076 | Location scouting in the Azores.

#work
People who have been part of a photoshoot know how much pressure comes down to those few days of the photoshoot. If you realise that the entire crew meets at a certain place somewhere on earth to unroll the concept for the client. It has to be done according to the deal we all agreed on. It all comes down to that moment; the models with the right size are ready, camera gear has empty memory cards, clean lenses and full batteries and then we pray for great light and weather. I always photograph with natural light, my clients choose me for this way of working so the weather is an important feature but it also brings stressful moments to the happening that you just can't control and it comes down to waiting and see what mother nature throws at us. But, we will always find away. Once I had to shoot two days of swimwear, male and female for a summer beachwear collection during a serious storm, it was bucketing down and a Mediterranean cave gave us shelter and the solution. Anyway, we want to check as many elements as possible to have as few surprises as possible on the shooting days and locations scouting is an importing part of the preparation.

The client Brooks Running (HQ Europe) sent us of the scout new locations for the campaign, Hugo Happel (11AM) picked a place we hadn't been to before that we thought would be perfect for what that client is looking for and so we went to Portugal. With a camera, some reading material, and mainly digital maps we were about to discover one of Portugals archipelago's, a new place I had never been to. The Azores, it is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the North Atlantic Ocean 1500km west of the country's mainland. Sao Miguel nicknamed "The Green Island" (Ilha Verde) is the island we were focusing on to find mainly good spots for trail and road running besides we had to see what accommodation was available for a group of twelve and see if the food is any good. We were surprised about how busy the island’s main attractions were, they were packed with tourist in the west around the craters of the island Sao Miguel. We covered more than 400km driving around the island to break free from the busy areas which we were not so excited about. Luckily the West surprised us, steep tropical green walls covered in moss and ferns overshadowed by big trees. You could see the competition of all the flora battling for every inch of light. We hiked all of the trails that we found during our research and Hugo did little test runs as the ‘Running Man’ (ft. as Highlight) and we loved it Ilha Verde, beautiful and so lush. But not the right place for the upcoming photoshoot.

075 | Space .

#inspiration
Fullscreen and headphones. A short featuring John John Florence, titled “Space.” Shot on location between Western Australia and Hawaii. Surfing by John John Florence, cinematography by Erik Knutson, edited by Blake Vincent Kueny, produced by Spencer Klein.

074 | Sailing La Vagabond; living on the ocean, spearfishing, traveling and health.

#inspiring
It has almost been five years sins I came across this video. At the time Elayna and Riley for Australia had uploaded 4 videos if I remember it well and I as a sailing fan loved following along and see where the wind would take this. This La Vagabond youtube page wasn't really a thing, yet. Elayna made the video’s for her family and friends back home so they could see who this man was she just had and jumped on board with and to let them follow along to see how they would sail the Mediterranean. Nowadays it is an oiled machine and you know you’ll get your weekly dose of freedom but 4 years ago you just didn’t know if a new video would come out at all. During there first time crossing the Atlantic I remember getting so excited to see that they made it. Along the way, they picked up a massive following for a good reason. I loved watching to see how they started getting better at filming, editing, sailing, and storytelling. This is the very first video as you can tell, first one of many and if you dream of living on the ocean, spearfishing, traveling, health and now days parenting give it a try.

073 | Storm, sharks, camera and waves.

#work
From the top deck of the boat, we could see the double overhead waves started rolling in, the forecast was right. A perfect moment to test out my brand new custom water housing for my Canon 1D m2 made by Salty Surf Housing in Australia. Together with a bunch of good friends we had been floating around, sleeping on a boat in the warm Indian Ocean chasing the good wave in the Maldives. This evening was the moment to leave my surfboard behind and capture the surf session. Never an easy decision to make; surf or swim and take photos, a struggle only a ‘water photographer’ that loves surfing knows. It turned out to be a heavy swim battling the current and diving under the four meter faces of water. Lots of wipeouts, holding on the volcanic reef helped to do the most powerful part of the wave. The waves weren’t breaking in one spot which allowed me to play around with framing the images. After two hours of using my flippers witnessing beautiful clouds closing in during sunset with lots of rain, it was too dark to keep using my ISO and we slowly swam back to the boat. All smiles, we told each other what we had seen and felt that session with Mother Nature and then Hugo and I saw the same thing, “did you see that too?” I quickly took a photo underwater to see what swam one foot next to me. A reef shark having a sniff and telling us it was time to go.

072 | Water.

