Before the FEP Congress I already knew Paolo Roversi was a fashion photography legend but when I saw his images on the big screen I was blown away. It became even more impressive when I heard that most of these iconic shots where made with a big Polaroid camera in his rather small studio in Paris with nothing but a north facing window as the light source and a blanket as a backdrop.

Of-course it doesn’t hurt that he gets to work with the world’s best designers, make-up artists, stylists and supermodels like Natalia Vodianova. But still, I think he creates magic in his studio. I have a nice big studio and I’m perfectly fine with studio photography techniques and equipment. I can create what my clients want but at the same time I also feel like I haven’t find my own “voice” yet when it comes to personal work in the studio.

Paolo’s work inspired me to try another angle on shooting in the studio. Lore was so kind to be the guinea pig for this experiment. The main goal was to try to do things that I normally don’t do without fear of failure.

I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, so I decided against using any of my usual lighting/studio equipment. I went to the nearest DIY store and spent a whopping 70 EUR on some halogen work lights, translucent shower curtains and some rough blankets. I will probably do another shoot in this setup and make a Confessions Video of it, to show you the technical aspect.

I’m not afraid of slow shutterspeeds but I basically only use them when I have no other options or if I want to pan. This time I decided deliberately to work with a little motion blur from the subject while the camera was locked on a tripod (also something I rarely do). Most of the shots failed because there was too much or too little movement (or because we burst out in laughter after realizing what a sight it must have been).

I’m pretty happy with what we did. Some of the shots worked out rather well but more importantly, I learned a lot. I don’t know exactly what I’ve learned, but sooner or later I will.

All the pics in this post are shot with the 5D markII but basically they were test shots as I really wanted to shoot these on film. I shot 4 rolls on my Hasselblad and 1 with my Holga. I’ll have to wait for the results until they come back from the lab.

So is this my new style of studio portrait photography? Probably not, but it might be a step in the right direction. There’s the organic feel and the beauty of the imperfection that I miss so often in studio photography. Anyway it inspired me to push this whole idea a bit further and I’ll be doing some more shoots in my 70 EUR studio setup.

Thx Paolo for the inspiration and giving me the urge to try something different.

It’s been quiet on my blog. It happened before and it will happen again. Usually this happens just because of a very busy time. But the last months it was not just the heavy workload that kept me from blogging, I went through a very dark time in my personal life. After 10 years of marriage my wife decided to move out. I never saw it coming and it was a very hard kick in the face for someone for whom family is the most important thing in life. I won’t pretend that I understand it all and I don’t feel the need to blog the parts that I do understand.

I just know that I have no choice but to move on and start a new chapter of my life. I’m in the clear with myself and I just try to make the best of it. I have the kids every other week and I miss them like crazy when they are not with me. But I can still be the father that I always wanted to be. After my wife moved out, I decided to take the kids on a trip to the coast to get our minds of the big changes and show them that I’ll always be there for them.

We had such an amazing time and all enjoyed every second of it. Even though it was pretty cold, it was dry and the sun was out most of the time. We also had a lot of good conversations on how we have to go from here both emotionally and practically. I’m so proud of the way the kids handle this. Off-course they feel lost sometimes but they don’t hesitate to talk to me. They also understand my situation really well and help me out so well.

Lately I found myself again. And that’s thanks to the incredible amount of help and support I received from my family and friends. I feel very lucky that I can count on so many great people.

My main concern is being a good dad but to do that I need to figure out how to sort out the many practical and financial challenges I’m facing. I really want to keep the house and the studio but that won’t be easy. I’m going to have to refocus on some parts of my business to increase my income substantially. Some things are still a bit vague but every day my plans take more form. You’ll discover them over the next months and I hope I can count on your patience and support.