Blog Posts

Why I go to tradeshows, and why I think you might want to, too

22/3/2017

Me, Jazzmin Risa, Michel Maat

If you've ever been to a trade show/fair you probably know what goes on around there. For those of you who've never attended one; it's a fair where brands that have anything to do with photography showcase their latest hits, you are able to attend lectures and masterclasses and try out new equipment. That's a photography trade show in a nutshell basically.

But why do you go?

There are several reasons why I go, but the most important one is to meet my friends and make new friends.
Over the last year I've been lucky enough to have met so many incredible photographers that are also amazing human beings (because let me tell you, there are also incredible photographers that are douche-bags). And these types of events are the things where we all get to see each-other again, hang out and catch up.
As a photographer, it's a lonely type of business most of the time. Let's be honest, we spent quite a lot of time behind our computers. Infatuated with our screens. Paralyzed in a chair in a devoted relationship with Lightroom, Photoshop and our e-mailservers. No real social connections there.
So when the time comes that there's a fair in town, we all crawl out of our (wo)mancaves to enjoy eachothers company and bitch about pain in the ass commissions or struggles that we encounter in our day to day life.

Michel Maat, Me, Renee Robyn & Richard Terborg

But Lieke, I don't know anybody,
how do I meet my peers without being a creep?

Well if there's really nobody in your inner circle that's also a photographer/creative/lunatic there's other ways to connect of course. I myself have been a member of an online community for photographers for quite some time. There are só many out there! That way you can connect with people before you go to the fair, if you don't want to be that awkward person that has to talk to strangers.
Because that is the other tip that I would like to give. If you know somebody from the interwebs, you know their work, you've seen them somewhere before, just go over and say hello. They rarely bite you know!
Be proactive. If there's a lecture or a masterclass at the fair by this awesome photographer that you know but there's nobody attending that you know? Go anyway, you might meet some fantastic people while you're there!
Try to be outgoing, even if it scares you.

"The cheeky own the world"

Jen Brook, Me

Another reason I go to these shows is to connect with companies that I'm working with.
I've been fortunate enough to have two awesome companies that I'm working together with and it's always a good idea to meet up with them at these shows to see what the latest is and how you can extend the collaboration.

There are always companies that are looking for ambassadors to promote their product. But please beware that you don't do this for 'the free stuff'. Of course it's awesome to get something, but if you normally wouldn't use their products or have never before, the collaboration with that company might not be such a great fit.

Another 'group' of exhibitors that you can find at the trade shows are the magazines. In the Netherlands we have quite a few magazines on photography and there are always some to be found at the fairs.
If you feel like your work is good enough to finally get published, walk up to them and ask what you would need to do to be featured and they will probably ask you for an example of your work.

Tip: Bring your business cards!

Rebecca Bathory, Roderique Arisiaman (Dracorubio) // Smugmug dinner // Adobe rooftopparty with Richard Terborg
all @ Photokina 2016

That all being said, I've only been going to these things for a year, so there's a whole lot more for me to learn as well. I just thought I'd share with you the benefits and fun things that go on, on these events with you guys.

My advice to you, go to the next one in your country/region. Go with an open heart, an open mind and see what happens. No pressure!

To give more of a visual of how these tradeshows / fairs look. I created a vlog that I shot during the Professional Imaging trade show from last weekend (18 - 19 - 20 March 2017).

Vlog about the last tradeshow I attended

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I lost my love

7/3/2017

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"The sky looks pissed
The wind talks back
My bones are shifting in my skin
And you, my love, are gone"
- Ingrid Michaelson - The Chain

I lost my love. Not a romantic love in the traditional way, but I did lose the greatest love of all.
That sounds as horrifying as it was. My love being photography.

I had been so caught up in creating for others, that I completely lost my own drive to create. I had no inspiration, no urge, no will to go out and 'just do it'. And to be honest, that scared me.
In the last few years the only thing that's been consistent in my work, is that I kept on doing self-portraits, for none other than myself. And that may sound selfish or narcissistic, but it's quite the contrary. I don't photograph myself as a beauty queen. I don't photograph myself as the best version of me. I'm not even recognizable in a lot of the images that I create.
But why do I create?

