Last week, I was approached by a friend of mine who started her own radio station. I think it’s an amazing thing to pull of and she puts so much effort in it that it needs to be supported.

She asked me if I could fill in to shoot their monthly concerts since their usual photographer couldn’t make it. I was happy to be able to help her!

Now, I’ve only shot one other band, Leningrad and if I’m perfectly honest, this isn’t my favorite type of photography. It just isn’t, I think it’s the lack of control you have as a photographer that troubles me. I don’t know. I am however completely into indie-music, and when she told me Breathe The Sound came I was game!

Breathe The Sound is a relatively new group, and very fresh. They have an amazing sound, check ‘em out on Spotify!

Most of the times, when you’re shooting bands you’re going to have light problems. These types of venues are often badly lit in terms of light output power.

I shot the whole gig with my 85 f/1.8 & 24 f/2.8.

Cheers!

I’ve recently started to collaborate with talented stylist Coralie. She models as well and she’s a real crack at it. I moved into my studio a few weeks back and had the first shoots there about a weer or so ago. Loving it. Having a space for yourself where you can be creative, leave your gear, drop in at any time is amazing.

For the first shoot we wanted to do something indian-themed. Having all that detail in feathers and accessories is amazing and we figured it would make for something nice. We weren’t dissapointed. The main light on the shot above is a gridded beautydish (gotta love the contrast it creates) and a softbox for fill light.

I was amazed by the versatilty of shoot-through umbrella’s. People often wave them off too easily. Never understood why. Compared to other light modifiers they’re dirt cheap, light, they travel well and if it starts raining your covered. Lighting here was a simple shoot-through high above the model and another flash behind her as a contour light. Loving it.

Once again, versatility of the umbrella. Popped one open high above her, pointing down. We were outside so upped the shutter speed to kill the ambient and this is what came out. Corrected in LR3 and just a single oldschool Nikon SB-24. Proof you don’t always need profoto to make a killer shot!

A couple of weeks later we had a second shoot which was completely improvised. The only thing that was set was that we wanted super-duper harsh contrasts. That was going to be the name of the series. All the togs reading this instantly make the link to two words. Selective lighting. Photography really is all about lighting, and controlling it is the hardest thing. definitely. It also makes photography expensive because you need gear to control your light, and for some godforsaken reason that gear is expensive gear. Those grids must be made of unicorn teeth or something.

So I popped a beatydish left of her. Gridded and pointing towards her face. All were profoto. Loving their stuff for studio, and wished I could’ve worked with them in the past. There are two reverse ambrella’s lighting the background to make the silhouette stand out. There’s another softbox right of her for fill light on her side.

Same setup here, although I removed the two umbrella’s shooting in the back, and replaced them with a softbox on it’s side to create the gradient lighting you see in the background. Color stability is amazing with Profoto. Recycle times are off the hook.

We had to get some portrait shots in here. Strong face, lovely model. Rocking the B&W. There’s just something about it, it’s ethereal. It’s timeless. These shots could’ve been taken in 1980, 1990 or 2012.

Once more, same setup as before.

Selective lighting at it’s best. It’s all about creating shadows where you want ‘em. That’s the hardest part about photography. Controlling light is your strength, and if you can’t, your weakness.

These were the first shoots in the studio, and we’re allready boiling up some others.

All of these were shot on Nikon cameras, 85mm f/1.8, ISO 100-200 and on Sandisk Digital Film. Planning some PhaseONE IQ180 tests for April.

I’ve also been shooting a lot of analog. I’ll post some on the blog later.

More to come soon…

Cheers, MM

I’ve always secretely been drawn towards BlackBerry. I don’t know what it is, maybe the keyboard, maybe the overall looks, it’s just been there. However, for the last couple of years, I was an iPhone-hipster. Until recently.

