Maud Fernhout is a 20-year-old student at University College Utrecht, originally from Amsterdam.
She'd been doing photography work for about a year when she started thinking about topics tied into social issues that she wanted to tackle.
"A true feminist at heart, the one-dimensional and objectified portrayal of women in media came to mind pretty quick," she said.
Fernhout decided to photograph women laughing out loud naturally "to oppose the stiff, emotionless look we often see on models with one full of character and individuality."
She called the project "What Real Woman Laugh Like."
Fernhout asked her subjects to come in pairs or groups so that they would be less nervous.
"Then I'd just talk with them and laugh with them naturally or put some weird Youtube videos on," she said.
If that didn't work, she asked them to fake laugh until they began laughing at themselves.
Fernhout feels that there is still a stigma surrounding the way women express joy.
This leads women to suppress their laughter or cover their faces with their hands, something she says men don't do as often.
"Just picture your brother, dad, or any other male figure in your life, laughing loudly with their hands in front of their faces," she said.
She hopes the series will encourage other women not to hold back.
"I feel there is a discrepancy when girls are simultaneously told to smile, but not laugh," she said.
"It makes us feel that teeth and wrinkles are not feminine, are not beautiful."
"Well, here are some girls who will show you different."
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