New Work: Fleur

I recently had the opportunity to photograph the smart and stunningly beautiful Fleur who has her eyes set on a modeling career in the near future. I for one have no doubts whatsoever that she will achieve whichever goal she sets her eyes on. The future is female!:)

Listening to a lot of Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand’s first record.

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New Work; it’s a nice day for a white wedding

Most shoots I’ve done over the past years are either one-on-one or couple / band shoots, but they’re hardly ever weddings. I feel they require a special skill and I’m not sure if that’s where my forte lies. Plus, I really enjoy the intimacy of smaller shoots and having more control over the setting itself.

Yet when Annamarie and Bas contacted me about a month ago to talk about their upcoming wedding day I was intrigued, and as soon as they mentioned Tiengemeten I gladly accepted the job. I mean, shooting a wedding on a small island? Count me in for sure!

We arrived on Tiengemeten a couple of hours before the other guests and I used that time to scope out the location, find the best spot to shoot the actual ceremony and a pre-wedding couple shoot.

As you can see the day started of quite overcast, but fortunately the sun broke though the clouds later that day. It was lovely, loving and celebratory day and massive congratulations to the new mr and mrs!

 

New Work: Alice

I recently did a quick photoshoot with one of my colleagues, Alice, who needed some new LinkedIn headshots. As we lived nowhere near each other, but obviously worked in the same place, we decided to use the downstairs restaurant as a perfect place to shoot. Neither of us wanted to convey a restaurant vibe which is why we decided to stick to the outer edges of the space, steering clear of tables and the clientele. Here she is perched on a little bench next to the window with a simple, narrow wall behind her. I’m not usually a fan of big smiley pictures, but I thought she looked she looked really pretty and genuine in this one.

She got a new job pretty soon after this shoot.:)

New Work: Diana

I am not sure how things changed, but change they did:) This whole year has been super busy and there is still lots more to do even though the year is drawing to a close fast. At the moment, I’m rounding off one shoot and preparing another one for later this week. The initial two week Instagram take over at the CX Company has morphed into me being one of their official Instagrammers. And, of course, there’s still the hunt for a new apartment.

As for new work, about three weeks ago, I was approached by Schrijf-Schrijf to shoot four different portraits of Diana. She was interviewed for the “KansenKrant” and they needed some accompanying photographs. I met up with her at her office in the Bijlmer, Amsterdam. The office was a little on the dark side simply due to the autumn weather, so we did most of the work outside in the parking lot.

Listening to: Neil Young

New Work – NZa

About two months ago I was asked by Utrecht based graphic design company Taluut to shoot several portraits for the Nza (Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit which roughly translates into the Dutch Healthcare Authority). When I started the final design hadn’t been decided on yet and so we thought it best to shoot in both portrait and landscape style. Naturally, a square design was chosen in the end;) Unfortunately, not all the portraits made it into the report. Here are a few of my favorites that didn’t make the cut.

It was a fun assignment that took me all across the Netherlands in a very short amount of time. Driving across the NL in autumn with the radio blasting… there are definitely worse ways to spend your day:)

Right now I am working on a few different assignments amongst which another series of 3 portraits for 3 different magazines published by FCB. More to follow soon…

Listening to: Kitty, Daisy & Lewis and Courtney Barnett

New Work: I’m where you are

A couple of months ago, a really good friend of mine came to visit the Netherlands together with his beautiful, and pregnant, wife. I had the pleasure of spending time with them and photographing them at his parents house. It’s been quite a few years since I did my last pregnancy shoot and this was only the 4th ever.

It’s so cool to see a friend again after both of us lived abroad for a couple of years and to see him now as a married man and parent-to-be.

I did not realize it at the time of the shoot, but things changed for me as well. The shoot brought me out of a photography funk and general career doubt. Less than two weeks later I started a new job; in a new line of work and in a new city. Change is apparently good as photography work has been flowing since as well:)

There was one thing in particular that stuck in my mind all through last year; somebody told me that trying to get somewhere in the photography business can feel like wading through heavy, sticky mud and you may get stuck for a while, but you’ll never reach the other side unless you continue. Well, that was pretty much my mantra for the entire year;)

About a month after the shoot a beautiful baby girl was born. Good days, indeed:)

Listening to Shocking Blue, Black Hotels and Daryll-Ann

Swanlights Tshepo Moche

 Why don’t we try the big knife? It seemed like a good idea. Oranges, pineapples, a blender, a pan. Not just any pan, an orange frying pan. The knife was only because the dog didn’t like to be held.

 

We are in a gorgeous house in the Bo-Kaap and I am doing a shoot with Tshepo Moche, a young AFDA student who will graduate this November. I really wanted someone at the beginning of their career as well just to show the whole process. And I hadn’t photographed anyone in the city yet so this was a wonderful opportunity to do so. You can’t really tell by the photos that it is in the city but I know and that’s enough for now.

 

No, we did not need the knife because the dog didn’t want to be held. The idea was for Tshepo to be this bored house wife holding smokes and a cute blond doggie. The doggie didn’t like it and the house was smoke free so we nixed the idea.

 

I struggled a little bit with the light. I like using just natural light and I have been doing so throughout this project and didn’t want to change that. I managed though. We shot in the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen and back to the living room again.

 

The awesome news is that we have also started working on a video for this project. Cait Pansegrouw and Pierre de Villiers are shooting it and I am so lucky to have them on board. It will be so cool and can’t wait to see what the final product will look like:-)

I haven’t done much all morning. Just emailed a bit, sent through interviews from last week and edited one photo. Ai. Time to go out for a run.

The rest of the week will see me editing the photos from yesterday and a couple still more to do from Lauren’s shoot as well. I may do a shoot on Thursday but that’s still up in the air. I will pay a visit to the Museum Gallery once again to go over the press release and set  things up properly tomorrow. I will likely meet up with Tshepo after that so we can do the Swimming Upstream interview. We never got round to it yesterday. Too many knives, oranges, coffees, baths and playing dress up to distract us. It was a cool day.

The photo above is just an outtake from yesterday’s shoot. The title comes from Antony & the Johnsons new album. I don’t really like them but I like the title:-)