CATS

I've been playing around and assisting a lot lately. We had a successful opening and launch (website, products) of Elisabeths Boudoir. The expo was very gratifying (and a lot of work ;-). The intro video was a fantastic experience (together with Wonderpixel - Dimitri Struer) and Nancy could show off her new work. Our Expo at Grand Café Leroy was prologued, showing Bodyscapes and AnimalTalk (a series on which Nancy continues to work) and some new locations will be announced soon.

All this to say there is a lot going on in 2013, not the least some nice projects and project continuations (OLD, Clowns and CATS).

Continuous light.

At Dare-2B-Different we always try to find ways to make our photography stand out. Light, and the use of it, is one of the ways to do this. Creating 1940 Hollywood style portraiture is way we were looking for. Being a bit green minded we didn't want to go for the high power, high consumption HMI's or halogen lights. Nope, we opted to go for LED lights. 150W input for an 800W equivalent output. Because this was all new to us Luxillag was so kind to allow us to test Dedolight, De Sisti and Philips lights. All except the new Dedolights had a Fresnel. This lens bundles the light is such an intense way it gives great contrasts. It has something you won't have with flash lights. Our model Laurine was marvelous. She endured all our testing, multiple setups and was there when we needed here.

A day well spend and to be continued.

Some shoots take way to long to get a satisfying result.

A lot of months ago I had a second opportunity to work with the fantastic ballerina Nini De Vet and MUA Bonny Goyvaerts. The idea behind the shoot was to do something clowneque, work with more extreme make-up and explore classical dance poses.

As you might imagine it was more difficult than expected. The shoot itself was easy. What do you want, great MUA with an I for detail, even during the shoot, and a model that has perfect control over her body.

Developing these pictures was something else. My initial approach didn't turn out the be a success. Then I tried several approaches, before stumbling on a mix of what I learned from Scott Kelby and Frank Doorhof.

In the end it was easy. Getting these whites is simply done by duplicating the background layer in screen mode and using the paint brush and opacity to control it. Where needed I added a layer in soft light with neutral grey fill. Here also painting with white to illuminate and black to darken. For the eyes I again added a layer in screen mode and painted in the whole eye. Opacity around 30-40%.

Simple, …. But it took me a while to get there.

We kept the make-up on for the performance pictures.  It was a super opportunity to have Nini for this. Ballerina's are used to work hard, do a sequence over and over which helped me a lot to discover the potential and try a few setups.

I hope to do some more shoots like this in the future.

Serge Romanov @ Luxillag

A huge thunderstorm flooded the studio last Tuesday. 180 square meters of water and mud. Nothing to do with Serge Romanov, but the reason this spost came later than planned. So, Luxillag organised a workshop on the usage of continious light of Dedolight last Tuesday. The day was organised like every other workshop I followed. First some theory. A bit of marketing and then live examples. We kicked off with some insights to the low voltage small Dedolight systems. These use lamps (12 and 24V) as one finds in cars. The system also has a lens and focussing system. During the demo the light system (not the transformer part) was put under water. Interesting if you use it in extreme conditions. A demo was given to shoot a product. They started with one light, added accent lights, a flood light and so on. Seven in total. The whole thing is to have nicely directed, focussed or unfocussed light, relatively long exposures or high ISO to create a very controlled picture.

After a very nice lunch and meeting up with fellow photographers it was Serge Romanov's turn to give us an insight in his world of (feminine) beauty. He kicked of with his vision on composition, contrast, brightness, light, colour, creativity and inspiration (I remember the renaissance and citizen Kane playing an important role). Also the usage of the golden rule in composition was a fantastic eye opener.

Serge brought with him the beautiful Anna (they only spoke Russian by the way and the translator did his work marvellously) as model. They worked together numerous time, which is something you notice when he build up his picture. Here also he started with one light (3 to be honest) to light the background, one for the face, one 600W for the golden paper reflector to shape the dress (to make the effect softer he added a second normal reflector). One light for the accent on the wall and ono other for the doorway. Lots of light. He made his picture at f3.5, 125sec at ISO 1250 using an Ukrainian T&S lens.

Working with continuous light has a relaxing working atmosphere. You see the impact of the light in another way than with using strobes. Also the absence of flash is in my point of view more conformable. I asked Anna how she experiences it, and she said that the continuos light is less anoying than flash but more fatiguing because of the intensity of the light and the heat.