#inspiration
”An ode to the sea, which I revere most.” Morgen Maassen. Watch Morgen’s first Water movie by clicking here.

071 | The gap.

#inspiration
The best words to motivate a creative person. It was the most inspiring and motivating video I had ever seen in my life. I watched it over and over again. Please share it with those in need.

070 | Land of the rising sun.

#inspiration
Peter Sahlberg and Jens Holmer surfing small waves. 2min surf lifestyle video created by talented Maceo Frost. Lost in translation amongst the sky scrapers of Tokyo, embraced by the zen-like peelers of Kamakura. Then touching down with the roots of the Japanese heritage on the island of Amami. Eclectic & harmonious. Three brothers on a quest. Maceo documenting Jens and Peter's foot steps. Maceo // a master of catching the essence of passing moments. With no further due: feel in our sweet little short film for Surfakaemin. Arigato.

069 | African scenes for Brooks Running.

I was asked to help shoot the Brooks Running Europe campaign. A happy man and with a long way to travel to meet the crew. The destination this time was in sunny South Africa, from The Netherlands there is no time difference but I had to come for the east. Perth the be more detailed in West Australia. The jetlag was a tough one but, I did have a couple of days to adjust, great slowly get in the African rhythm and clean my lenses and empty the memory cards while hiding from the 40+ knots of winds under a crystal blue sky which I recognise form the Mystic days. We had an beautiful house in Camps Bay to call home during the shoot but on arrival we unfortunately didn’t end up getting the place. It was a scam. Locations scouting was meant to be done by the art director and production but because of the house situation, there was a lot of stress to find a house for 14 people with the pressure of the shoot coming up and we. Well I guess everything happens for a reason and it did, Booking.com helped us out and we ended up with an even more beautiful place.
The strong winds finally settled and so the shoot could start. As always we had lots of shoes and apparel to shoot the coming days and not having the locations sorted doesn't help. These days their are so many film crew working in Cape Town and we’re all battling for the same locations and to be allowed to shoot you have to have permits for pretty much every pavement in the city. So, another challenges for the production crew and challenges for Ivo de Bruijn (second photographer) and I. Luckily we were working with a crew we know very well and the Athletes helps to create those great images we grasveld down for. The only thing we struggle with was the more urban locations, Brooks wished we had found more urban settings which is hard when the country has so much beauty on offer and the struggle with the permits. Besides at two locations we had to have a gunman to protect us next to us. Welcome, Cape Town. We’ve always felt safe and I understand that the proportion needed to be taken. The days after the shoot we treated ourselves with wines for the Franschhoek wine region and a beautiful pealing left header at Elands Bay where we surf for two days in the mist, hiding for the African sun. Perfect.

068 | Biggest little farm.

#inspiration
The Biggest Little Farm follows two dreamers and their beloved dog when they make a choice that takes them out of their tiny L.A. apartment and into the countryside to build one of the most diverse farms of its kind in complete coexistence with nature.
The film chronicles their near decade-long attempt to create the utopia they seek, planting 10,000 orchard trees, hundreds of crops, and bringing in animals of every kind– including an unforgettable pig named Emma and her best friend, Greasy the rooster. When the farm’s ecosystem finally begins to reawaken, their plan to create perfect harmony takes a series of wild turns, and to survive they realize they'll have to reach a far greater understanding of the intricacies and wisdom of nature, and of life itself. #BiggestLittleFarm

067 | Take Two concept and execution.

#work
Chasing and photographing lifestyle/fashion vibes by documenting what I see and feel is what I love doing, to let things just happen and see what comes out of it. Shooting models, athletes or other people who don’t have any experience in modeling and shoot them the way they are with a commercial eye. I also enjoy brainstorms and coming up with a suitable concept like this one for example for Perry (started in 1866). They wanted something different, something grand in the shopping windows in their 40+ stores that they have in The Lowlands. A sale deal that had to breath exploring and nature but wasn't allowed to feel cheap. Together with Summer Salt Creative we started the brainstorm, sketches and made mood boards. I won’t bother you with all the details. Eventually, we came up with the campaign ’Take Two’. Buy a Nike or The North Face item and get another one product for free, the proposal was received. Great preparation is key so we got the props ready, scouted the locations, checked the forecast for the right light, Cj Laros is always a great help with that and bam we got the images. Post Production, in the gallery you see one of the photos being worked on in Photoshop, I had to be photograph on a rainy day, all the conditions changed at the very end so we had to work with what we had. In post-production, I added a lot of scenery and rocks around the men with the flags so the images could have been used properly in big windows and fit their social campaigns.