On New Year’s Eve, my iPhone was stolen from my jacket. Nothing too bad, did a remote wipe and that was that. However I needed a new phone. I like gadgets, so I browsed a bit around, see what was on the market. Obviously there was the iPhone. Then there was Android. I looked at a couple of models, but I decided not to go that path. The way I see it, Google’s got enough on me. (I know, totally senseless) but I don’t like the fact that there are 1000 devices with it and that every operator installs his modification of the OS on it. That’s a strongsuit for Apple.

So the obvious third choice was BlackBerry. I bought a Torch II because I couldn’t deal with the small, horizontal screens of all the other models after coming from an iPhone and I was desperate for a keyboard. The Storm never was in the race, because really, if you want to get a touch-phone, get an iPhone.

What are my impressions now? They’re fantastic. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the best phone I’ve had, but it’s certainly not the worse.

What are the things I like :
-The keyboard. Somewhere deep down, I always hated the fact my iphone had that virtual keyboard. I like buttons, sue me. Now that I have, I think that if I ever switch back to Apple, that’ll be the most-missed feature.

-Battery life. We’re in 2012, and we sent people to the moon, yet Apple can’t grip the fact that a phone needs to have longer battery life then 2 days. That was the most I got from my iPhone, and a lot of people aswel, after using it ‘intensively’. I think the word ‘intensive use’ is bullshit. If you’re gonna make a phone that integrates twitter, facebook, checks you email every hour and so on, then it’s not extensive use anymore, it’s just use, so STOP hiding behind the fact that you’re overusing it. My BlackBerry now holds up for at least 4 days, sometimes even more. That’s FAN-TASTIC.

-Integrated Apps. The integrated apps, like calendar are far superior to Apple’s. One of the things I hate most on smartphone is the need to install apps, for apps you allready have. Like Apple’s Calendar. That app is a piece of crap, it’s too basic, non-adjustable. Bah. The PIM-apps on BlackBerry are very superior to this. This might come from their business-background. I don’t know, I’m just happy with it.

What I miss about my iPhone :
-Applications : The App World is nothing like the App Store. I miss a lot of apps that are iPhone exclusive. Things are getting better, but we’re far from home.

-Chargeability. I could charge my iPhone EVERYWHERE (partly, because it was needed). Everyone I know had some form of apple-charger somewhere at home. You could charge your iPhone wherever you are. This introduces the third most missed feature

-iPod : I have an iPod 160 Classic. I love the form, the device and I need the space. However I do miss the ability to play my music (on the iPhone) again, almost everywhere. iPhone docks started to appear almost everywhere, which meant you could play your music everywhere. I miss that.

All in all, the BlackBerry is great. It’s not better than the iPhone, but that never was it’s point. I think that in the end, Apple & BlackBerry will be the only 2 remaining players left because they target two completely different markets. As long as they keep doing their thing, they’ll be allright.

Uhum, didn’t you forget Android?

I don’t see a great future for Android. The fact they have an open-source platform, and that every operator has the right to modify that platform (mostly to add country-specific gadgets that slow down and bloat your device that nobody uses) and the fact they’ve got dozens of devices with specifically different technical specifications will consume itself. I have to deal with drivers, devices, incompabilities and such on my desktop, I don’t want them on my smartphone. Nor do I want an antivirus and what not. Unless Google is going to get a grip on their product, and restrict modifications or transform it to a closed-source platform (which also had it’s disadvantages) they’re going to go deeper and deeper down the rabbithole. It’s going to become the Linux of smartphones, and the only reason it’ll sell is because it’s cheap and customizeable. They have to put user-experience first (like Apple & Bb) even if that diminishes their popularity (you’ll always have haters, and my younger sister didn’t buy one because it was customizable…)

Anyway, this is just a small breakdown on the two devices, a small comparison. In no way is this comprehensive or anything, it’s just a personal thought about it.

Cheers!

PS : Some exciting shoots coming up second half of this year, and there’ll be a lot more BTS-video!
PS2 : My sister now has a BlackBerry. Enough said.

