Besides models…..

Although you might think I’m only shooting models you are not 100% correct.
My passion for photography goes much further but over the years we have become so busy that in practice indeed it’s almost only modelphotography I do, but hey you don’t hear me complain of course 😀

Being abroad
However when being in other countries for workshops or seminars I’m always carrying around a camera and I often shoot way too much material, my wife often claims I look like the stereotype japanese tourist that shoots everything standing still or moving and I guess….. well as always she probably is right. But how can one resist, there is often so much going on and because I only have the opportunity during those trips I want to use it of course to the max. As a country I just love the states, the open roads, the billboards, the people, the cities and nature it’s all for me shoot worthy. My record at the moment must be New York however were we returned home with over 350GB of material (including video) and to be honest I already deleted while in New York what I did not want to keep. You can see the collection on www.frankdoorhof.com/portfolio by the way.

Recently I visited Florida to film some classes for www.kelbytraining.com and as with all trips to the states we try to have a few days free time before and a few days free after the workdays, often not that much but just enough to get a good impression from the area. One would expect a photographer to be drawn to nature or skylines or beaches etc. and I have to admit we visited a lot of those places and the files are still waiting to be sorted and worked on (can take several months) but the images that always really catch my eye are those that are not what a normal tourist would shoot. I’m always drawn to those areas were you are often warned for, for example I loved the series I shot in South Central in LA, or on First street in LA both areas where they say you should better not go. Call me crazy but I don’t want to shoot the same image of the Statue of Liberty that everyone has, I want that area were people would say “where is that ? I’ve never seen that, and I’ve been there many times”.

My luck is that Annewiek (my wife) also is not someone for the tourist traps, of course we want to see Universal, and next time we’re in Florida we want to go to Seaworld but often we are done very quickly. A student of mine once organized a three day sightseeing trip, he would drive us around and show his area, three days ? we were finished at the end of day 1 😀 why spend 90 minutes at a location were you can see everything in 10 minutes ? I guess we want to maximize the time we have. So in other words we are always looking around for strange and not touristy like options to take a quick shot.

The normal thing
For me during our Florida trip the following images are the ones I love and wanted to share on my blog. Because we also have some dirty clothes during several days (as most of you) we have several options, we can let the hotel do the washing but somehow we always end up in the coin launderettes not because it’s cheaper but while sitting there you can often get a few nice shots.

Feeling like a criminal, but not always
Things have changed since 9/11 and to be honest a lot I agree upon and makes me feel a little bit safer, but as a photographer lives has become harder and harder. It now is at a point that I often feel like a criminal just because I love taking images. On a recent trip to Coventry it all came to a climax for me (and I think my experience is peanuts compared to what happens to others) when a security guard forced me to empty my card….. it made the frontpage of the newspaper because I blogged about it so a lot of photographers are having this frustation.
You must know that feeling when you enter a nice restaurant with wonderful decorations (let’s say Johnny Rockets) and you want to take a shot of the interior, in the time of my grandparents, personal would pose and act funny and you could take a shot. Today I have to almost secretly quickly take an image when I’m sure no one is watching, and even then sometimes the manager will come and ask not to shoot in side (he saw it on his security camera)…. what’s wrong with taking an image for my own collection… it should be a compliment that I love his restaurant so much I want to save it for future memories.

However it can also be different I found out during our trip in Florida.While our wash was getting cleaner and cleaner we ended up in a small sandwich place next to the launderette to get something to drink and eat, and I don’t have to tell you I love those kind of places, very photogenic and always different. The guy behind the counter saw my camera and started talking to me, in my head I thought “ok, no images here he spotted the camera” but within a minute or so he asked me if I wanted to take a shot while he was preparing a pizza….. well of course I want, I wish everyone asked that 😀
And to be honest why not ? I really don’t understand that whole issue about photography, I gave the guy my card and he has some nice images and I have a great shot I can keep for my memories of this trip. That’s the way photography should be, great memories captured forever. Both parties benefit.

Are you a professional photographer ?
How often is this question being asked to you ?
“can you shoot the moon with that lens ?”, “Look honey that’s the camera I want”
We all know these probably.
But what happened to me on the way to the airport back from Tampa was new.
We stopped at a wafflehouse to have some breakfast and when we left an nice older gentlemen approached me and asked me if I was a professional photographer, because I already took my “secret” shots inside and he did not look like management I said “Yes”. As it seemed the gentleman was running for a place in government and wanted me to take his portrait next to his car, well how often do you get a change like that out of the blue, and I don’t mean to shoot a maybe politician but I mean a real character (and I mean this in the positive sense of the word), I love to shoot real people with what they love and I have way too little time for that and often the people I want to shoot have similar schedules to mine, so I jumped to the opportunity. The next photo is the one I choose for myself, and I send a few more to him. Somehow people have a certain expression of pride or passion when you shoot them in character and that’s something that I often miss in the modeling world and what I’m after during those trips, but as mentioned before since 9/11 it’s just very difficult to shoot people on the street let alone really focus on them….. Maybe I should just walk up to people more and ask ?

Do you have stories to share, opinions, tips etc. use the comment button on top and post your comment…..