Small news update

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A small news update today.
First of all make sure to check twitter today at www.twitter.com/frankdoorhof during todays workshop with Nadine I will be twittering some backstage material again in the form of video and photos. Have to test the iPhone 4 of course.

Photokina
I will be at the photokina at tuesday, wednesday and thursday (maybe more days) on the Elinchrom/Leaf booth by Profot. I will be demoing and teaching small workshops with the Elinchrom and Leaf gear, showing the Leaf capture interface to the iPad and iPhone of course and probably also Capture One with the Leaf. There will be loads of time for personal meet ups, questions etc. and we will bring some DVDs with us. If you are also at photokina please use the comment button and say which day and maybe it’s possible to have a meet and greet during one of the days.

Dublin
We are in the final stages of the Dublin workshops, the gear is all arranged thanks to Paddy from http://www.barkerphotographic.ie/ , the models are choosen and we have an amazing Makeup artist, we only have to choose between 4 stunning locations.
For the people not aware of the Dublin tour, I will be teaching a free seminar during the photovision roadshow on the 7th of September and a small group workshop on the 8th of September, you can still book at https://frankdoorhof.com/uk we have limited seatings left.
If you visit the Dublin show, please also use the comment button and let me know you will be on the Photovision roadshow.

Belgium workshops
For the Belgium workshops we have 1 seat left, these will be held on the 16th and 17th of September and will contain lots of information on outside shoots on day 1, including some sample and test sessions. Day 2 we have rented the complete “El Passo” western town and that will be the scene for our second day with lots of attention to posing, story telling, natural light, strobes and probably some special effects like smoke, dust and wind. It will be a stunning location.

That’s the news for now, make sure to check out http://www.kelbytraining.com in a few weeks for the new videos and I will post some of the images this weekend from those sessions to give you some appetite 😀

I’m not a wedding photographer, although……

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When one of your favorite models who has been one of my muze s for many years asks you what can you say ?

Marie joined our models some years ago and has been in some of my favorite concepts and locations. Her casting was one of a big reset, she mailed me many times to join the model group I was working with at that time and to be honest the images she mailed me did not convince me…… however finally I decided to give her a chance (hopefully after that she would stop mailing :D), she came in and was more interesting than on the webcam shots she mailed me, but I was not convinced yet. Her posing was not that good and she was obvious nervous. After 10 minutes she said “Wait a minute Frank” went to the makeup room and stayed there for a few minutes, she came back a model…. her posing was awesome and she really was someone completely different after the big reset.
After this test shoot Marie joined me on countless photoshoots, workshops, advertising campaigns etc. etc. there was no idea to crazy of Marie would be up for it and she always nailed it, I have only a few models that I trust with almost every assignment and she is one of them.One day during a workshop she was not feeling well but she really shined, the best images I ever got from here, until I turned around and heard a big bang. Marie collapsed and was totally out. Now one advantage when you call 112 (911) and say that a model has fainted in a photo studio is that within 3 minutes there was an ambulance and they took good care of Marie. The good news arrived a few weeks later…. Marie was pregnant.
We never lost contact but it was quiet for some time, getting a child is a huge change of course. But a few weeks ago Marie got the urge again to pose and who did she ask…… 😀 yep she still got it. During that session she told me she was getting married and wanted to invite me…. yeah sure….. and yes very soon the question followed that she would love me to take the shots after the ceremonie, and what can you say to one of your favorite models ? “yes I will”.

The shots during the normal day were in the capable hands of another of my favorite models…. Corine 😀 yep she also picked up the camera and is doing some fine work, so it was fun in the church with both of us shooting the ceremonie because let’s be honest as a photographer you can sit front stage and when you already have your camera with you, what else to do to kill time.

I won’t bore you with the normal ceremony shots but I do want to share these shots with you, it was raining and they had to go the diner of course so I had to work really fast (although they had given me all the time, I just don’t feel it’s proper to take more time than needed). With this kind of sessions I always aim for 2 great shots that they will love and can hang on the wall, however I understand it are no model shots so I try to coach as little as possible and just let them be themselves and a good couple they are to shoot.

