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My black-on-turquoise photos with Axelle turned out to be a smash hit on Instagram. It turns out that #balletheels is what made them popular. I guess I need to shoot more ballet heels from now on. And I did, ’cause for my latest shoot with Shannety, I turned to ballet heels. Combined with new gorgeous black latex it was easy to come up with an outfit. A brand new corset from DeMask and… Ohlala!… That neck corset…
I had something else in mind too though.
I was totally blown away by the work of Jada and David when I discovered them a few weeks ago. Their use of color, perspective and geometric shapes is just… D I V I N E! You should definitely check’em out. My studio is not suited for plywood sets like theirs unfortunately.
So I gave myself an assignment: I challenged myself to recreate one of their backgrounds in Photoshop. It turned out to be quite a challenge but it was a lot of fun. And once I completed that 1st pic, I let my imagination run free and tried to create something of my own.
One of the little projects I took on during lock down, was to build a small studio setup I could use for food photography and other tabletop projects.
I was looking for a small but flexible setup with food photography in mind. And I wanted to use my existing gear as much as possible. I knew my Elinchrom strobes and softboxes would do just fine. I had enough stands and clamps and stuff. I had a couple of smaller continuous lights from Lume cube. Not enough to light a set with continuous light tough. So I added 2 small PavoTubes from Nanlite. Together with my strobes that would cover lighting.
Finding proper backdrops had me worried the most. Everyone that’s doing something with food photography, always has interesting backdrops. I spent quite a bit of time on the internet researching the matter. And it was a little remark from Terry White on Scott Kelby’s The Grid podcast that set me on the right track. Eventually I found flat lay backdrops from Bresser that weren’t too expensive to get me started.
I’ve set everything up on a small 75cm x 75cm table from that famous Swedish company. It’ll fit in my office. No need to set up my full size photo studio. And it’ll be a lot easier and more convenient to get a little more creative with my photo photography.
I did my 1st few experiments with my beloved #duckie. Here’s a few results from those test shoots:
And these are the first few foodie pictures using the new setup:
Not only do I shoot my own photos. But when it comes down to the foodie photos, I do my own cooking and my own food styling. As with my latex fashion shoots, a lot of work goes into the preparation, styling and finding the right props.
I love Antwerp. I think it is one of the nicest cities in the world where I’ve been. I like to take a stroll around the city from time-to-time. When I was in the city last week, I took this–carefully planned–photo of the Red Star Line Museum.
I am blessed to have a few models that I consider resident models. Actually, I consider them to be good friends that happen to be models. Romi is one of those young ladies that grace my studio regularly. We shoot these when we last met for lunch.Yup, I am truly blessed… I get to have lunch and drinks with my favorite models… And shoot their portraits. Yeah!
The NATO Tiger Meet is a yearly tradition. Each year, squadrons from NATO Air Forces that carry a tiger in their emblem get together for exercises and fraternization.
The 1st time I was at a NATO Tiger Meet was in 1985. It was quite memorable. I remember having a lot of fun at the airshow back then.
2021 marked the 60th anniversary of the NATO Tiger Association and the 70th anniversary of the BAF 31SQN; a tiger squadron. Therefor, 31SQN had to honor to host the 2021 Tiger Meet. Even though it was a scaled down version due to COVID, 31SQN created a special paint scheme for the event.
Here’s the 2021 XTM X-Tiger. It is XT-ROAR-DINARY!
Of course, the X-Tiger led the pack of tigers for a final fly-by at the end of the show. That’s the prerogative of the squadron that hosts the Tiger meet.
The Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeye is a remarkable airplane. It is 17.6m long and has a wingspan of 24.6m. Its a carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning aircraft with a takeoff weight 26 tons. Try to park that on a 330m by 75m deck of an aircraft carrier at about a 100knots.
Me and my best buddy spent several days at Pensacola NAS and the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL when we visited it back in 2014. I thought the Hawkeye was just the coolest aircraft. The 1st day, I spent quite a bit of time photographing it. I could resist running my hand along the fuselage and engines. The next couple of days, I would first go see the Hawkeye before we did anything else. And every time, I would run my hand along the fuselage. Hence the phrase hug a Hawkeye was coined.
When I saw that a E-2C Hawkeye from the French Navy was on the flight schedule for the 2021 Sanicole Airshow, I was super excited. And even though I did get to hug that Hawkeye, it was one of the high lights of the show for me.
This is how things start… A little conversation between Axelle and I:
Me: Axelle, you’ve been a ballet dancer, right?
Axelle: Eumh… Yeah! Why?
Me: I have a little crazy idea for a shoot…
Axelle: Ooooh boy. Do I even wanna know?
Me: I don’t know. But you’ll get to wear latex.
Axelle: OK! Count me in!
Well, that was sorta the way it went. I did give her more details after that. Just as I expected, she didn’t back out. She was all in. And she must have done like 50 squads to get the 1st part of this set just right. When she started to get cramps halfway through the shoot, I played the nice guy and gave her a little stool to continue the rest of the set.
Axelle is wearing black latex from William Wilde and Westward Bound for this set. And she wears either high heels from Pleaser Shoes or ballet heels from Kassiopeya. All from my personal collection.
This set came with the obligatory hair-flip pic. A tradition Axelle and I started with her previous shoot. And a tradition we intend to continue for a little while.
I still love the idea of a little black dress. It might be the simplest of outfits but it brings out the natural beauty of a model. OK, I’ll admit: I prefer a latex little black dress… And shiny black high heels. But still…
That latex little black dress gave us so many options to shoot. Let me demonstrate.
Halloween is just a few days away and Zana has found her perfect outfit. She said she wants to go trick’n’treating as dark bunny. I hope she lets me tag along for the candy.
On top of that, Zana’s beautiful face and lush hairdo makes for absolutely gorgeous portraits. In color and black & white. 1 outfit, so many options. These pics were a lot of fun to do. Thanks Zana!
On occasion, I like to step out of my comfort zone and shoot something I have never shot before. In this case, it was something I wouldn’t come up with myself: HANDS! I spent a whole evening shooting nothing but hands.
I did it as a favor for Shannety who needed promo images for a website she was designing. After a night of hard work and tons of patience from my 2 models, these photos now grace the site Shannety designed. Go check out:
daphnebergen.be
Nothing says airshow like the demonstration of the RAF Red Arrows. I always, always love their routine. They make my airshow experience complete. Their bright red BAE Systems Hawk T1 is a sight for sore eyes. I was thrilled to see they were coming to the 2021 Sanicole Airshow.
It wouldn’t be a Red Arrows demonstration without the spectacular crossing passes of the synchro pair. And I can’t resist trying to get a good shot of them.
I have seen the Red Arrows quite a bit of the years. And I have always tried to get those close up shots. That’s just one part of their show though. The big formations and the smoke is just as cool to see. I mean: how cool is it when they draw that big blue arch across the sky to thank healthcare workers for all their hard work. And how about that big heart the synchro pair does? I had planned to focus more on wider shots of the formation. I think I have a few nice ones.