After the shoot Serge showed us how he finishes his pictorial work. Also here an interesting insight. Not the way I would finish my work but some intersting ways of manipulation. Like making duplicating your picture, make a smaller image size, use liquify, save as a mesh and then apply the mesh to the larger picture. This saves lots of time and frustration.

At the end of the day I was not sure I really learned something new. I like workshops to be advanced. Delivering lots of insights at the limit of my own understanding, changeling me to dig deeper into the matter. So, interesting - yes. Well organised - yes. Worth the 150 Euro - not really.

Elinor Carucci @ FoMu

I had the pleasure to meet Elinor Carucci today at the pre opening of her expo at the FoMu in Antwerp. A nice eye opener. It was a long time that I experienced such an honest, touching photography. Initially here photography is not what will attract me. It was when listening to here story, what goes through here mind when taking these pictures, the relationships she has with the people around here and here loved ones that the Elinor's photographs identify with the world I live in. The way she interacts, show herself in all intimacy and make us part of here world is confronting.

What was even more confronting is how Elinor brings here art photography to the commercial work she does.

The person Elinor Carucci:  open, honest, vulnerable, sensual, gracious and beautiful.

God created women and hats

Inspirational weekend after our first 'Body Of Art' expo at Dare 2B Different. We had a great bunch of visitors and were able to sell some of the pictures. What was even more rewarding were the comment and interpretations of the work presented. Thanks to all who came and helped at the expo. This weekend we went to Leonhards Gallery for the new series of Marc Lagrange 'And then God created women'. Again really nice and inspirational pictures full of emotion. One picture telling a whole story.

On Sunday we finally decided to go and visit Stephen Jones expo at the MOMU. Finally because it was the last day. We arrived at 17:00 and closed the doors at 18:00. One hour of pure enjoyment seeing different shapes, colours, fabrics, constructions, humour, ... .

The Dark Project

At Dare-2B-Different I am the one that can play around a lot. Assisting Nancy doing portrait shoots, preparing Boudoir shoots and bachelor parties is great fun. Doing projects like 'a Body of Art', 'She' and personal projets is where I can even put more of my photographic Impressions. 'Dark' is such a project. The starting point was one light with a grid in a dark environment and see how one can use the flexibility of the body to create shapes and beauty.

On Februari 4th and 5th we will organise our first expo at Fotolocus and Dark will be part of it.

Until then, I'm still looking for some flexible models. If you're interested ... just send me a mail.

Enjoy some impressions of Dark below.

Ashes and Snow

Just came across a site I lost in my favourites. Ashes and Snow by Gregory Colbert has some great pictorial. Enjoy!  

What a weekend.

Had an interesting weekend. It all started on Friday with the opening of Marc Lagrange's exhibition and book presentation (by Ludion) in Leonhards Gallery in Antwerp. A great venue to show some 40+ large prints of beauty. 40+ prints of the last polaroids Marc Langrange had in stock and a fascinating making of movie. A beauty testimony of an era that is disappearing.

The book 'Polaroids', is the most personal book Marc Lagrange told me. I like it very much (you can choose between 3 different covers), although it has a points that disappoint me. Because of the unusual format (38*24cm) the double page prints are no fun to look at (you just miss a part of some great pictures, surely when you know most of the pictures have a central composition).

On saturday I transformed the studio, had a great model and could photograph an idea I worked on for a year.

Sunday was Gent. Stephan Vanfleteren has a exhebition 'Portret' in the old circus (near De Vooruit). Amazing portraits.

Discovery - Jock Sturges

I saw an interesting documentary yesterday on Arte, about Jock Sturgus. I didn't know this photographer. Anyhow, he has an impressive portfolio and a very soft style (that made me think about Mona Kuhn (although she's younger that Jock Sturges) of which you can find a nice interview on http://www.lensculture.com/kuhn.html.

In the end it's all about the print.

A picture is only a picture when it is on print. At least it is to me. The colour, the tonality, the size, the place and so many other factors convey the emotion the photographer had in mind. Four years ago I had the opportunity to briefly meet Douglas Menuez on the Innova booth at Photokina. It was a nice encounter where we discussed prints, print quality, the difference between silver prints and inktjets, and all kind of technical stuff. Now four years later Douglas writes about his continuous search for the best possible print. He says:

"So the challenge is lessened but is essentially the same: to make prints that move us emotionally. It’s about the image, but also the print as object, as a beautiful delivery system for the subject matter. The choice of substrate says as much about the photographer as the content of the work and can affect our perception of the photograph as subconscious filters. To each their own of course, but I finally found mine; the look and feel of silver. Can’t beat that."

