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

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Be Sweet

Greg Dulli’s voice is filling up my room. Nice. No one can beg and plead in such a seductive way as he can. Well some, but not a lot:) This should help my mood on this dreary, grey December day. Oh well. Bears have the right idea – hibernation.

At the close of 2011 I entered the Mono Competition by Gomma Books and filed an application for an artist residency in Cape Town. Fingers crossed it will work out:)

For you photographers out there the Sony World Photographers – Open Competition is also still open. The deadline is on January 4, 2012. And kudos to Gomma Books and Sony for not charging an entry fee.

I don’t know about you, but I am totally ready for 2011 to be over and 2012 to start. I just know adventures are waiting:)

The title comes from the album ‘Gentlemen’ by, you guessed it, the Afghan Whigs.

The photo above is one of Lauren Fowler, a hugely talented illustrator from Cape Town. You can see her work at www.laurenfowler.co.za

Jamal Thomas Band

I was very fortunate to be asked to do a photo shoot with the Jamal Thomas Band a little while ago. Jamal Thomas (1954, U.S.A.) is a drummer who has shared the stage with  Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire), The S.O.S band and to this day still tours with Maceo Parker.

In 2009 Jamal met the young talented drummer Alex Bernath and decided to form the Jamal Thomas band.

For more information about the band visit their website http://www.jamalthomas.com

Up up updated

I updated my website www.kathalijne.com. There are new photos in all sections, like the one below of Lauren Fowler which is found under the Portrait tab. You can find work made in France together with a few portraits in New, there’s Guy Buttery and DJ Akio in Music and work made in South Africa under the Travel tab.

… have a look if you like:)

Mind Bokeh

just a post to tell you I updated the “new” section on my website, www.kathalijne.com. Have a look and tell your friends about it:)

And… I have a plan. A cunning plan. Call me Baldrick:)

Lastly, I wanted to tell you quickly about a few blogs I love: Nowness, Burn Magazine and the British Journal of Photography.

The title for this post comes from the new Bibio album, indeed called Mind Bokeh. Loved the title, hate the cover.

And oh yeah… will need some “thinking help”… so get in touch:)

The Fire That Never Happened

The last week of February is turning out to be a week of photography, uhm, decisions.  Artists Wanted announced the winners of their Year in Review competition this week. The big prize goes to artist duo Jennifer Catron and Paul Outlaw. Congratulations to them! They will be announcing about another dozen prizes later this week but I’m not holding my breath. If I remember correctly, Foto Festival Naarden will also be announcing the nominees. I am so keen to learn if I’ve been nominated… Fingers crossed y’all:)

The big thing for me though this week, was being able to show my portfolio to the picture editor of ELLE Magazine. I was very excited about it and quite nervous as well. The fact that the trains weren’t running on time at all didn’t help matters much. There had been a fire alarm earlier that morning for a fire that never happened. It sounds almost romantic, “the fire that never happened”.

Somehow, I managed to make it to Amsterdam 45 minutes early but that was cool. That way I could just walk through the city, get to where I had to be, get a coffee and relax in the winter sun.  After having been seriously and embarrassingly late for my first Swimming Upstream interview with photographer  Neil John Smith last year, I am determined to arrive to the scene early so I can wait for a bit and pitch up on time. And yes, I reported to the reception desk perfectly on time:) I was met by the editor in the hall way and we made our way, coffee in hand, to a little room just next to the staff room where we just chatted about the magazine and my photography. She asked me a bunch of questions, like what do I like to photograph etc.

And naturally, we went through my portfolio. I always feel a little awkward doing that, and probably either talk too much or too little. There was positive and negative criticism but it was always constructive and interesting. The photos of Strato and Hendrik Vermeulen that were taken for Swimming Upstream were clear favorites, together with a portrait of SA writer Catriona Ross and the father/daughter duo on the couch that I took in Muizies two years ago.

Another thing that was very interesting  was going through the new issue while looking at the photography specifically. There is a whole item about Dutch fashion photographers and ai, I need to brush up on my knowledge that’s for sure!

I can easily tell you all about Robert Capa and Robert Frank or about Stieglitz, Steichen, Avedon and Weston. Or about Anton Corbijn, Niels van Iperen, Stephan van Fleteren, Charles Peterson, Roger Ballen or Liam Lynch and Deborah Rossouw for that matter.  I can go on and on about what it is that  those photographers do that I admire and how they inspire me. Yet, I can hardly tell you anything about Dutch fashion photography. Sure, we’re good with light. And yes, naturally, there’s world-renowned and iconic photographer’s duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin… I know about  Wendelien Daan, Viviane Sassen and Paul Bellaart but that’s about it. I’m sure I can come up with some more if I think about it, but ja,  I sure need to catch up on my knowledge of Dutch fashion photography. Fast.

The meeting ended after about 40 minutes or so and will be continued, I’ve been told:)

Oh and I like the video for new Dutch band Happy Camper. Happy Camper is more of a project than a band, I think. Musician Job Roggeveen asked 11 Dutch singers to come into the studio and sing his songs. The video they made for Born With A Bothered Mind is quite cute I thought.

