Hellen van Meene’s website has a large selection of her gorgeous portraiture. It also has a brief F.A.Q. where she throws the book at a certain type of photography teacher.

A generic query from a student whose assignment is “to write about the technical aspects of the work [...] about how the print was made, the lens used or shutterspeed or type of print for example?” is followed by a long paragraph full of specifications (“Hellen van Meene makes her photos with a Rolleiflex 2.8F “Rollei-WERKE FRANKE & HEIDECKE 2,8F 2476084, Made in Germany”).

After that, she zeroes in on the true definition of photographic education:

Tell your teacher or whoever that these things really do not matter. Hellen started making photos on plastic snapshot camera she got from Santa Claus. She advises to get to know about color in the darkroom like she did, or simply by experimenting with Photoshop (like she does now, but based on what she learned among the chemicals in the darkroom). Learning to view the world like a photographer is the only thing that matters, not the hardware, film or settings used.

Amen.