Today I’m writing up a post about corporate portraiture, and the importance of being ready with gear, quick thinking and the use of available light.

About a week before shooting I got a call asking me if I was available for some corporate portraiture. The client was a law firm who needed portraits of the associates & partners for their website, folders and whatnot. The only catch, they needed it fast. The portraits were to be taken on a friday, and the photos delivered Wednesday. Problem? Normally not, except I had a flight for Spain at 5 in the morning the next day. Aside that, I accepted and we quickly went over the details.

Always make sure to have a general idea about what you’ll be shooting. Here we had clearly assesed that I had to take portraits of an associate in the court, some enviromental portraits in and outside the courthouse, some portraits in the building of the lawfirm etc…

Going over the shotlist, I quickly realised i’d be needing available light, speedlights, studiolights, the whole shabang. Don’t forget to make a gearlist 2 days beforehand. 2 days, because you will almost certainly forget one or two things the first time you write it up, but you’ll probably remember it the next day when you look at your list.

Brussel's Courthouse, Nikon dSlr, Sigma 10-20mm f/4.5- Sandisk Digital Film; Available light

We started the day of with some photos to describe the environment. They wanted them to decorate their website with. Soon followed the first portrait. This one was purely shot with available light. I used my favorite lens, the Nikon 85mm f/1.8 for all the portraits shot that day, and I must say, there’s a reason it’s most people’s go-to portraiture lens. It performs amazingly on all aspects. It’s sharp starting at f/2.0 and it’s sweet spot is already at f/4. This still leaves you with plenty room for a gorgeous bokeh.

Portrait, Nikon dSLR, Nikon 85mm f/1.8, Sandisk Digital Film, Available light

After that we moved onto the law firm itself for some portraits. Again, these were shot with the 85 although I introduced light from a 400w/S Lastolite flash kit and a 56cm beauty dish. The light form that the dish gives out is perfect for enviromental portraits.

Shot with available light, and a small strobe left high to give a glow on the hair

Gridded beauty dish left high of subject

Studio head with beauty dish with white cover left high. Reflector to fill-in shadows on right.

Fun fact. On the next photo, depicting the main hall of the courthouse, you’ll notice all these paper birds hanging from the roof. These were actually all made by prisoners, and are a temporary exhibit in the courthouse.

Inside of the Brussel's courthouse. Notice the paper birds.

So, I ended up shooting some 600 pictures that day. We wrapped up around 18h00 I think and then made it home by 19h00. I started packing immediately since I was leaving for Spain a couple of hours later. Those who follow me on twitter noticed I posted a photo at around 5 AM of me editing a recent shoot in the waiting lobby of the airport. Well this was this shoot. I did the selection process then and on the plane, and ended up with some 100 images to retouch, and prep for delivery.

I had them all processed by wednesday morning, and uploaded everything by FTP onto the client’s private page on my website, and they had them that same night. It’s extremely important to develop a good workflow to provide a lean, clean,and easy service for your clients. It’ll be one of the reasons they return to you!

So, the most important things to remember when accepting an assignment : make a shot list you need, figure out what equipment your need for that shoot. Check and double-check that equipment, and have fun whilst being professional.

Cheers!

M.

Cambodian National Flag, Nikon dSlr, Sandisk Digital Film

For those not familiar with the country, it’s situated right of Thailand and is somewhat odd-shaped.
What surprised me was the fact that this country, which had it’s population decimated under the Khmer Rouge-regime during the 70-80′s is eagerly making up for lost times by innovating and creating. It’s been estimated that as much as 2,000,000 cambodians lost their lives during this regime, making it the most lethal of the 20th century.

More after the jump…

As said before we crossed the border through Thailand, a country with whom it’s in dispute concerning temple-owning rights. The whole procédé of crossing the border is a funny experience. We arrived in Siem Reap in the evening after an 8 hour bus trip.

Angkor Wat Bridge, Main Entrance.

