Overview of 2011

At the end of the year it’s always nice (and sometimes not) to look back at the year and what happened.
So because today is the last day of the year I will also try to look back at 2011 and what moved me in highs and lows.

2011 is like most years a year of negative news and very positive news. And luckily for us the positive news does weigh in more than the negative news. One of the biggest hits in our personal lives this year was finding some small lumps in the skin of our cat Joey, soon it was clear this was a very aggressive form of cancer and the doctors gave him 3-4 weeks at best (this was begin of the summer), we decided to not take that as an answer and found a specialist that was willing to perform a very risky operation, and ….it worked. We did get a warning that the lumps could come back within a few months and that there was no more options if that would happen, and that change was huge, we decided that what ever happened we would treasure every moment Joey was still with us. To our horror the lumps did return a few months later, when the diagnose was set we were told that he would probably stopped eating within 3 weeks and then it would be time to….. Well we are now almost 2 months further and Joey is still with us, it’s not going well but we are so happy that he has decided to stay with us for a few months longer, he is still happy, jumping around, but you can really see he is getting worse the last few weeks… we decided that as long as he is not in pain we will just spoil him and love him and just hope that enjoys his time with us, as soon as we see he is in pain we will make the decision to “help” him, it’s something that we hope will take some time but we are preparing for it, for us in 2011 this is the worst that has happened and this means that 2011 was a year with not that much negative news.

One of the most positive things in every year is teaching at Photoshop World.
This year it was time for Orlando and Las Vegas, and because it was my first time in Vegas I was walking around with my jaw on the floor all the time and shooting a lot of images. We made a lot of friends in Vegas and Orlando, did some amazing shoots in Vegas thanks to our new friend Jules and I got to experience the In and Out burger double double animal style (thanks Scott….. call 911 :D)

Also for the workshops 2011 was a great year, highlights without any doubt the workshops in Boston which we also filmed for a release later that year. A good friend of mine (Brendan) organized the workshops in Boston for me and we stayed in his studio during our stay there. The locations were stunning and the group I taught rocked. The recordings turned out great and as soon as we got back from the workshops we started editing the video… however because everything was filmed live and I taught the workshop in English we were a bit worried for our Dutch crowd, most of them speak english very well but you know…. I do talk fast 😀 so in a moment of stupidity I said “why not add Dutch subtitles”, my intern Evita was more than willing to take up this project and we thought it would take us a few days to complete this…. yeah sure :-), in total there could have been a book from all the text that had to be added (I really talk fast) but only three weeks after the date we actually set the DVD was done, and last week we held a small release party for the DVD which at the moment is selling so fast that it totally took us by surprise, it’s my 9nd instructional DVD and although they all sell very well the “live in Boston DVD” is really breaking all records for the first week, so for all the people that ordered the DVD, thanks a lot you rock.

I also added and rewrote some workshops that are taught in our studio in the Netherlands, this year the workshop studio technique 1 will premiere in it’s new form and starting in 2012 I will also start the DSLR video workshop. And a few weeks ago I did the first trials of a compositing workshop and this month the first real one.

But a lot more has happened in 2011 which I see as very positive.
And to explain that we have to go back to October 2010 which was without a doubt a very deep personal low for me. After a very busy month I had to teach 6 small workshops in a very cold building and although everything looked fine the first 3 during the break I did not feel good and ended up thinking I was going to die, my body totally shut down and I was very light headed thinking I could drop down dead any minute, I hate doctors but when I asked for an ambulance even my wife and son panicked. After a quick physical the conclusion was that I was over exhausted and needed to take some rest. This message was for me a reason to do it a bit more drastic. Due to a genetic problem I’ve always had some overweight, I always try to eat healthy and watch the calorie intake so it does never reach more than 2100 a day during the weeks and that way I could always handle my “problem” I’m blessed with a very good stamina so it also never bothered me during my work, but let’s be honest it’s not something that you like, so when I heard it would be wise to take some time for myself each week I thought why not do some more sports. When I was in my youth I loved to sport (especially cardio) and because we are so busy now it just dropped of the radar, I did take the stairs instead of an elevator when possible, walked or cycled instead of using the car but there simply was no time to really do some sports.