Portfolio viewing @ FoMu

Yesterday was D-day. After working for months on my ABUSE project I was ready to show it to a sort of independent jury (photographer, responsible of FoMu, Fotografiecircuit Vlaanderen, CvB) at FoMu who organised this portfolio viewing. Every half an hour another photografer showing off his or her work and receiving feedback. A special feeling I can say. I was pleased to hear that parts of my work has very interesting insights, is daring and has an original approach. Other part of my work were less catchy. I was told why they think that way and how, in their opinion, it could be improved.

The positive feedback on the ABUSE concept was great and rewarding. Most of the pictures I showed caught the attention I was looking for. The square format was perfect and the use of un-sharpness more than pleasing. Sixteen pictures though, were a little to  much. Also my choice of background was not always appreciated the way I expected. A pure Black and White would be better I was told.

What do you think (original/adapted B&W)?

Erwin Olaf Rocks

Last Thursday Erwin Olaf was at FoMu giving a lecture on his photography throughout his almost 30 year carreer. I didn't have a ticket to get in but gave it a shot. I was lucky. Some no shows and Stijn Huyghe's 2€ (thanks mate) allowed me to get in.It was fantastic to see (and hear) the evolution Erwin went through. How his personal work impacted his professional work. How people around him impact the outcome. How technology allowed Erwin to try new things. How old work influences new work (thank you for the inspired 'Blacks' preview). How budgets make a difference. How creativity and vision lead to what you want to acheive as a photographer.

Create, arrange, plan, DO

Aero 2009, Barcelona and new photo shoots

It's been a while since I posted something on the blog. And there is reason for it. My project on ABUSE took almost all of my free time. April 1st I headed for AERO 2009 in Friedrichshafen followed by some rest giving holidays in Spain.   

The 'ABUSE' project is coming to its end. I couldn't shoot 16 models as initially anticipated. The end result though, is what I was looking for. There is still some post production and printing (a picture is only a photo when it is printed) to be done, which should be finalised by the end of the month. The end result is really promising and is the result of super encounters with surprising, great people. Having the opportunity to work with different people giving their interpretation on the duality between sensuality and pain is just fantastic. Different personalities, different expressions, different interpretations. Thank you all for giving me this great time.  AERO was really busy. Meeting, meeting and meetings, then eating, drinking and talking aeroplanes and avionics. For me the end result of this fair are additional aviation products and contacts for Visionaire. The day after my return from AERO my wife, kids and I headed for Empuriabrave, near Figueras for some holidays. The weather was OK on Monday and Tuesday. From Wednesday on .... well it could be better but it didn't ruin the joy of rest. My photographic high this time was in Barcelona. I'v been to this great city a few times for work and pleasure but never visited one of Gaudi's great architectural marvels 'la cassa battlo'.

               

My wife experimented a little with night photography with some astonishing results.

And as a bonus .... If you happened to visit Barcelona. At Mallorca 325 there is small bookshop KOWASA that has hundreds and hundreds of books only on photography. I had Michael Kenna in my favourites for a while but having the book now is even better. The way he composes his pictures and processes the B&Ws is amazing. Michael Kenna will be exposing in Brussels in October this year.

Erwin Olaf

Last Sunday I took the wife and kids to visit Erwin Olaf’s expo (till 07/06/2009) at the fotomuseum in Antwerp. Great stuff! With over 80 large prints the variety in his work is show (1984-2009). Many of the picture's are provoking and let you reflect on the subject matter. These same, provoking,  pictures are also very stylish with an eye for every little detail. I think the eye for detail (with humour) and the way colour (or the absence of it)  is used and the post production is what makes Erwin Olaf so unique.

It is difficult to say what part of his work most impressed me most. What I know for sure is that the 'Blacks' series inspired me and 'Rouge' made me want to take picture's expressing the same atmosphere.

Close to the fotomuseum there is a nice galley Van Campen & Rochtus. They had the vernisage of Jan Bosschaerts 2009 work last thursday. Since we're all fans of his work we went for a look. And who was there.... the master himself. Thank you for the nice chat and allowing us to admire fantastic oil paintings.

Interesting, very strong or really beautiful?

