhood: University Heights – an area in the South Bronx just south of Fordham Road.
Chantal carefully uses color and light. Using Rembrandt-like ochre and lustrous crimson lighting, her portraits breath the ambiance of the old Dutch Masters.
Chantal is also an educator. She gives individual portfolio reviews and works as a teacher at THE POINT in the South Bronx for the International Center of Photography (ICP).