After my 2010 Wakeupcall (how we call it here) I changed my office location to the studio and the room that became empty said hello to an indoor rowing machine on which I started to workout every day for app 30 minutes on a high intensity. In 2011 this has been expanded a lot and I can honestly say that I’m addicted to the workouts. During 2011 my workout schedule has moved up to almost daily 45-60 minutes with a max of 2 rest days a week, and because I love gadgets I’m tracking my progress with a Suunto T6 and sports software which helps me plan and see progress. In 2011 we also bought a cross trainer, automated the fitness gear with Netathlon software and last week it was time to replace my 23 year old Giant mountain bike for a brand new 2012 Scott Comp 29″ mountain bike. Because I love to train every day before or after the photoshoots/workshops it’s good to have some variety in the gear I use, after 8 months of only rowing I have to be honest that I was loving the fact I could now also do something else. For 2012 I will be continuing of course and who knows what we will change in 2012 but it will be fun.

2011 was also the year in which I became involved with some amazing products, think about tether tools which my wife even took up in her company for the distribution in the Benelux, but I also got the know the people from Expoimaging and really got enthusiastic about their flash bender series and not to forget the guys from Honeycomb grids who finally could deliver me a grid for my maxi light.

2011 was also the year in which I did my first webinar series for NIK software, did a great interview on TwiT TV, appeared in so many magazines that I started wondering if people would not grow tired of me, but seeing the reactions people love it.

2011 also saw the release of the Light It! app/magazine for the iPad and I’m still very proud to be one of the regular writers for the magazine. I think it’s an awesome magazine and I read every release with a lot of interest and I love it.

2011 was also for me the first time I organized Help Portrait for the Netherlands. When I met Jeremy Coward during Photoshop world we started talking and I was really struck by the enthusiasm he had for his amazing project Help Portrait, it was so incredibly infectious that before I knew it I said “how would you like it if I would do it for the Netherlands”, well I did not know how much work I was getting myself into, but to be honest it was worth every single minute. I decided to take up the whole organization for the Netherlands and help organize help portrait in different regions and help out where ever possible, over time I got a lot of help and we even got our own theme song from Dutch singer Sarina Kay. Help portrait was a huge success in the Netherlands this year, so much that my whole team has decided to organize it again for 2012. If you are not yet participating in help portrait PLEASE do, it’s one of the best things you can do, you’re gonna love it.

During 2011 our studio grew more and more into video and in 2011 we delivered our first 4 videoclips which I loved doing, for 2012 we already have some great projects that are now in the stages of planning and will really give me a change to try out video the way I like it, so I’m really looking forward to that, I strongly believe that the modern photographer should be able to handle motion (at least the basics).

For 2012
It’s terribly difficult to look back to a year that has been so busy but I think I got the highlights, now let’s very quickly look a bit more forward to 2012 (tomorrow).

For 2012 we have the following things planned:
New videos for Kelbytraining
A new instructional DVD (already playing with some ideas)
My first official book with the work title “why fake it when you can create it ? : some from the blog and some not”
I will also be filming some small instructional like videos for the blog highlighting products and techniques
We will be doing some more backstage videos
We will also be picking up the live broadcasts from our studio again
I will be teaching at Photoshop World again with a brand new series of classes and a pre con workshop
I will also be teaching in Boston again in March
On Professional Imaging I will be demoing for Elinchrom of course but this year I will also be appearing on the main stage with some friends
And much much more……
Wow you’re still reading ?
Thanks a lot and see you all in 2012.
For tonight be careful with fireworks and our whole team wishes you and your loved one all the best for a ROCKING 2012.