Cambodia, and more precisely the province of Siem Reap is home to the Angkor Wat temple complex, one of the 7 world wonders. It is huge. By huge I mean, the outer wall dimensions are 1024×802. Meters that is. That’s right, the wall is over a kilometer long and that’s only the main temple complex. There are dozens of smaller temples surrounding the main temple. One of the most famous temples is the Ta Prohm-temple which became famous because it served as a filming location for Lara Croft : Tomb Raider

Angkor Wat, Main View, Nikon dSlr, Sandisk Digital Film

A noteworthy thing is the level of detail. Everything from simple murals, to statues, to doorframes is perfectly detailed. Every single curve carved in the stone is well-executed. This is a trademark of the cambodians, who are extremely dedicated to their tasks.

The Tomb Raider Temple, Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Angkor Wat is certainly one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in my life, and a future visit is certainly needed to see more of this incredible complex.

Top of the Rock, Angkor Wat Main Temple, Cambodia.

On a side note, if you’re in Siem Reap, be sure to visit the “Angkor What?” Bar. One of the best things to do in pub street, and the place where you’ll get the best bang for your buck(et). Pun totally intended. 5$ gets you a bucket of your favorite mixed drink. After a couple of those, hilarious stories often entail and they aren’t optional.

Alley inside temple complex, Siem Reap

We then headed down to Pnomh Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Sadly, the interesting things to see in PP are the more tragic reminders of the Red Khmer regime. Tuol Sleng & Choeung Ek.

Tuol Sleng, more commonly known as S-21 Prison was an interment camp where dissident citizens were brought to be ‘retained’. Retained was really a cover word, because they were extermination camps, but these camps were very different from the Nazi camps, which were built on the premise of mass-destruction. Tuol Sleng, sadly was built on the premise of excruciating pain and death as a result of that. In some way, the people in nazi camps were the lucky ones, as their death sentences were executed quicklier and with less torture.

Empty cartridge boxes in which prisoners had to eat and do their toilet.

The feeling you get once entering the prison is really hard to describe. It’s bone-chilling and really frightening. It’s very recent, so the marks of suffering are still there. You can easily spot bloodstains, nail-carvings in the wall, the list is long.

Mugshots of the people who were murdered at S-21. Countless faces

After that we headed to Choeung Ek, some 15kms outside of the capital. Choeung Ek is more commonly known as The Killing Fields. Some might recognize this title, as it’s the title of a 1984 movie starring John Malkovich.

Recoverd skulls from the Killing Fields, Pnomh Penh, Cambodia.

Choeng Ek served as a mass-execution site for dissident citizens. People were beaten, smashed, shoveled and poisoned to death here but not shot. Bullets were too expensive or unavailable. They were then burried under shallow ground, which results in the fact that when there are intense rains, bones and pieces of clothing surface which is to say the least, horrible.

Cautionary signs to warn people not to step in mass graves.

The site is now a protected site, and a pagode has been built at the entrance to remember all those who were killed there. All the bones, skulls and others that have been found have been put on display there. Quite the sight.

And this is what amazes me about Cambodia. Despite the fact that these events were rather recent, it’s a country that’s growing incredibly fast, and the population is really bent on moving on and developing the country, which is to admire.

We didn’t really visit other things in Cambodia, as we had to leave for Vietnam that was waiting for us.

Stay tuned for part III, and take care!

M.

Does the internet really need another post about a lighting setup? Or another rant on inspiration?

I then plunge in this hate-relationship with blogging, and social media in general. Really? Tweeting about your omelets again? Oh, and you added a picture! Great, thanks for giving me an idea of what an omelet looks like, I was completely lost!

Then, there are these moments when I get back in touch with the love-part of social media. Interacting with people all over the world remains amazing, if you keep in mind that some 50 years ago textmessages were telegrams. Being able to learn so many things on such short notice remains flabergeisting at times. I caught myself thinking this when last week I realised official news was spreaded faster through the means of Twitter etc than normal papers.