I create, because I need to
Because I couldn't be, without it.

Some people write, some people paint, write songs, go for walks, exercise, punch sandbags or do gardening.
I tell stories through my images. And it's not about imposing my stories to the viewer. It's about creating. From emotion, with emotion and to convey emotion. That's all there is to it.

And so when I lost my love last year. I had no idea what to do.
Thankfully, I have a group of photography friends from all over the world and they organised a photo a day challenge for the month of December. Before that, I hadn't created a single self-portrait for a month and a half. Not that there were no ideas, because ideas will flow through all the time. I just lacked the courage, the drive and the urge to go out and create anymore. And that saddened me.
So I decided to participate in the self-portrait a day challenge for the month of December and slowly started to regain my love again. Even if you have no idea what you're going to shoot. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting out there and go with what your heart is telling you. Sometimes you need a little push from someone you love, in case you're not capable of pushing yourself in that moment in time. Is that weak? I don't think so. We're not alone in this. We've all been there, haven't we?

Now that I've rekindled my love again. You've seen more regular updates, more new work and more videos on my Facebook & YouTube. I'm working on some new exciting things that I hope to be able to share more about in the next few months.

I'd like to know if you've ever lost your love for creating and
how did you manage to rekindle that love again?

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Photography trip to Dublin, Ireland

15/2/2017

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You went to Dublin for one day of photographing?
Well, YEAH!

And l♥ved every minute of it

Sometimes you need to drag yourself out of your comfort zone, into a new zone to gain some much needed fresh air and inspiration. And that is exactly what I did last week.

I've done one hell of a job saving on my gas-bill and decided to spent some of the money on a mini-trip to Ireland. On an impulse I booked my flights and hostel, which meant I really had to go (thankfully!).

2016 had been a busy year for me. I've done several weddings, portrait shoots and some corporate shoots. And when you're busy with photographing for others, there's little to no time to experiment with personal stuff. Because let's be honest here, the fine art images are incredibly satisfying to shoot, but sadly don't pay the bills (yet!).

That's why I decided to join some of my friends (Brooke Shaden and the awesome Fromagi's whom I met almost three years ago now) in a self-portrait a day challenge for the month of December. In case you're interested, those can all be found HERE.
That was the start of regaining my love for photography, art and creating again.

To continue that 'buzz' I really wanted to 'get out' and explore more. And that's when I decided that a mini-trip somewhere would be the perfect way to do so.
I only had the funds to go for a short amount of time and that meant I had to travel somewhere close. That's when I thought of Howth.

Howth is a small fishermans town just outside of Dublin. The town is surrounded by incredible nature and is a paradise for the landscape photographer.

I know Howth, because I lived and studied in Dublin seven years ago and went there a couple of times. To breathe in the salty air that reminded me of home, to go for a long walk on the cliffs and to spot the ugly seals in the harbor.

Dublin is only a 1,5 hour flight from Eindhoven and that is just perfect if you want to go for a small trip, like I did.
I stayed in the Abigail's Hostel, which is located by the Liffey, just outside of the main street O'Connell. So it's nice and centered.

Tip from me. Take the Dublin Bus (the yellow and blue one) 16 into the city centre. It'll save you a few euros, you get a prettier view of the city and it takes you straight into the heart of the city. Once you get to the city, you can (almost) travel to every sight by foot. That way, you really get a feel for the city as well. And you're out and about burning calories (in the sun, if you're extremely lucky like I was).

If you want to see a few of the sights that I walked to, you can view my VLOG about my trip right here!

So what did you do there?

