Arnout Groen Photography

Hannover 96 Fußball

2011-08-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

New work from a recent Hannover 96 Fußball production. We spent a day working with the Hannover athletes to capture their 2011 promotional images. This particular picture was the second set up of the morning. The athletes were sort of just waking up. Direction for this picture was to capture all four athletes at the same time in a full on celebration. Of course I said 'no problem, we can shoot four guys at the same time'. In the back of my mind I was thinking this would be a difficult picture. Getting one athlete in motion under studio lights to look real is hard enough; Getting four athletes to pull off believable celebration looks all at the same time is next to impossible. Long story short. We set the lights up. I gave the guys direction. We nailed it on the 3rd shot. I was very much amazed.

Art Direction Moritz von Graevenitz. Athletes: Sergio Pinto, Steven Cherundolo, Didier Ya Konan, Emanuel Pogatetz

Photo Slideshow

2011-08-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

Testing out a new jQuery photo slider that I may build into my website. Feedback welcome!

The very clean design and coding of this slider was created by Sam Dunn.

Rugby World Cover

2011-08-02T05:02:00.000-07:00

Rugby World cover shot. Very very cool to get the cover shot for this mag during a world cup year.

Athletes: Shane Williams, Sam Warburton, Ryan Jones, Stephen Jones | Art Direction: Kevin Eason

ASM Clermont Auvergne 2012 Jersey Launch

2011-07-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

It's official. ASM Rugby nouveau maillot 2012! ASM Clermont Rugby launched their new jersey and I finally get to post a few pics from this shoot. Here is a quick selection showing a few of the different setups we put together during the shoot. We shot on location in Clermont, France. Tight planning and great teamwork helped us pull off three locations.

Jamie CUDMORE, Aurélien ROUGERIE, Anthony FLOCH, Julien PIERRE

Jamie CUDMORE, Julien BONNAIRE, Morgan PARRA

Jamie CUDMORE

We need to get the 'making of' film online for this shoot. I shot these close encounters with Jamie with a wide lens. He had to come at me pretty hard and close to get the effect we were looking for. Needless to say I ducked like a wussy when he came in. Looking through the lens of my camera it felt like he was going to crush me. Hope that comes through in the photo. This image is by no means polished. Just one that I really like. BOOM!

16TH Man

2011-07-26T04:32:00.000-07:00

The Welsh Ruby Union 16TH man campaign is a go! Here's a first look at one of the images. These images are part of a busy week of production we had at the Barn last month. More to come.

Welsh Rugby Union

2011-07-10T03:13:00.000-07:00

These are first images to be released from our photo shoot with the Welsh Rugby Union. These big multi-day team shoots are a grind, but the long hours often help get a production team into a solid groove. When this happens we move beyond the planning stages and into the sweet spot where only one thing matters. Getting the pictures. I'd like to call it magic, but really it's just plain old hard work and a maniacal attention to detail. I'll post more images as I see them appear. Here's a screen-grab from the Under Armour UK website and a behind the scenes picture from the WRU kit launch.

Jonathan Davies

Paul James, George North, Ryan Bevington | (image courtesy of Under Armour UK)

The ingredients that go into getting the photo; art director, designer, marketing managers, sports marketing manager, assistants, athlete, a photographer and a really sweet studio. This is a little video from one of our setups in the WRU Barn. The other film camera is WRU filming a making of. Said it before, I'll say it again; I wish I could turn this place into my studio! It's good to dream..

Hannover 96

2011-06-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Always interesting to read the reactions to pictures once they have been published. Click on the photos below to connect to the direct link on the Hannover 96 facebook fan page. Plenty of discussion going on there. These photos are part of their 2011 campaign shoot. The best pictures are still to come.

Steven Cherundolo, Sergio Pinto, Emanuel Pogatetz

Sergio Pinto, Steven Cherundolo, Didier Ya Konan

The office for a day

Smoking out Louis Picamoles

2011-06-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

My first serious try with a smoke machine. Everything cool until the smoke alarms went off! All it took was a couple of hours trying to get the perfect photo with Toulous forward Louis Picamoles.

Louis Picamoles

Mike Tindall

2011-06-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

Spent a couple of hours working with Mike Tindall on our last visit the UK. Under Armour has created a campaign around Combines Training. So.. we put Mike to work and tried to get a little real world sweat happening under hyper real world studio lights and big megapixels. Good fun for me, Mike did what he needed to do to help us get our shots. We had plenty of room to set up big strobes inside a large indoor training facility. This allowed us to get Mike really well lit and have the backgrounds (ambient light) go to close to black. The artificial turf in the gym gave Mike the confidence to move with speed and power.

It was pretty much my dream setup to get some good high contrast sports photography going. I only wish I could take this gym back with me to Amsterdam and turn it into my studio. That and I'd like to have a DSLR with a flash sync above 1/200th please..

