Photo Journey

Hans Klok at Eneco Staff Party

Event: National Plastics Convention

Wouldn't want you to get the impression from my blog that all I do is buy equipment and play... I do occassionally do some serious work. Like today. I drove all the way to Steenwijk to photograph the National Plastics Convention for Media Business Press.

I have done a number of projects for them over the years. My pictures get published in their magazines and on their website. But today was probably the hardest project ever. The room, a nice and very comfortable theatre, was so dark! And the stage was high and empty. To take good shots of the speakers you had to go on stage - or photograph them from below (never a good idea). Light also came at a premium. Found myself resorting to high ISO's (like 3200) quite a bit! Makes me wish I had the D700... Still, I managed to shoot some 300 pictures that were well-exposed and well-framed.

The event gave me the fun opportunity to play with two new gadgets.
- I bought the LumiQuest Pro-Max system - which comes with three inserts and a softbox cover. I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure this always is better than an Omnibounce - but in some cases I could clearly see all the light falling forward (the Omnibounce pushes it everywhere).
- I rented the new Nikon 12-24mm/f2.8 for the wide angle shots. Wow - is that a great lens or what! Sharp through and through - and so little distortion. I gotta get that lens! The price ticket on it is 1400 euro's. Agonizing choice - when do I get it?

Here is a bit of an overview... Click on the image for a large sample.

Above: Congres organizers Suzanne en Marleen enjoying a fun moment

Trendwatcher Adjiedj Bakas presented 5 trends he sees for the Plastics Industry. As a photographer I always try to listen and learn, even though often it is clear I am not familiar with the industry. But this talk had me on the edge of my seat! Fantastic presentation also!

Day presenter Helga van Praag (RTL weather women). Sometimes these celebrities treat you like crap, but she was very nice and responsive. I understand of course that celebrities have no reason to trust photographers in this day and age - but I endeavor to respect them and show them from their best side.

Kunststof editor-in-chief and friend Wim Danhof

Event: Dance Party

Some images from a party I photographed tonite.

Firing my flash remotely (event photography)

As I mentioned in my last post I was asked to photograph an event last Friday. This symposium was held in a large and very stately room right next to the Binnenhof (Dutch Houses of Parliament). When I entered the room I immediately noticed the large windows, covered with heavy yellow curtains. The event started at 15:30 and by 17:30 the light really started to fade. I had pushed up my ISO to 1200 and was tempted to push it higher. Since the event was supposed to last till 20:30 I started to realize I was in trouble: pretty soon there would not be light enough!

I set up a flash, pointed it at the white ceiling, and used my Pocketwizard to fire it. But the light kept fading and I realized I really was in trouble.
I did have a second flash - but not a sync-wire or a third pocketwizard to fire it. That's when I remembered the Nikon CLS system which allows me to fire multiple remote flash units using the small on-board flash. I have played with it before - but never in such a large room!

I set up both flashes to listen to my camera, clicked up my on-board flash (which I never use otherwise), and set the program of the camera (Nikon D300) to control the other flashes.

It was fantastic! No matter where I stood, the other two flashes (SB800s) saw the tiny flash from my camera and responded! This is an amazing system: it allows me to set up multiple groups of flashes, and to control just how much light each of the groups gives off - all from within the camera; I don't need to change any settings on the flash itself.

This picture shows the idea: I am on the far side in the middle of the room (you can see my tiny camera-flash in the mirror on the opposite side of the room. On the right hand side my two flashes fire because my camera tells them to. Obviously this is not my best picture, but it does demonstrate that two SB-800's are powerful enough to light up a room like that quite well!

Conference day for young pastors

Photographed a conference yesterday for young pastors starting new churches. Difficult light situation. Gallery here.

F#ckers in Outland

Last Saturday in Outland, two images I liked:

K2007 - Plastics fair in Dusseldorf

Last Friday I shot  pictures for an industry magazine at the Plastics fair in the Dusseldorfer MESSE in Germany.. This is the largest fair of its kind. Here are some of my favourites. The bottom one is a picture of the India Delegation, led by the Indian Minister of Oil and Rubber (next to his wife).