Tag Archive for: wibi soerjadi

The highlight of the year, the Wibi Soerjadi concert 2024

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Live photography has its challenges, but I love it

Every year has its ups and downs. But for us both as a family and as photographers there is one highlight that stands out.
The Christmas concert in Het Koninklijk Concertgebouw Amsterdam with Wibi Soerjadi. The Wibi Soerjadi concert in 2024 was his 30th anniversary.

Wibi and I met many years ago without any connection to photography. Still, we talked about it, and before I knew it, I was shooting my first real international celebrity. I can already tell you I was incredibly nervous, but Wibi was absolutely nothing like I imagined. He was very creative and knew what he wanted, but he was 100% open to the photographer’s opinion.

 

Wibi Soerjadi Concert, 30th anniversary

At the end of the year just after Christmas Wibi ends the year with an always sold-out concert in one of the best-sounding concert halls in the Netherlands, Het Koninklijk Concertgebouw Amsterdam. When he asked me to shoot some images I started from the balcony with a long lens. I was sitting in the family part so we had a great view. But the images… well were basic. So we started talking about how we could get something more interesting. The problem is that with most concerts and especially classical concerts, it’s not allowed to shoot for a longer period. And of course, I also had to abide by that rule. So the next year I did get some better images but at that point, I think also Wibi started to have fun with the whole shooting of the Christmas concert so we started to joke around how to make it even better.

Wibi Soerjadi Concert 2024

Wibi after the awesome Queen transcription at the 2011 concert

Better locations and more spectacular every year

I said “Well maybe when I lie under the piano” to which he replied (If I remember correctly) “Yeah, we’re going to do that”.
Well, in all honesty, I’m a pretty shy guy, and that idea I did not want to execute, but at that point, we did decide to take it one step further—shoot from the stage.

I was incredibly nervous, first of all with this chance but also with all the challenges you get when shooting under those conditions. But it went great… but we wanted more.

Over the years, the Christmas concert grew into something that overshadowed everything I ever saw from a solo artist.
I think it’s a shame he never played with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, I think they would sell out for a long period.

Last year’s concert

Last year I shot some of my best live work ever. But this year Wibi decided to up the ante and really push the limits (wait till next year).
The problem with a lot of different lighting setups is that I have to choose my spots very carefully.
Although I’m an all-access area photographer and am allowed to shoot from every location during the show I still have my responsibility to the visitors who paid for the tickets and don’t want to be disturbed.

Wibi Soerjadi Christmas Concert 2024

For me, this meant this year I started on the podium at approximately 1-2 meters away from Wibi.
Right after the break I ran to the balcony and shot the second part of the concert from there for more oversight shots. The lighting on the stage is totally different from the other side. After the last notes, I had to run through the building to end up right in front of the stage for the final encores. This is one of my favorite locations to shoot due to the extreme angle which gives it almost a rock concert look. It’s not a series you can use for everything but it does complete the concert for me.

The gear

Today I show you a very small selection of the images I shot.
Thanks to the dynamic range of the modern cameras (A7RV) and low noise (or Topaz/Lightroom Denoise) the quality of the full resolutions are absolutely breath taking.

For the wide angles, I used the A7rIII with a Sigma 12-24
For the other shots the Sony A7RV with the Sony 24-70 F2.8

I hope for the end of the year you have some time to enjoy the images.
And for 2025 we wish you all the best and hope that 2025 will be a much better year than 2024.

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO START THE GALLERY
And see them in the correct aspect ratio

last year I also made a short BTS video

Behind the scenes video during the Wibi Soerjadi Christmas concert

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Today in the blog the behind the scenes videos we shot during the Wibi Soerjadi Christmas concert.
Yesterday I showed you the photos and today you get to see how I took them.

My favorite shots from the Wibi Soerjadi Christmas concert

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Wibi Soerjadi Christmas Concert

Every year we close our business year with a special event. The Christmas Concert from Wibi Soerjadi in the Amsterdam Concert Gebouw. An amazing place with awesome sound. In this blog, I share my favorite shots from this Wibi Soerjadi Christmas Concert.

As a photographer, I think it’s vital to get to know your subject as well as possible. This doesn’t just make the shoot go easier. But it will most definitely get you results that are more fitting the person/character you are photographing.

Wibi Soerjadi

I’ve known Wibi for years and consider him a close friend which makes photographing a concert like this at one point much easier, but also a lot harder.

It’s easier for me because I don’t really have to think about disturbing the artist. He knows I’m there and there is trust so in essence, I’m invisible to him. So, no worries on my side about interrupting him or doing something that is not allowed. This makes it much easier to move around and shoot from different locations during the concert. Now don’t take that too lightly. Because although I don’t have to worry about the artist I do have to be very aware of the audience. It’s not a rock concert. Meaning I have to walk and move like an invisible ninja and choose my timing very carefully to not stand in front of people. Or let people jump up because I scare them to death by just being there out of nowhere… Well you all know my length so this makes it pretty hard.

