Caro Bonink graduated as a photo journalist from the FotoAcademie Amsterdam in 2002. Before becoming a photographer she worked as a urban geographer in the field of spatial planning. Urban geography therefore forms an important theme in her work, particularly in her commissions for different local councils in Amsterdam and the Parool newspaper. Caro looks beyond the headlines and takes time to investigate interesting stories in the Netherlands and internationally. She is particularly interested in social themes.

The Netherlands
Caro collaborated for three years with Frenk der Nederlanden, making photos every day for his column in the Parool newspaper (see the serie on this site). This work will soon be available in the photo book ‘Licht op Amsterdam’ (Light on Amsterdam). Caro also undertakes journalist work via the Hollandse Hoogte agency, and has published in many national newspapers and magazines. She is an official photographer at Schiphol Airport and works yearly at the Pasar Malam Besar. Recently she has collaborated with Guus Bauer, writer and journalist and her photos have appeared alongside his interviews with famous foreign writers in the Belgian national newspaper de Standaard. Caro also writes a photo column for ‘Vrouwen voor Vrede’ (Women for Peace). 


Abroad
In recent years Caro has worked on reports about human trafficking, the red light district in Amsterdam and sex tourism. Together with Ruth Hopkins she worked with women in Albania, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. Ruth’s book about human trafficking, accompanied by Caro’s photos, was published in 2005. Articles on the women interviewed appeared in national newspapers and magazines and were exhibited  by Newsphoto. In summer 2006 she accompanied journalist Edwin Schoon to the Philipines to cover stories on the sex industry and sexual exploitation of children.

The retrospective exhibition ‘Light and Shadow’ exposed the whole range of her photos, from the lighter side of her work with Frenk der Nederlanden to the dark side of human trafficking. In 2007 she taught photography to children in Takoradi, Ghana and in Amsterdam for the organisation ToBe Worldwide. An exhibition about this work in planned for 2009. This April she visited Angola with journalist Femke van Zeijl and reports from this trip were published in national newspapers and magazines.