Technical information:
Camera : Canon 5DMKII
Lens : Canon 24-105 f4 IS L
Strobe : Elinchrom Quadra with 1 head and a shoot thru umbrella
Session time : app 10 minutes

From this side I would like to congratulate Marie and Symen (and Tijs) wish her all the best in her future, and of course hope to see her many times in front of my camera again.
And hoping for a lot of crazy themes, outfits and locations.
Marie you still rock 😀

Getting ready for Dublin….

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I’m always excited for the workshops abroad, and this year has been crazy with workshops in Conventry (UK), Bristol (UK), New York (USA) and on schedule are Kent (UK), Dublin (Ireland), Italy, Belgium and of course the photokina on which I will be demoing at the Elinchrom/Leaf booth this year.

But first there will be Dublin.
On September 7th I will teach a free seminar during the photovision roadshow, followed by a small group workshop the day after. Most of the time the smaller workshops are with groups ranging from 5-8 people, with these I like to keep the groups small to make a nice and personal experience for the students. Now what do we have to do for the workshops ? maybe it’s fun to take a small look backstage what goes into organizing the location workshops.

Preparing the trip
In the case of the UK we often drive with our own car but with Dublin it’s a bit far so we will fly in and rent a car. For the UK and Ireland we often arrive one day before the seminars and leave one day after the workshop, with Dublin we will probably add one day for some sightseeing. Because we want some nice locations for the workshop (always preferabel to a studio location for me personally) it’s important to plan something that has both inside and outside options, especially in the UK it’s always a guess what the weather will be, for example in Bristol we had half of the day very nice weather, even hot and the second part there was so much rain that you couldn’t walk outside without getting soaked in a few seconds. Most of the times we will book a hotel that has a nice ambiance and in places like the UK and Ireland and Scotland that’s often not a problem. However getting permission to shoot in a hotel is sometimes a bit more difficult, that’s why we often choose hotels that are run by families or ar part of a very small chain, those will often give you permission rather easily.

Preparing the material
Well one could think that I have lots of material lying around for the workshops because we teach them so often, but nothing is less true. For every location I try to make a different program, first off to make it interesting for myself, but most of all to teach a workshop that is fitting for the group and location and not something that is standard. For the free seminars I will often use the same material for one tour (the photovision roadshow) for one year, meaning everyone can see the seminar independent of their location, and because we plan the dates we participate in far from each other there is hardly no overlap, although some people follow us around 😀 (thank you) but I always try to teach the seminars slightly different, which is not that hard seeing the seminar we are using now is a 2 hour seminar I have to teach in 1 hour…. so lots of room to change the story per location.

For the workshop itself however it’s more difficult and I often have to “wing” it depending on the weather, location and of course the needs of the students.

The gear
I’m lucky with my contacts with several importers and dealers, and can often get the gear I want on location. We do travel however with our own cameras and laptop. The Elinchrom gear however is often borrowed to us from local dealers or is rented out in some locations. For the locations we drive ourselves I always carry my own gear somehow that works best for me. So how does the gear for a location workshop look, what do we carry ?

1. Cameras (Canon 5DMKII, Phase One DF/Leaf digital back) and lenses
2. MacBookPro + applejuicze external battery
3. 2x Ranger RX speed + accupacks
4. 1x Ranger Quadra + accupacks
5. 2x Elinchrom heads BXri500
6. In case of emergency a small generator
7. several skyports
8. 2 ipads (later more on this)

On location we use a powerstrip and one convertor to have 4-5 poweroutlets to charge all the accupacks on location.
now why the 2 iPads ?
During the workshops I shoot straight to the laptop and because having 5-8 people stand in front of the laptop can be a bit crowded we use the Leaf Capture utility that will show a full screen image of the captured images on the iPad and iPhones the students hold, this is an awesome way of showing your captures to different people, they can zoom in, scroll through the images etc. Especially with location workshops this is just perfect.

The workshop itself
EVERY workshop is different but somethings will of course always be there like :
1. Working with lightmeter
2. Calibrating the lightmeter
3. Working with the colorcheckers
4. Using natural light
5. Flash ranging from fill in to day to night
6. Dragging the shutter
7. Posing and coaching the model
8. Finding your angle
9. Story telling
and lots lots more, well let’s say it’s intense.

