Ed van der Elsken, enfant terrible of Dutch photography, captured his encounters with people in photographs, photo books and films for more than 40 years. He started photographing in the late 1940s, so his photography spans the period from World War II to the 1970s. Although at first glance Van der Elsken's work appears to be documentary photography, he had a subjective style in which reality and imagination intermingle. Thus, he also photographed imitated or created realities such as dioramas, wax figures, and posters, in which one may, at times, discover a socially critical view. Van der Elsken’s approach was confrontational, embracing the bright as well as the darker sides of human life. The unconventional technique and the gritty snapshot-like quality of his work have been of great importance in the development of contemporary photography.