During the concert

A way that works really well is that I always introduce myself to the audience in the locations where I think I’m going to be moving. Make a little joke that they can always kick me when I’m in the way as long as it’s not too hard. In the end, it means that during the concert I’m actually often helped by them instead of that I get irritated responses. I do have to add, that when I introduce myself I mostly end up taking pictures of them with the room in the back so that also gives me some goodwill 😀

Also because we have worked together for such a long time I have a pretty good feel of the mood he wants in the images.

Anyway, long story short the images are my favorite ones from that evening.

My favorite shots from the Wibi Soerjadi Christmas concert My favorite shots from the Wibi Soerjadi Christmas concert My favorite shots from the Wibi Soerjadi Christmas concert

 

See the video we made about Wibi’s birthday in Disneyland

In 2011 I was at a CD presentation from Wibi Soerjadi

 

Playing and having fun with Photoshop AI

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In yesterdays blog post you have read about my opinion on using artificial intelligence.
I hope you got the intention from the post that I feel it can be a great creative tool.

Now I have to be honest, I like doing things right in camera, and mostly use Photoshop/Lightroom for small adjustments and skin retouching. I do have to confess that in some images a lens flare might not be as heavy as I like it to be and I use Photoshop or Boris FX to enhance the lens flare, but in 99% of the cases the light was already there, I just enhance it.

One way I  love to use AI is for Cosplay photography.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my ClickPropsBackdrops and feel that proper backgrounds should always be the base of a studio, just replacing every background is first of all not doable time wise, but it also doesn’t work for every image. A background responds to lighting, focus, angles you shoot under etc.

So I clearly see AI as an option to add something to an image to get closer to my vision.
Shot a model without a necklace?
Add a necklace, no problem at all.
Want to change some colours or add something to clothing?
Even that is possible.

When I create my images I work “two” ways.
The first way is that I have an image in my mind and create it in real life as much as possible, and later in post processing I’ll tint the images (color evokes emotion), do skin retouching, clean up some things that couldn’t be done during the shoot. Total retouch time…. 5 minutes on average. (this is probably 90% of what you see in my portfolio).

 

But I also sometimes have to work with an idea that I can’t create on set.
For example with the Cosplay workshops we love to add castles, fairy tale forests etc.
And it’s a great tool to let the model pose with a stick and replace it with AI for a real sword that you normally can’t afford or loan. Why let your creativity be limited by what you can’t pay for….as long as you imagine it and create it it’s your vision so your art. AI is just a tool that saves time and money.

When you visit my workshops regularly you can often hear me telling during the workshops how the images will look when they are done, it will never be 100% the same, but thanks to AI this will get closer and closer. I don’t see any problems with AI that way.

 

And sometimes…. there is a third way.
And today I want to show you some fun examples from this method.

I’ve been shooting Wibi Soerjadi for quite some years now.
So I have a rather extensive collection of images in different outfits, poses etc.
Over the years we have become good friends and I love to bounce off ideas to him on how to create art work that is usable and fitting for the artist but is obvious fake. I don’t even try to make it photorealistic. Which doesn’t mean I do my best to make it all fit “naturally”, it’s just a choice to make it more surreal. The challenge for me is to tell a story that fits what you see.

Recently I did a few images for fun and because we had some good laughs about them we decided it would be a shame not to share them with you guys.
Now this is no professional work, we were literally chatting online while I was creating the examples. If you know Wibi a little bit you will know why I chose certain looks 😀

I started with this one.
His pose and lighting gave me the idea of windows behind him in a more rough area like an old church. The windows were in the right location but I did add some sunlight. It was a bit empty so I added the piano an changed some small details in the background.
To make Wibi fit a bit better I used a separate layer with some light spill to make it glue a bit more together.

For this one I kept it a bit more abstract.
The clothing and hat gave a bit of an explorer vibe, and because he recently visited Egypt I was inspired to use a pyramid shape and some weird symbols that could be interpreted as music notes for some alien symphony. This is my least favourite one of the series because although we both love the mysteries of the world it doesn’t really hit home for me.

I loved his suit here and immediately thought about charley and the chocolate factory.
I added loads of effects and details that probably don’t even catch your eyes so this one also didn’t really work for me.


Now, this one together with the first one is actually my favourite.
Here it just all fits together.
The suit, the small bird and fairy, the castle, the forest etc.

As you can see I’m not happy with all the images.
Not because they are not cool, but because they don’t “fit” for me.
And I think this is one of the challenges and fun things about AI.
You can’t expect to just throw it into a shot and create magic, you still have to think about styling, lighting, poses, character etc.
But if it all comes together I think it opens up huge possibilities.

 

Hope you enjoyed todays blog post with some experiments.
Thanks of course to Wibi Soerjadi for being my model…. actually a second time now 😀