066 | Wajung.

#inspiration
I could watch this for hours.... a dance with dolphins and waves featuring whale man Dave Rastovich surfing a beautiful Flex fish by Gary McNeill surfboards. Filmed by Nathan Oldfield and the music by Nick Wales. 'Wajung' is a short film by Nathan Oldfield commissioned by The Surfer’s Journal. It features the surfing of Dave Rastovich and the music of Nick Wales. 'Wajung' is the name given to the bottlenose dolphin by the Arakwal People, the traditional custodians of this region of Bundjalung Country on the Far North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Wajung can live for over fifty years and they typically live as a community as residents along a particular stretch of coast.

065 | Work adventure with Keen.

#work
After a 3 hour flight North from Lisbon over the AtlanticbI was picked up by a friendly man called Ally who was at that point still a stranger. We got to know each other fairly well during the two-hour drive in the dark from Glasgow airport to Fort William in the North West of Scotland. A cute village where many hikers take off to enjoy the amazing surroundings on and around the mountain Ben Nevis. I was told that often mountaineers train in this area and ice climbing is popular when the waterfalls freeze in Winter. I came here to shoot the new Karraig (hiking shoe) campaign for KEEN Europe and they decided to work the next couple of days with ‘models’ that have outdoor experience, the KEEN ambassadors, perfect. They arrived in the hotel a day later after we scouted locations guided by 72 years young Allen who wonders the steep hills like he is still in his 30s. We scouted all day and afterward, we joined for dinner in the lobby. I got to sit next to an amazing conversation, I mean sitting next to someone always makes you wonder if you make the right decision but to filmmaker Leon McCarron. I could listen forever to his stories full of adventure and challenges with a fluent Irish accent easy to follow. Together with the other ambassador Colin who was a local man who knows the area like the back of his hand it took us two days to beat the rains and capture what KEEN was looking for. We actually had so much, so much we actually could test how well the KEEN booths cope with the rain. An for the photos we every-now and then got lucky and the sun would show. If you ever have a chance go and meet Ben Nevis, so raw and pretty.

Crew: Danny Griffiths, Tim Padmos, Perry Laukens. Colin, Leon McCarron.
Location: Fort William, Scotland

064 | Quieter.

#inspiration
Craig Anderson is 30 years old; surprisingly young for someone who's been at the forefront of non-competitive, progressive surfing for over a decade. Quieter was filmed over an 18 month period, featuring everywhere from Iceland, to Indo, and South Oz. You can watch that below. Another clip by Kai Neville.

063 | Greenhouses and sunsets.

#work
Narwal Creative is a design agency that specializes in visual identity invited me on a mission for Royal Brinkman, the queen of new modern solutions and applications for the growers. They set off making a movie, documenting the world of growers mainly in the Spain and the Netherlands and with they I mean of course Justin van der Velden, Roderik Patijn and Mister Visual Heroes Jelmer Scheffer in the lead we are very much up to date now on the latest specialized growers techniques, designed to feed us all on this crowded globe and while getting smarter we captured it all.

Crew: Roderik Patijn (DOP) Justin van der Velden, Jelmer Scheffer.
Location: Westland Netherlands, Almería Spain.

062 | 6 years with Stocksy.

#work
Stocksy is a revolutionary new take on stock photography and is exactly what the world of stock photography needed. It's raising the industry standard with its co-op structure and better-priced images. The images you find on Stocksy are images that are authentic, intelligent, beautiful, realistic and are inherently useful for designers. My style of photography apparently fits their view on what real (stock) photography should look like so the Canadian based company invited me as one of the first to become part of this great initiative, and I didn't hesitate for one second. It fuelled my enthusiasm again to go out there and photograph. You can see (and buy) his photos on his profile page on Stocksy.

061 | Jeep.

#work
Professional surfer Yannick de Jager signed a contract with a new sponsor Jeep. He asked me to come along to create content for the master of the 4x4 and so I did. We decided to drive to Zeeland which is in the South of the Netherlands and play on the beach while the sun was slowly setting. Yannick had a ball racing around me. And I, I had a great time snapping these gorgeous moments, using a ladder and my Canon camera with 24mm and a 50mm lens.

060 | Desperate hour.

#Inspiration
Art for the ears, I remember seeing ham for the fist time by surprise in Den Haag, Daniel Norgren, in this video he plays Desperate Hour at midnight after his three days run at the Pickathon Festival in Portland, The song was originally meant to be included on his critically acclaimed album Buck. What a sound.