dinsdag 22 november 2011

Misty Utrecht

Two days of mist is what took away the view in Utrecht but instead of locking me inside I felt inspired to go out with the camera. Mist wasn't the only thing that can spoil your pictures, I also chose to go out at the evening. After getting dressed for a cold and wet night I packed my bag and closed the door behind me. No watch or phone did I take with me and I left the bike where it was to go on foot. Those things were with good reason. I didn't want to rush, I didn't want the time to be of any influence. I went on foot and I only wanted to return if I had a good picture.
First part was the park.. Tried a bit but it was too dark to be able to make any interesting pictures. Too little contrast in the area. After that I decided to go to the city center. There were alot of cars, bikes and pedestrians giving a nice image with lights and shadows. I shot some silhouets and went to the next place. Utrecht Central Station, tram-stop. Busses went on and off, cars passed and sometimes a tram came by. There were more pedestrians and bikes here and the wet ground gave some nice reflections.
After that I had a small trip through the city but I didn't get that interesting images. I've got 2 series of 3 pictures now that I want to share. First serie is the red serie of the tram-rail close to my home. Second serie is the blue (almost black and white) serie that I took at Utrecht CS. Comments are more than welcome. Either positive or negative. I prefer the negative ones with arguments so I can learn from it :)








donderdag 17 november 2011

Analysing Klaas-Jan van der Weij

5/5: Klaas-Jan van der Weij (no website)

I've never seen a photographer giving such a nice presentation as Klaas-Jan van der Weij does. He's a real storyteller. He has won the 1st price in category Sports at the '91 World Press Photo awards and the 2nd price in Sports stories in the year '94. He captures the special, funny, emotional, dramatic, strange moments in his own way. He looks in his own way to things and that's why he makes different pictures than other sports photographers, he chooses positions others don't choose. I've seen pictures of him taken from extraordinary positions. Cycling pictures made out of a tree,  pictures taken with a wide-angle from almost off the ground and almost on the road. Cyclists falling, looking back.. A picture that I like very much (but can't find online that fast) is a picture taken in the Tour de France, where Klaas-Jan stands on a bridge, looking towards the finish. You can see lots of photographers behind the finishline and the first cyslist looking back over his shoulder towards the camera. Actually he's looking back where the followers are, but they're not in the picture. After 10 years of sports photography Klaas-Jan quits. Looking back through the pictures he says his pictures are some kind of diary, where you can see how he felt at the moment.







Analysing Louis van de Vuurst

4/5: Louis van de Vuurst (www.vuurstphoto.com)

Louis van de Vuurst, one of the Dutch top sport photographers. He's the main photographer for Ajax and the Dutch national squad. But soccer is not the only thing he can shoot. He has also shot bands/artists like U2, Michael Jackson and the Rolling Stones. His main strength is being there. Working hard, traveling much. He's not an outstanding concert photographer but when he's visiting a soccer match, he knows how to capture the moments and the emotions. He's also quite good at shooting portraits. The photos aren't that perfect themselves but are technically good. The combination between situation, timing and historical value make his pictures special. Not only the day after the picture has been shot, but most of the times also when years have past. Examples below are Jaap Stam after his last match as a professional soccer player, a young Clarence Seedorf at the beginning of his professional career, Frank Rijkaard working with Bobby Haarms on his comeback. Below that are two more recent pictures: Christian Eriksen and Luis Suarez. 2 players who have the talent to become one of the best players in Europe.






maandag 14 november 2011

Analysing Ville Juurikkala

3/5: Ville Akseli Juurikkala (http://ville.juurikkala.fi/)

At the merchandise stand of Nightwish, at a concert, I found the book Dark Passion Gallery. It was a collection of photo's made by Ville Juurikkala. This book wasn't just about concert photography. It described the atmosphere during a tour. It contains live-photography but also bandshoots on locations and portraits of the members of Nightwish. Looking at the pictures you can feel the desire from the band to end this tour and go home, you can see the fun they have, how tired they can be and how much work has been done by the crew before the concert even starts.
When you look at the pictures, those are quite grainy. I think most of the work has been shot on film. Ville also knows how to use the surroundings to get a feeling in the picture. Tram rail, tree, seashore or even on a graveyard. His portraits are of high quality. He really builds his photos on emotion and that, in combination with the mostly dark pictures, is what I like.













Analysing Anton Corbijn

2/5: Anton Corbijn (http://www.corbijn.co.uk/)

One of the first photographers I knew by name. Anton started as a concert photographer and became famous shooting bands like U2, Elvis Costello, Miles Davis, David Bowie.. He now both shoots photos and video.
When you look to his photography you can clearly see his signature in the pictures. He has his own style and his own way of looking at things. He has some humor in his photography as well, using objects in the picture to do something with the subject. For example the picture of the tree growing out of Lance Armstrong's head or the lantern above Johnny Depp's head. He also used to do bandshoots with the band on the background in focus and the leadsinger blurred on the foreground. The picture of Depeche Mode is a good example for that. Most of his works look black and white and show more dark than light.

Elvis Costello:

Miles Davis:

U2:

Johnny Depp:

Massive Attack:

Lance Armstrong:

Nicolas Cage:

Herbert Gronemeyer:

Depeche Mode:

Kylie Minogue:

Analysing Nicolas 'Sparth' Bouvier

1/5: Nicolas 'Sparth' Bouvier (www.sparthphoto.com)

Nicolas has inspired me since the first time I've seen his work. I've had those images from John Avon (www.johnavon.com) in my mind for a long time and I was looking for a way to make such pictures. Wasn't really able to find a way to do this. After a long while I found the flickr account from Sparth (www.flickr.com/photos/sparth). The things that draw my attention is the way Nicolas can put a certain feeling inside the pictures. Most of the time there's one person standing out on the picture. And most of the persons stand on the picture with the back towards the camera. Nicolas mostly uses a wide aperture to create a small depth of field. Most of the photos are quite dark, as you can see below. Nicolas shoots both city and landscape. His landscapes mostly have this air of mystery. He uses mostly heavy tele on his landscpaes giving the picture that atmosphere.