Parkwood Maximum Balloon

I was all set to go for a jog just now. And right when I got dressed for it and did my warming up things it started pissing down with rain. Yes, pissing down…  So here I am, all set with Adidas and Asics ready to go. Guess not. It seems like a good opportunity to blog a little about last Tuesday’s photo shoot. What can I tell you, I had a great time. I met Miss Eavesdrop at her home in Parkwood and we just wandered around her neighborhood stopping randomly at different places to take pictures. Places that appealed to me for whatever reason; a big 28 sign on a house, a concrete playground, beautiful red earth with a blue truck on it. Stuff like that. Whatever works, right?  

 

I had never been to Parkwood and that’s totally one of the best things about what I do; I get to go places I otherwise wouldn’t go and I gave a chance to meet all sorts of cool people. It’s awesome:-)

   

 On photo shoot days you never know if you’ll end up crawling along train tracks, inside a burnt out train or have your model’s feet eaten by pigs:-) And all that not in Holland. Wish I could stay forever!

 

I submitted a final selection of 6 images to The New Landscape exhibition on Monday afternoon. Picked the last 4 together with Dylan Culhane, co-owner of the gallery and a keen photographer himself. It’s cool to get some feedback and I am glad that one of my favorite images ended up in the exhibition. It’s a rather close up shot of a man and at first glance it doesn’t seem to fit the theme “The New Landscape” at all but as Dylan said you can almost see into the guy’s head and it’s like a psychological landscape.

I like that:-)

 

And yes, those 5 must do’s of this week? Have done 4 and will do the last one tomorrow. Made it:-)

 

Off to We Love Real Beer at the Biscuit Mill this afternoon.

See you there maybe. KaBam!

Rambling Billy Speed

I really should call this post from 10 to 5, not time wise but “things I have to do” wise… You see I am a last minute worker, always have been been and most likely always will. But then I decided I am going to try not to be one, or perhaps be a “last 5 minutes worker”. I can make a list of a gazillion thing that I have to do but there are 10 things that really need to be finished uhm before October 22nd but  I decided just now that I am going to do 5 of those things this week. Ha. Shortening the list from 10 to 5…

 

Besides the 5 things I have to do I will also be doing a shoot and interview with Eavesdrop for the Swimming Upstream Project tomorrow. I am totally looking forward to it and I am really hoping that tomorrow will be overcast as well as overcast days make for pretty pictures.  I also need to get my stuff together for the upcoming exhibition at the end of this month (see upcoming post above) and I need to edit the photos from last week’s shoot.  And i need to make sure the Swimming Upstream banner gets made so I probably need to get the GD logo and I need to edit, write, email, network, quote, ask, organize, back-up, do, get visa and RICA’d (or not)… I am totally back to 10 things or more… I need coffee that’s what I need. And to go for a run.

 

 Btw this photo was sold by World Portraits about two weeks ago. This should be good news but for some reason I am not feeling it… Suppose it is because I am not sure if I’ll be allowed to use another image from this collection in an exhibition. I am still waiting for the official ok. World Portraits doesn’t allow photoshopped images into their collection and you can see the original here… http://www.world-portraits.com/blog/wp/

And so here we go again, another week.  I woke up early today but I have been dragging my feet all morning allowing myself to be distracted by all sorts of social media which could explain yet another wobbly, rambling post. I guess I am the Monday Rambler, in fact I am the cranky Monday Rambler who has strawberries and oceans on her mind.

I want to work for magazines btw… just thought I’d throw that out there.

And I even though I’m listening to the Pan African Space Station (www.panafricanspacestation.org.za) yet I totally have this late 60’s song in my head

Oh and I quite like the Crocodiles album Sleep forever… part of the title for this post comes from their album… song 6

If you want to make it

“If you want to make it you have to learn. Go to shops, look at the marketing and advertising in magazines, look at photography and type fonts, at the lay-out, if you have a question, learn to Google it. There is so much information out there, use it. ”

(Tristan Waterkeyn)

All tomorrow’s parties

I’m doing a photo shoot with a very cool graphic designer tomorrow. He’s also a DJ and I’m quite sure you’ve heard of him. Without wanting to give too much away, his company designs for Rocking the Daisies,  Cooked in Africa Films, African Relish and Balkanology to name but a few.  Am really looking forward to the shoot as I’m a big fan of his designs. I worked at a graphic design company called Taluut in Utrecht for 7 years before I came out to South Africa and occasionally I miss working at a design company. I think it will be great to talk to him about design and see what he is up to.

My only problem is, I don’t know where to go. I have been trying to come up with all sorts of locations which, if you put them together, tell a cool story of Cape Town as an underlying uhm… thing… theme.

The other thing is that I am kinda stressing about getting enough money together for the exhibition. Perhaps it’s not such a bad thing that it’s been pushed forward a little.