Although we always plan the workshops between 10:00-15:00 they often run a lot longer and are also in most cases ending with a nice group talk while enjoying a drink at the bar and in some case ending in diner….. it’s a lot of fun for all parties.

Throughout the post you have seen some images from the Bristol workshop, let’s hope that Dublin will be similar to location, we have something in mind that’s very interesting…..
At the moment we have 4 seats left, so quickly surf to www.frankdoorhof.com/uk and book your seat.

Guest blog Marije Weterings

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Every now and then I will invite someone over for a guestblog. There are no rules for the guestblog as long as it’s interesting for our readers, so if you have any suggestions please let me know. So without further waste of space here is the guestblog from Marije Weterings. You can find her site at www.marijeweterings.nl

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A Miss in the Mud!

For over a year, I was preparing myself for this photoshoot. Inspired by the videoclip by Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue of the song Where The Wild Roses Grow, I wanted to make a series of images of a pale, white bride, lost in soft and dreamy surrounding.

The elements water, the model, the nature and the colour white were very important for this photoshoot. For some months now, I was talking to colleagues about this shoot, and I told them I wanted to put the model in a pond.

Over and over again I saw waters that seemed to work, but

the water was too deep, too brown, too clear or too dirty. I didn’t know who could model for me, because I needed to find a blond model with tight jaws and a pale skin, altough enhanced by make-up. To give the image more power, I had to put her in a white wedding-gown. But where did I got such a location, the perfect model and a weddingdress that could be ruined??



Last week, I was hiking with my husband and my dog in a place called the Zandbergen, near the village Losser, in the east of the Netherlands. There I found a little sidestream of the river Dinkel, where the water was still, not to deep, but deep enough, slightly brown, but clear enough! The perfect water! And with green leaves on it! I knew: this had to be the location for this shoot. I also found out, this location was perfect, because I could park my car near the water.

Because I had made serie of Petra Smits, the recently crowned Miss Overijssel, I knew she had the looks ánd the personality to fit the preferred model profile for my plans. I called her and explained my vision and asked her if she wanted to pose for me, in the cold, dirty water. She immediately agreed! She was very enthousiastic and insisted on modelling for me!


Meanwhile, I posted some messages on Twitter to search for a make-up artist and a dress. After a couple of tweets, e-mailing and phoning I had no make-up artist, only a couple of hours before the photoshoot. I was getting pretty nervous!

Suddenly, Petra called me and told me she found a weddingdress and my regular make-up artist Esmee could help, because her client got ill. I knew, everything will be perfect, I was sure of it.

Marcel Brands, a photographer and friend, would join us to make a backstage film and some backstage photo’s from the shoot. I wanted to remember the setting, but also I wanted to review my work, so I could learn from it.

The outside temperature was about 22 degrees celsius and the water maybe about 13 degrees. I put on a bathingsuit and a thermoshirt over it with some pants. I put on some sandals, cause I didn’t want te be in the water with my bare feet. I didn’t want to feel any fish or the soft sand between my toes. Yuck!

After some normal fashionshots on the shore, Petra put on her weddingdress and entered the water slowly. After a while, she lay down in the cold, muddy water like a princess. Marcel was filming form the shore and helped adjusting the light. I was shooting with an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra, with a snoot on it. The light would touch her face gently from behind so she would lit up.

The water was smelly and cold. When Petra layed still, the temperature didn’t bother her at all. She was the perfect model, just as I imagined it would be! Esmee kept well track of time, we had to get out of the water within 15 minutes, or we would be supercooled. Esmee helped Petra out of the water and helped her to dry and get changed. Petra was a litlle supercooled though, so we went to the village and gave her some hot tea.


Petra, Esmee and Marcel: thank you very much for your effort, motivation, joy and amazing good work! Without you, I couldn’t fulfil my long nourished wish. I am very proud of you and thank you with all my heart.

Model: Petra Smits Miss Overijssel 2010
Make-up and hairstyling: Esmee Bos http://www.princessforaday.nl
Assistant Photographer and backstage filming: Marcel Brands http://www.debrandsjes.nl
Photographer: Marije Weterings http://www.marijeweterings.com

Youtube film: