There were three distinct periods in the life of Ed van der Elsken. The first period was when he stayed in Paris from 1950 to 1955, a period in which he shared his life with the female photographer Ata Kandó. During those years, he directed his camera at a group of intellectual ‘hangabouts', making coarse-grained black and white photos. The picture novel Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint-Germain-des Prés (Love on the Left Bank), dated 1956, was based on their shared adventures and immediately brought him international fame.

After returning to Amsterdam, a period of extensive travelling commenced, starting with a stay in French Equatorial Africa in 1957, which resulted in the delightful book Bagara (1958). In the years 1959 and 1960, he made a journey around the world with his second wife Gerda van der Veen. It was not until 1966 that the photo book that he had intended to make of this journey (Sweet Life) was finally published. In the intervening years, Van der Elsken concentrated on making films. His filmed self-portrait De verliefde camera (The infatuated camera) was awarded the Staatsprijs voor Filmkunst (State Prize for cinematography) in 1971, but also meant the end of his second marriage.

From 1971 until his death in 1990, Van der Elsken lived in Edam with Anneke Hilhorst; this was a period in which he travelled to Japan several times and published a number of photo books in color. When he was diagnosed with an incurable disease in 1988, he said farewell to his life and his audience with the moving film Bye (1990).

Ed van der Elsken's life revolved around the camera - with himself at the center. But he never hid behind it and used the camera, in particular, to make contact with his ‘adversaries'. As of the 1950s, he broke with existing visual conventions in photography and films enabling him to develop into one of most prominent Dutch makers of moving and still images in the second half of the 20th century.

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