Cheraine Collette was born in 1993, in a forest-side town in the east of the Netherlands. Cheraine Collette started drawing at the age of 3, the first subjects she would try to capture drawing were horses and other animals, quickly after which she would gain insights from her mother about mixing colours and how to draw in perspective by her brother.
From the age of 12, she started experimenting with one of the earliest Photoshop suites (CS1), accompanied with a digital painting tablet and brush, which was all introduced by her father. She instantly used it to paint and to layer- and manipulate her photographs. She finished her education in Photographic Design at the Fotovakschool, University of Applied Photography in 2015.
Cheraine Collette’s work is dedicated to showing the constant battle between nature and humanity, the beauty and vulnerability of nature, and historic buildings. To inspire future generations to preserve both our natural heritage and also our cultural heritage. Her work can be summarized in three ways – Authentic, Imaginative, and a longing for beauty.
She longs for the unexplored. Cheraine Collette’s work covers every aspect of photographic production, from photographing- to manipulating and digitally painting her images. In her photography, you will often find fauna, which she has photographed in their own natural habitat, to make the audience more aware that fauna can be left in peace for the final photograph. Essentially, she creates imaginary worlds from scratch. Composed of photographed parts of nature and locations across the globe.
Since 2019, in the course of 1,5 year, Cheraine Collette has won 84 prizes in total consisting out of 1- overall winner, 8 -1st prizes, 2 – 2nd prizes, 4 – Gold, 2 – Silver, and 63 – honourable mention & Highly Commended in internationally acclaimed photography competitions such as the International Photography Awards (IPA), the Prix de la Photographie Paris(PX3), the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards (2020), the Pollux Awards, the Siena International Photo Award (SIPA), and more.
She published her first book with a multi-award-winning body of work in 2020. She continues her practice currently in her studio in Otterlo, the Netherlands.