My flight arrived at about 11 in the morning and so I had half a day of sightseeing, walking around and getting familiar with the city again. Funny thing is, that it's been several years since I'd been in the city, but it instantly felt like 'my city' again. I knew my way around, understood the accent, the only thing I had trouble with, was the direction of looking when you're crossing the road. (It's a good thing I wasn't driving in the city, that's for sure)

That evening was the first evening that I took myself out to dinner. Of course I've had meals by myself before, but those were mostly quick meals, like a sandwich somewhere, a burger, you know the drill.
This time I was REALLY in the mood for some sushi. And you just don't get those from a grocery store to eat alone in the hostel now do you? That afternoon I passed this supercute little Japanese Sushi restaurant and so I thought, why not? I'll treat myself to a nice dinner.
At first you feel a little uncomfortable sitting by yourself. It feels like everybody's watching you, sit there, by yourself, being pathetic. When in fact it's more you, projecting those feelings onto the people surrounding you. Nobody truly cares that you're sitting there alone.
To keep myself busy during dinner, I bought a magazine. Because I didn't want to spent the entire dinner on my phone and I really wanted to experience eating by myself.
I'm reading an article about the lifestory of Sinéad O'Connor (fun to know that I have a tattoo of her song 'Nothing compares to you' on my left forearm). When suddenly I hear the song 'the Rose' in the restaurant, a song that always makes me cry, and for a moment it seems like I'll break down in tears in the middle of the restaurant, but I'm just touched. Not sad.
I am who I am, and currently I am someone who's having dinner by herself. Enjoying her sushi in a pretty city. Life ain't that bad after all.

Howth

The next day I was supposed to meet my friend Aislinn.
As stated before I lived in Dublin seven years ago. I was there on for my 'minor' as we call it here in the Netherlands. I studied Visual Communication and Documentary photography at D.I.T.
There I met Aislinn! We were in the same photography class.

Unfortunately, she became sick exactly the day that I arrived and so our plan of venturing off to Howth together was no longer an option. And so I got up early to go there by myself.

------------------------>
Are two images of a small group of our photography class.
This image was taken 6 years ago when I visited Dublin again.
Wow have I changed!

Howth is a small fisherman's town that reminds me of home.
I've visited the site a couple of times when I lived in Dublin and just knew that I wanted to go there to create some new images.
No pressure. No minimum amount of images I wanted to create. Just a day of getting out there. Falling in love with being outdoors and photographing again. That was, what this trip was all about for me.
I am so good at setting standards way too high for myself, so I sometimes need to take a step back and just go out and shoot for fun again.

The image below is the first edit from my selfportraits that I took over there. I'm currently working on a few other images. I hope to release those soon ♥

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Five advantages of modeling, whilst being a photographer

14/9/2016

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It looks effortless, when you see them change their pose with every click of the camera. But modeling is an art in itself.
The type of photography that I model for, is the same photography that I shoot myself. And that is the fine art, storytelling & conceptual photography.
In the last year I've modeled more and more for other photographers. And i've notice some advantages in modeling when being a photographer. And I would love to share these with you!

Modelling for Brooke Shaden's workshop in 2015

1. Composition

If you're looking through the viewfinder of your camera, you are deciding the composition of your image this way. As a model, it is good to know what composition the photographer has in mind. What is his position, what's all in the frame?
You can take that into consideration when you're posing. Is it a close-up shot or half total shot? It doesn't really make sense to focus on the posture of my toes. Is it a full body shot? I'll make sure that everything suits the story that the photographer wants to convey and will pose head-to-toe.

Image on the right by Zuke Photography, taken in Iceland 2015

2. Light

Light is the most important thing in photography. No light, means no image.
It is essential to understand light. If you know how lighting works, you can achieve the best result. It saves a lot of time and effort if the model that you photograph understands this principle as well.
Are you working in an indoor space? Make sure that you catch the light with your face. You can feel what the light does.

3. Story

In conceptual photography the story may even be more important than the light is. What is the image about?
Often the photographer wants to get something across with his image. Does he want to send a message, convey a feeling or tell a story. It is important to know what the image is about, so you can get into character. What situation are you in? What are the feelings of the character, how can you get these across?