And this being 2011, normal papers mean the online-versions of normal, traditional printed papers, who are starting to get dated.

Anyway, I’m ranting – which is paradoxically what I was trying to avoid, such is life – and need to get back on track. Thanks for hanging in there.

The last big trip I took was one that took me and a couple of friends through some quite amazing countries in Asia. We visited Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam. This also explains why this is a separated blog post in 3 pieces.

Temple rooftops in Bangkok, Thailand

More after the jump…

Part 1 : Thailand. Bangkok.

Bangkok is perhaps the most hectic city in the world. It’s hot, humid, frantic & it never sleeps. The constant buzzing of tuktuk-horns takes some getting used to but at the same time it’s nice to be in such a welcoming country. One thing you’ll find in Bangkok are temples. There are a huge amount of temples in the inner city, and they’re easily spottable due to the golden rooftops they have.

Temples in Thailand are the pinnacle of finition and determination. The level of detail for each sqaure meter is astonishing.

Temple Status in Bangkok, Nikon dSlr, Sandisk Digital Film

One of these temples houses the famous giant buddha. It’s a 40-meter statue laying on it’s side. It’s huge and impossible to photograph in a single frame due to the dimensions of the temple, and getting a clear shot of it is near to impossible due to the huge amount of tourists. It’s quite impressive though.

40 meter gold-plated buddha in Bangkok, Thailand

We didn’t spend an enormous time in Bangkok, as we had to head towards Siem Reap, Cambodia fairly early in the morning.

We hopped in a minivan and found ourselves en-route for the cambodian border. Here the ‘well-this-is-weird-oh-wait-its-asia’ moments happened. We had to follow a whole circuit to obtain our cambodian passports, which seems to be a somewhat random process depending on your border guide (a nice man you pay to take care of the paperwork for you, because trust me you cannot read khmer writing.Don’t even try.) After about an hour we hopped on another, larger bus that would take us to Siem Reap.

Sounds good? It sure did to us. Little did we notice, the tires the bus rode on, had probably been fabricated during World War 1, served during World War 1 and had been refurbished and reshipped to Cambodia for use on this bus. That was how old they were. It led to the unsurprising fact that halfway our journey one of those tires blew, and we had to stop. Nothing out of the ordinary people around us were saying. Add that to the deplorable roadcondition of cambodian roads, and you’re in for a pretty bumpy ride.

But hey, part of the trip right?

Read more on the next blogpost about Cambodia, and later about Vietnam.

Thanks for reading, and as always, don’t hesitate to forward to friends, families & fools!

M.

If your photo looks good on a screen, it’ll look even better printed. It’s been my general feeling with prints.

One thing to do, if you have decided to print out your photos, is to frame them. Photos look at least twice as good when you frame them. Frames can be expensive, which is why most people don’t frame their photos but that’s why I’ve got a tip for you here.

If you live in Europe (i’m not sure about their position on the American market), there are Ikea stores in nearly every big city. They sell these simple, clean black or beige frames which vary in sizes. I prefer the black frames, because they create such beautiful contrast with white borders (as shown in the picture underneath)

Here’s an example of a group portrait I shot in a rather biblical style , like  The Last Supper. I got it printed, and it really looks better once framed. Same thing for a shot that I took in New York. By the way, this was taken with Sigma’s 10-20 @ 10mm so it’s really distorted.

These frames are really cheap (I paid 25€ for the big once, and maybe 10€ for the smaller, A4 one.)

They’re quite sturdy, and the black finish is really nice.

They come with hard paper inlays that makes a nice white border if you haven’t made the border in a program like lightroom etc… I prefer to make them myself, so that I have control over size, width etc…

They’re really a steal, and you can’t go wrong for that price, so it’s basically a no-brainer. Steal ‘em while they’re available!

Cheers,

M

I’ve broken down and created a tumblr account. I plan on using it as an virtual notepad where i’ll post ideas, pictures and all kinds of stuff that inspire me for shoots, editorials and stuff alike.