I was paging through Marcel Van der Vlugt's book 'Beauty and other secrets' because I remembered some special portraits of him and wanted to refresh my mind. In his book Marcel quoted a few lines that made me thing about my personal project and some reactions I received. Marcel writes : "People often judge your images in a very strange way. When they say interesting, what they really mean is that they think your pictures are lousy. When they say your images are very strong they mean they are too good for them or they just don't understand. When they call your images really beautiful, you know you have classic."

The project I'm working on is about abuse, pain and repel women can feel or even live with and at the the sensuality they express (at all times). The images are unsharp on purpose because (just like you see in work of Paolo Roversi, Anton Corbijn and Lorenzo Castore for example) it is not the intention to recognise or focus on parts of the details but rather feel the emotion and see the contradiction.

So I wonder, do pictures have to be razor sharp to be really beautiful?

Les Rencontres d'Arles 2009, not yet but ...

Five months till the next Rencontres d'Arles. This event is one of my great moments of the year. 2008 was curated by Christian Lacroix. He did a great job, and managed to get some inspiring, amazing, worth to visit expositions. My wife and I started our visit to Avedon's 'Mr and Mrs Comfort'. These picture's (Avedon made this series of pictures to protest the fashion industry in 1995, published in The Newyorker) are more than 20 year old and still stand. The expression in the skeleton and the interaction with the model Nadja Auermann.

 

We stayed as long as we could in the Cloitre Saint-Throphine and saw the prints 3 times. I hope (and work for it) that one day we can realise such a production and, who knows, show it in Arles (one may be ambitious ;-).

On our way to the press center we stopped for a guy getting out of a car. This guy was nicely dressed and greated a couple. When we passed by I thought, this has to be a photographer. But then, we are in Arles and there must be more than 10.000 photographers there.

The next day we attended the press conference on fashion photography. The nicely dressed Photographer was Paolo Roversi I learned. He had a nice expo in Eglise Saint-Anne.

   

Friday evening we attended Mano a Mano. A debate between two icons of photographery (Peter Lindbergh and Paolo Roversi) accompanied by a projection of 2 decades of photography. Amazing! The morning after Mano a Mano, our second press conference. It was more serious than the evening debate. It was also more emotional and showed the persons behind the camera, the way they work and interact with models. After the press conference my wife had a chat with Peter Linbergh. These short interactions are thing one talks about for hours. The many words said, the way they are said, the impact they have on your way of seeing and working.

  

1km out of the city center you have 'parc des ateliers'. Some 20 tot 30 different expositions are shown there. The mega and splendid work of Tim Walker, and the discovery of Grégoire Alexandre (some one we will be seeing a lot of in the future), were highlights of the day. I also need to mention Grégoire Korganow. He had two expositions. One on fashion behind the scenes (which I liked most) and one on the people left behing when a partner is in prison. I found the photographs not so special, but. But Grégoire also told us the story behind. It was very, very very emotional. Sometimes he couldn't find his words and tears came on almost all faces. This is also what photography is all about. The story, the emotion. Listen to James Nachtway on TED if you want to be moved.

 

Also in 'parc des ateliers' was Pierre Gonnord. He showed large portraits that talked without saying anything.

Back in the city center we also found the self portrait of Lea Crespi.

 

What makes Arles so special? Well, everything is Photography during that week at the beginning of July. It is photography in streets, restaurants, bars, public places and historic sites, everrywhere.  In one of those restaurants we saw Torros. A series of pictures taken by Michael Crouser on bull fighting.

Arles is also a meeting place of all sorts of people. We talked with publishers, looked at portfolios, bumped into a Japanees and started talking Lensbabies in the middle of the street and exhanging ideas.

     

I'm anxious to know what 2009 will bring. 5 month and Arles here we come.

Inspiration

While cleaning up a bit I stumbled on 'House of orange' Issue 1 2008, a magazine on Photography, beauty, hair and makeup. A great and very inspiring magazine. Until now this is the only issue that was published. Nice layout and great inspiring pictures. I think magazines are great to get idea's and stay aware of the latest trends in image creation.

Other great magazines are POP (the N° 18 issues has some fantastic pictures done by Peter Lindbergh and a special of Stephanie Seymour), Zoo Magazine with surprising photographs of Bryan Adams (yep the singer), V Magazine and I-D.

Magazines evolve and influence the future of the imagery we are looking at whereas books are more static (The latest of Andreas Bitesnich is great and also Babeth (Babeth Djian) and Creatures (Andrew Zuckerman)).