Modelling for Brooke Shaden's workshop in 2015

4. Communication

To fully understand what the photographer is looking for, good communication is key. It is incredibly nice to work together whenever you are open to one another and you know what is expected from you. Do you have things that you do not feel comfortable doing as a model? You should let your photographer know in advance.
Try to come to set prepared, so you can achieve the best results together. Ask what the story is the photographer wants to convey. You can help the photographer in the thinking process of the concept, but you can also start thinking of poses that could be an addition to what the photographer has in mind.
A photoshoot is a collaboration between the photographer and the model.

Image on the right by Rob Woodcox, taken in Oregon 2016

5. Posing

Posing for a conceptual shoot can not be compared to posing for a classical portrait shoot. Where a photographer is looking to photograph the model in a pretty and recognizable way for a portraitshoot, it may be possible that you won't even be reconizable in a conceptual shoot. The goal for a conceptual shoot is not to paint a pretty picture of a model, it is to convey a story and so it is much more about body language, movement and the translation of emotion into a pose.
Conceptual photography is often about substantive subjects that require a totally different way of posing.
For example, I've cuddled a huge Iceberg, I've laid down inbetween ice rocks on a black sand beach with my back towards the camera, but I've also posed for a Brooke Shaden portrait where my face isn't visible, only my limbs. And I could go on forever!
Just to give you an idea of the variety of shoots that can happen when it's not about the pretty face, but the story that needs to be told.

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USA - part 1

30/7/2016

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It's amazing how much you can do in one day when you start your day early! We are currently living in a beautiful huge house amongst the red rocks in the Sedona area in Arizona, USA.
Fifteen creative souls all gathered into one and it feels like a family get-together. No pressure, a lot of love, creativity, inspiration, adventures and learning from each other.
This morning started off extremely adventurous with our Hot Pink Jeep Safari in the Oak Creek Park.
There were screams, squeeling, a lot of OMG's and an awful lot of laughing was involved. Lift offs from the big bumps in the road and the rocks we had to go over. But such an awesome start of the day!
At the end of the road we had a little break and some free time and so we walked up to an amazingly beautiful view over the mountains. Group shots were mandatory and after a little chill in the wind, some climbing and a lot of selfies later we went back the same bumpy, squeeling adventurous road.

After lunch with a great view over Snoopy Rock and gathering our camera gear back home, we left for our next adventurous item of the day; Slide Rock Park. Naturally formed slides in the middle of these huge rocks. It looked amazing and I would've loved to go down the slides like the rest of the group. But before we left I slammed my big toe in-between the gate of our mansion. (When we leave our big beautiful house to go explore and venture off we close the gate that protects us from the many wild animals that wander around the nature of Arizona. As we were the last car in line I said to my fellow peoples in the car that I would close the gate. It was a pretty heavy gate to close, so I had to put (all of my) weight into it and clumsy me stuck her toe right in the spot where the gate runs through. Whoopsie-Daisy!) So I decided to not go for it and safely stay on the side with Jen.
As if this wasn't adventurous enough, we drove off to another place where we walked into a forest that had many pretty places to shoot in and so we ended the day doing what we do best, creating, capturing and photographing.
One of the things I love about this group is that if you want, you can stay together, help each other out, but you are also free to go and explore and shoot on your own. No pressure, no hard feelings, just doing what you want to do. So there were shoots going on everywhere and that looked so awesome! I got to model for Kory, photographed myself on a huge tree trunk and behind a fence in an old chicken shack, haha. Wonderful first day of being back together!

Re-inventing

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A day in the life of a photographer | model

20/7/2016

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Scroll down for the behind the scenes video!!