Check it out and follow it at http://morganmoller.tumblr.com

Cheers!

Annie Leibovitz said it best.

Music on a shoot isn’t just background music. It raises the mood, sets a tone. The right music at the the right time elevates a shoot. Music can make or break a shoot.

I wholeheartedly agree with her. It’s an essential part of my workflow, and therefor i wish to share it with you! This is music it usually put on an iPhone playlist and play on the background whilst shooting. There’s a bit of everything, which makes it interesting I think!

The complete playlist after the jump!

The complete April 2010 Playlist as seen in iTunes

Around The Bend – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Don’t Bother Me – The Blakes
Flashback – Calvin Harris
Beautiful World – Carolina Liar
Wanna Get To Know You – G-Unit
Work – Gang Starr
Beautiful Dirty Rich – Lady Gaga
Lisztomania – Phoenix
Just Say Yes – Snow Patrol
Streets of Paris – The Teenagers
Great Dj – The Ting Tings
Undercover Martyn – Two Door Cinema Club
Burn it all down – VHS or Beta
Miami – Will Smith
Burning – The Whitest Boy Alive

Been a busy weekend last week. Trying to juggle the whole work/social life thingy, and the 50/50 balance is very thin. But I like it!

On the 27th of March, Leningrad, which is a fantastic group where a lot of my close friends play in had a concert at the Duvel Brewery. If you aren’t familiar with Duvel, hop out the door and enter any ‘big’ bar, and they’ll probably have it. It’s one of Belgium’s most famous beers, and you find it quite often.

Laurent, Lead Guitarist, Nikon dSlr, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8, ISO-800, 1/25th

Their sponsor is Duvel (how great for a band right?) and this was a private concert, between intimitate friends to enjoy their music. Free drinks all night long made it even sweeter.

More on the south side of the equater…

Preppin' the Room, Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 @ f/4 , ISO-800, 1,25

I was asked to shoot their concert and some promo shots for upcoming events and such. Sadly, I found myself out of time to go check out the scene beforehand, to have an idea of what you can shoot where and stuff, and to be able to prepare for the shoot. However, on this shoot I had to improvise.

Alec, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ 2.8, ISO-800, 1/15

These guys truly make good music, food for the soul some might say. I find them friggin’ fantastic. You can check ‘em out @myspace.com/heyleningrad or www.this-is-leningrad.be

I’m always amazed at how sharp Nikon lenses are. I shot the whole evening with an old version of the Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 telezoom lens and most of my pîctures were much sharper then other, non-nikon lenses. I’m not saying Sigma, or Tokina or whatever lenses are bad, but i’m always amazed by the glass quality of Nikon.

Mélanie, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ 3.2 , ISO-800, 1/100

Mosquah, Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 @ f/8 , ISO-200, 2"

The band also asked me to do some promoshots of them. As I said before, I didn’t have time to scout the location beforehand and so I had to improvise on the spot. If you’ve read my article that was published on Digital Photography School you know that I take lights with me almost always. This time, once again it paid off.

We came across these old Duvel delivery trucks inside a shed, and the moment I saw these old, vintage trucks I knew it was going to be there. The problem was, it was in a shed, which, as most sheds, was really, really dark. I popped up a gelled speedlight behind the truck, and put two more in front of it. One with a blue gel, and one it a CTO through an umbrella.

Leningrad, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 @ f/8, ISO-800, 1/100th

Had to get the whole band in there, and the two last members arrived a tad later, so recomposed the shot and made it happen. Same lighting setup.

Leningrad, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 @ f/8, ISO-800, 1/100

I think I can safely say that once again, these speedlights really saved my ass as I wouldn’t have been able to get these shots if I hadn’t brought them. Just reinforces my belief that you can’t afford not to pack them always in your bag.

So, that’s about it for this week, I’ll be back with more blogging stories, and video’s!

Cheerios, and don’t forget to follow me on twitter @morganmoller

Morgan