So, it's beginning of March and I have just begun shooting with daylight. It's still very difficult to plan. Will there be sun or heavy clouds? Weather forecasts are very unreliable. They make us think they know what the weather will be like. But I have experienced so many situations in which the weather was the opposite of what was forecasted.
It makes me think of investing in portable flash to light the scenes they way I want. But it is so difficult to choose what to buy. I own a lot of Profoto gear. But it's not nice to take these things on a plane. Such a hassle with transport, packaging safely and the extra fees. So for now, I only have one hot-shoe flash unit with me, when flying (for my own projects).
It doesn't really make me feel comfortable. But I prefer working with sunlight so much over artificial light that I cannot convince myself to buy more equipment, right now.
A few years ago, I thought the LED light panels were taking off. Now, I am happy, I didn't invest into those. They seem not to have enough power and are still quite spacy. The batteries last only for a short period of time and they are simply not bright enough for me. To me, it seems the best to travel to places where I can work with sunlight. Hopefully I will be able to change my location, next winter.
Paper work
It sounds like I had been chilling for the past few months. But my work is divided into several fields. I photograph commercial stuff (with flash light) which I don't promote. And you hardly see updates on my webpage. What you see there, is only my portfolio update that I work on permanently.
Most of my time goes into the artistic work for my next photo book, though. It requires a lot of planning. Paper work. In the past weeks I have booked seven models and many, many flights, accomodations, rental cars.
2017 will be another year with me travelling a lot. I am really excited about this. I will be in Spain, Portugal, Spain again, Latvia, Austria. And those are only the trips I have booked already. Some shootings will also take place in Germany. And inbetween I might book other destinations, too.
Currently, it feels weird. I already spent a lot of money on photo journeys but haven't taken one single photo for my book in 2017 yet. I am excited, curious and wish I could start working on the things I have set up, immediately. It's good to know, there will be a lot happening, but I also put a bit of pressure on myself. Getting a maximum output in a minimum amount of time. Always searching for better models and finding more interesting locations.
I have to disappoint those who think, there are naked girls jumping in front of my lens every day. Sorry, you get the wrong impression of my work. To be honest, I am happy the way it is. This way, I am always motivated and stay curious. Because when creating photo stories becomes only a habit, curiosity fades away. And my creativity relies on my curiosity.
Speaking of my artistic work: I am so happy that I discovered many lovely models this year, already. As you know, my next book won't have any models that were in my first book. In the beginning this felt very difficult to achieve. But now, I see myself moving ahead. And I am very much looking forward to creating the first photo stories in 2017 soon. Spain, I am coming...