Photography: Rob Woodcox
Model: Lieke Anna
Dress: Bruidshuis Ellen
Furn-foraging & pinning: Robin Stremlow

June 24th

It's 9.30 AM and I've packed up my styff again. About an hour and a half ago I said goodbye to Bonnie, after spending 4 evenings with her in Portland, Oregon. She is such a sweet person and I am so glad that I got to know her better this time!
Now it's time to leave her house and move on to my next adventure. I set my GPS, in my KIA Sportage, to a tea place downtown where I'm meeting someone I've never met before, but have been in contact with for a couple of months now.
After ordering my organic, coconut oolong tea and writing in my book for a little while I hear someone getting closer and carefully pronouncing my name and there he was, mister Rob Woodcox. The next person who I'm going on adventures with!
We started talking and hitted off immediately. Which is awesome considering that I fact that I was going to spent a few days with him, haha.
After a few hours of talking we went to this pretty taxidermy shop and it's too bad my bank account has no endless amount of money on it and I did not bring an extra suitcase, or I would've bought the whole store. We then headed to Rob's home where we had an amazing dinner.
Turns out he lives by a forest and we had discussed a few ideas earlier that day and thought of a nature concept (furns growing out of a dress and a furn crown) so the backyard forest came in super handy! So after dinner we headed into his backyard to forage stuff for our shoot the next day.
As we walked through the forest we gathered sticks, leafs and flowers to build the crown at home. During the walk, Rob was playing LOTR and Narnia music, which made it all the more enchanting.

June 25th

The morning we took to gather everything we needed (or thought we needed). From dresses to camera equipment, yarn, smokebombs, lunchpackages and what more.
Rob texted one of his friends if she wanted to come along on a creative adventure and she did! Robin and her golden retriever Jax came to get us a little later. We packed up the car and drove to the other side of the Columbia river, in Washington State. The way there was filled with breathtaking nature, more than enough inspiration to get the creative juices flowing!
To get to the other side of the river we took a bridge called "The Bridge of the Gods", which is a very cute bridge with an awesome view!
After crossing the river we drove through a small town with a cool antique shop. Filled with loads of overpriced crap, but also a few nice looking things. My eye caught a stack of prints and I was kind of determined to find one I'd liked there. And so I continued searching for a while until I saw the classic "American Gothic" and when it turned out that it was only a dollar, I just had to own it.
When we left the antique shop, we crossed the street to have a look at a flower and gardenshop, when we saw five kids by the side of the road selling lemonade. Really like you would see in the movies. Of course we had to get ourselves some lemonade from these cute kids, before heading to our location.
We parked our car, went to nature's bathroom and started our small hike. Going down to the look out spot over Panther Creek falls was easy peasy. The hard pard was yet to start. Because of course we weren't going to photograph from the touristy spot, overlooking the fall. We wanted to climb down to get up close and personal. To us humans it was hard, but do-able, but we also brought sweet Jax with us, the golden retriever. So Rob & Robin looked for an easier way down, where we had our prepacked lunch, my very first Peanutbutter&Jelly sandwiches. Very American.
After finishing our lunch I put on my weddingdress and Robin was on foraging duty for the furns that Rob would pin on the dress. We sat there for quite some time until the pattern was complete.

Image by Robin Stremlow

Image by Rob Woodcox

It was a pretty Sunny day, but the temperature down by the waterfall was way lower and with the constant damp of cold water, it was pretty chilly to say the least. And of course the shoot where I modeled for was right by the fall, so I was freezing my butt of and was shivering after a while. I knew I really wanted to also do a selfportrait down there, but I just had to warm up first.
When I could feel my feet again and the shivering stopped, I picked out a big fallen log for my shoot, overlooking the fall, a really cool spot. As I was photographing I saw another log that caught my eye that just screamed 'naked selfportrait'. And as I didnt't want to regret not doing it, I decided to just go for it.
After my shoot, Rob was thinking about going naked as well and so I decided to do a nude shoot with him, laying by the waterfall.
Vulnerable to all nature's violence surrounding him.
Time had gone by so fast, that we decided to pack up and head back to the car. It was a slippery hike back up and clumsy me of course slid down at one point, scattering my whole left leg in scratches and bruises.
I couldn't really see how bad it was, because I was covered in mud, but it was pretty bad. "Oh the things we do for art" right!