Guestblog Peter Kasbergen

For the time being the last guestblogger from our critique day on twitter.
As explained in a previous post I’ve selected a few photographers who’s work I loved to fill the blog while we were away to Photoshop World in Orlando.
We will arrive back in the Netherlands very soon so I will take over again from then 😀

So today it’s time for Peter Kasbergen.

Photo information
Photographer: Peter Kasbergen
Model: Tara van Erp
Styling/make-up: Denise Qualm

First of all, I would like to thank Frank for giving me the opportunity to tell you something about myself, my work and this photo in particular. I have been following Frank on Twitter for a while now and on March 22nd, I ‘accidentally’ came across his tweet about ‘critique day’. I read it while I was stuck in a traffic jam and thought I would quickly share an image I had been working on the day before, from a private shoot I did a couple of weeks earlier. To my surprise, Frank replied with an invitation for a guest blog post. I happily accepted of course.

About me
I started my photography career as an amateur enthusiast in 2004 with a point-and-shoot camera (Canon Ixus), taking pictures of ballroom and latin dance couples. I was an IT consultant at that time and I had recently quit dancing myself and thought it would be nice to stay in touch with dancing this way. The reactions to my photos were very good, so I quickly moved on to a DSLR camera (Canon EOS 300D) to be able to take even better shots.

One thing led to another and before I knew it, I was second-shooting a wedding for friends. The results gave me enough courage to advertise my wedding photography on a website, thinking I could try to finance my new hobby with it. That worked really well and I started doing more and more ‘free work’, often using dancers as models. I got my 2nd and 3rd DSLRs (both Canon EOS 20Ds) during that time. The positive critiques I got made me think about maybe taking up photography as a full-time job, but the financial risks held me back (after all, I had a wife and 2 kids to take care of).

At the end of 2010, however, my wife was offered a job that allowed me to quit my IT job and try and make a living as a fulltime photographer. And so I have been slowly building up my business since December 1st, 2010.

My work
When people ask me what kind of photography I do, I tell them: “People photography”. As it says on my website: ‘Only people show so many emotions and are always different. They are always a challenge to photograph. I accept this challenge every day.’ In practice, this means that I photograph weddings, events, fashion, portraits and sports. I still do a lot of dance photography at national and international competitions, but I have expanded my sports work to gymnastics, auto sports and more.

My heroes in photography are Jeff Ascough (www.jeffascough.com) and Frits van Eldik (www.fritsvaneldik.nl). Both have the ability in their line of photography to capture moments like nobody else. I admire not only the quality of their work, but also their attitude towards photography. They realise that being a good photographer not only means taking great photos but also communicating a message to people and they do this by making their subjects the most important factor in the photos. They ‘blend in’ with their environment and capture things as they happen, without interfering. I try to take the same approach when I do my job, at least when I am doing sports and events. I hate ‘directing’ too much and just try to be alert to even the smallest details.

I place a lot of importance on the quality of my work. For instance, after I have shot an event or sports competition, I refuse to just put all the photos out there on my gallery, including the poorly lit ones or the ones that have people in awkward positions, etc. I am convinced that being a good photographer is not only about taking great photos, but also about being very critical when selecting the photos you are going to publish. I am not ashamed to admin that I take lousy pictures lots of times, but I just try not to publish them

As for my view on my own work, I have noticed that I am placing more and more importance on the ‘atmosphere’ of my photos. That’s why I have started to use less and less flash where possible. I work on location most of the time and whenever I can, I try to use the available natural light. This places some constraints on the available options for taking some photos, but finding ways to still ‘make the shot work’ is one of the best challenges I face every day.

The photo
The photo that I sent to Frank was shot as part of a set on location at Fort Orthen in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. My parents-in-law have the key to this historic site and I thought it would be nice to try and capture a bit of the historic atmosphere of the place. It is a small, old, circular fort with around 10 rooms on floor level and a small basement. It is used by artists who have their studios there these days. When there is nobody there, it can be quite creepy so we decided to go for an almost ghost-like look for the model. The story I wanted to tell was that of the ghost of a deceased girl, who was searching for her former lover in the real world.

When I explored the fort, I noticed the light falling through the stairwell into the basement, so I decided to try and take some photos there and see what we could come up with. I used a regular candle on an stand (that just happened to be standing there) for some background lighting on the wall. Because there was still so little light, I used a tripod and shot at f2.8, 1/8 and 3200 ISO. I placed the model in a spot where the light was falling nicely on her face, body and hand. I made her look up through the stairwell like she thought she heard her lover somewhere upstairs. I added a ‘filmish’ effect in post-production afterwards to add some drama to the shot, increasing the highlights and smoothing her skin. I modified the colors so the atmosphere looks even more dramatic. I hope you like the result as well…

With this guest blog, I hope I have given you a little insight into me and my work. If you want to see more of my portfolio, please stop by my website at www.peterkasbergen.nl. Thanks again Frank and happy shooting everyone!

Peter Kasbergen
[email protected]
www.peterkasbergen.nl