My top 10 images of 2019


Well, it is that time of the year again. A good moment to take a look at the work I have created in 2019. So I grabbed my photo library and filtered on portraits and 2019. Let’s see what I have accomplished this year and pick the best 10 of them to show case them here.

The order of the images in this news post does say nothing about the level of importance that these images have for me. I just show these images in a random order. And these images are not only chosen purely on photographical content. It is also the story around these images and my experiences and adventures around them that counts for me.

1 – Ellen – Leaning on the snowy bridge

Ellen – Leaning on snowy bridge

This image has been created by pure luck. I had a studio shoot planned with around the winter theme. The shoot would be with models Daisy and Ellen. They both brought tons of winter clothing and I had already set-up the studio. When we were preparing for the shoot we watched outside and saw some white flakes. Would we be that lucky? Yes we were. It started to snow heavily and within an hour we had a winter wonderland outside. So we left the studio and rushed outside. It was the only day that year that we had such a lovely day with snow. This image represents the fun we had that day. I’m still very happy with that picture.

When you want to know more about this shoot, check out its news page: Snow shoot with Ellen.

2 – Kim – Smoke in yellow and blue

Kim – Between yellow and blue

I love the smokey stuff. This time I did a smoke shoot with Kim in the studio. During this shoot we matched the color of the background lights to her sweater. Kim did a tough girl pose and a fantastic image was created. I especially love this image because the warmer yellow color leads the viewers eye to her face. Beside that the blue and yellow are complementary colors which makes the image even more pleasing to the eye.

If you like to have more background information about this shoot, check out the following news page: Smoke shoot with Kim

3 – Dragica – Latex in purple

Dragica – Latex and purple on stool

I saw a casting call of latex model Dragica who was looking for photographers. I never did a studio shoot with latex before but I thought I would be capable to do it so I responded to that call. And she chose me for that shoot. Which was very cool. So we went in the studio and started puzzling to get the light exactly right. Latex is difficult because of it’s reflecting nature. I’m very proud of what we achieved that day. I even matched the background color to her blouse. 

For more information about that shoot, check out the news page about it: Classy latex with Dragica.

4 – Bianca – Willemsbrug

Bianca – Willemsbrug

Bianca was my first curvy model. She helped me a lot by teaching me how to pose curvy women. After a while I managed to do that by myself and to come up with my own kind of ideas about posing curvy ladies. 

One of the rules about portraying curvy women is not to take pictures from a lower angle. Aka the frog perspective. But somehow I’m a kind of rebellious when I shoot pictures and I like to break the rules. Most of the time these rules are there for a reason and the results will not be usable. But sometimes I think breaking the rules gets you great images. This image is one of these great results. I love the dynamic leading lines in this image.

Find out more about this shooting Rotterdam with Bianca at the news page: Natural light shoot in Rotterdam with Bianca.

5 – Moira – Colourful balloons

Moira – Colorful balloons

Normally when I do a photo shoot I will make a plan in advance. Sometimes I make a plan on paper. Sometimes I do it just in my head. Such a plan is a kind of guideline that I use during shoots. Often the results of a shoot are not exactly as I had in mind. That is completely normal because shoots are always onder influence of a lot of variables. During shoots I work by the principle of If it is not possible to do as it should be, then is should be done as it is possible in order to be able to come up with some decent results.  

But not this time. Because this time all variables were perfectly aligned and I got the images exactly as I had them in my mind. That doesn’t happen very often so I really enjoyed this experience. And therefore this image definitely needs to be in my top 10 of this year.

Check out the news page about this shoot for more information: Balloon portraits with Moira.

6 – Kim & Thalita – Face to face in the grass

Kim & Thalita – Face to face in the grass

As you could tell by looking at their faces Kim and Thalita are related to each other. So this year during the summer they asked me if I would like to do a shoot with both of them at the same time. I don’t do that much duo shoots so it seemed like a cool challenge to do one. So we went to a nice place with some grass and water and started shooting. At this location there are some concrete benches on which I stood to do something to my light. And then I thought it might be a cool idea to lay both of these ladies down in the grass with their heads beside each other and create an image from above. The image came out great. I love the summer feel that this picture breezes. 

There is more information about this shoot on its news page: Summer time with Kim & Thalita.

7 – Daisy – Flying candy

Daisy – Flying candy

This year I have been testing some camera gear to be able to decide how I will proceed in the future in terms of my photography equipment. I don’t have the answer yet but I did have a fun shoot while I was testing the Fuji X-T3. With models Daisy and Ellen I had a candy shoot in the studio. And when I hear candy I think of color. So after some conversation with the models we decided to go for a pink background. And when we were working on the shots with liquorice all sorts, we came up with a flying candy idea. 

So we put the camera in high speed mode and Daisy started dropping candy while I pressed the button. And after post processing I composited this image. It was a lot of work but it resulted in a fantastic image.

For more sweet information, checkout the news page on this shoot: Candy shoot with Daisy.

8 – Camille – Koi tattoo – The sword

Camille – Koi tattoo – The sword 1

This photo shoot took a lot of patience. And it required a fantastic team to be able to accomplish such a result. This koi tattoo was created by a make-up artist. I was really amazed how she managed to create such a great drawing by just watching an image on her smartphone. You can imagine it took a while for her to create this fantastic piece of art. I think it is definitely the shoot which needed the longest preparation time on location but the fantastic results were totally worth it.  

For more information about this shoot check out its news page: Koi tattoo shoot with Camille.

9 – Fariël – Silhouette

Fariël – Frontal silhoutte

Although I recently shot this image, I think it must be in my top 10. Just because of the fact that I finally was able to make an image that was in my mind for years now.  I can tell you that is a great feeling. And a kind of a relief to get it off my mind. This image is exactly what I wanted to create. It was unbelievable that this was Fariël’s first photoshoot. She did such a great job as a model. Beside this silhouette portrait we created a lot of other great images during that day. I had a great time that day and I am positive that Fariël feels the same way about it.

 

You can find more information about this silhouette shoot at its news page: Silhouette shoot with Fariël.

10 – Priscilla and Nala – Let’s go vertical

Priscilla & Nala – Lets go vertical

I love to do portraits with animals a lot. As far as the animal concerned is safe and comfortable. That’s why I always do these shoots in the animal’s own environment. So that will be the owner’s home. The cool thing about portraits with animals is that you never know up front if you will succeed and get acceptable images or not. And the behaviour of the animal can unexpected to. I did this shoot with Priscilla and her royal python Nala. During the shoot Nala made a cool move which created a very special image in my opinion.

Read more about this shoot at the news page about it: Royal python shoot with Priscilla.

These images together make my top 10 of this year. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. A big thank you to all people who collaborated with me to achieve these great results.