We were also in the UK for a campaign shoot with the Welsh Rugby Union. Once the New Zealand 2011 World Cup Jerseys launch in July I will be able to post images from this shoot.

Under Armour Basketball

2011-04-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

And now for something completely different from my life African. Flew back to France for a production with Under Armour. The focus of the shoot was Clermont Rugby but we managed to fit in a couple of 'Core' Under Armour sports as well. The new Clermont Rugby jerseys launch in July, so those pictures will have to wait until then. I can show a little basketball action.

Under Armour brought new recruit Edwin Jackson a 6-foot 3-inch, 201-pound shooting guard from ASVEL Lyon. Under Armour creative team put together a storyboard of the moves they wanted captured. We did this shoot in the Clermont stadium ceremony room with big strobes. The place was perfect for a temporary studio as it was huge and dark. Camera set @ around f11-f16 @ 1/200th so my backgrounds went nice and dark and the athlete/apparel jumped out at me through my lens. To put pictures like this in perspective in terms of man hours. After a couple of weeks of pre-production, Under Armour brought to the shoot; a creative director, sports marketing manager, a product specialists, and I came with lighting assistants. When all is said and done, I dial in the camera and lights but there is no way to get shots like this alone. We also filmed a 'making of' which is in post production now. We'll try to get a piece of the film online in the coming month. Here are two photos from the shoot.

This was my first time shooting basketball with a proper studio set-up. Definitely would love to go crazy lighting up a proper basketball court and doing a big shoot on location at some point in the future.

Gone fishing..

2011-04-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

I sort of invited myself along for a fishing session with the boys from the village. Nice to finally dive into the Niger. Looking out over the River from a distance it looks deep and mysterious. Once you get out there on a boat and dive in you realize it's full of huge boulders and not very deep. The current is just strong enough to keep you working the boat to stay in place. I understand why the village fisherman are out here all day and night. This was probably the most peaceful spot I've been to in Bamako.

Once we got out on the water they told me it's better fishing at night. Indeed our catch was not great. This particular fishing technique involves throwing a casting net around a bolder and then diving into the water to drive the sheltering fish into the net with your paddle. No offense to my African peeps who can swim, but these were the first real swimmers I've met in Bamako that could stay under water without panicking. The people from these villages along the Niger are called 'Bozo'. The Bozo are known to be great swimmers and fishermen. So that explains it.

At night they play

2011-03-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

Every night the kids come and play and play and play. Some play on beat up sandals, many barefoot. This is my first trip to the African continent. So many impressions come and go each day. My photographic roots lie somewhere in between portrait photography and shooting sports action. I come across new and amazing football pitches here all the time. When I find a good one I have the urge to pull my camera out of the bag and shoot until my trigger finger bleeds. Like anywhere there is a balance here in wanting to get the photo and peoples basic respect for privacy.

Le village de nuit

2011-03-31T07:48:00.000-07:00

This post may be a little longwinded, but I think these photos need context to be understood. Bare with me as I try and keep to the point.

I was invited back into the village in the evening. NOTS had visited the village two days prior to train the locals on using the solar lights. My goal was to document the way the lights were being used at night. I could have done a before and after photo, but the 'before' would have been an even darker frame. Truth is some did have lighting before this introduction to solar. Kerosine lamps and battery powered lashlights work fine. The problem with kerosine is that it produces dangerous fumes inside the home plus it costs at least €1 per week to keep the light working. You can buy kerosine everywhere here. The sellers typically package the liquid in old plastic water bottles. It works, but it's obviously not very safe. The problem flashlights is the batteries. Batteries are not too expensive and are readily available. The disposal is the problem. This village currently burns their waste in trash pits behind their land. Our house is located about a ten minute walk from here and we can sometimes smell the plastic burning. I talked about this with one of my guides in the village. He's studying and spoke a little English. I mentioned that battery waste was a real problem. He said yes, it could be dangerous if the children or sheep ate them.

Amazing to see first hand how technology can change the ways of a very old and traditional world. Yesterday this village did not have a decent choice for lighting their houses at night. Tonight it seemed to me as if they had never lived without it.

Very challenging to shoot these scenes. Modern lens stabilization technology today lets me shoot in situations I would not have been able get a stable hand held photo just a few years ago. My invitation into this village is fragile at best. I can't show up here with a big tripod and tell everything to sit still for 20 seconds.

It's good to be the chief.

Son of Chief

2011-03-31T04:56:00.000-07:00

First village visit

2011-03-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

I was invited to document a solar power initiative in Mali headed by NOTS Foundation. Plenty to read about Mali on wikipedia if you are interested. It must be said that I do not speak for NOTS. These are my observations. In a nutshell the project is focused on setting up a business selling and servicing small scale solar power systems for villages living off the grid. NOTS has been active in Mali for some time. Plenty of NOTS activity in Mali that I have not seen. I can talk about what I have seen in my short time.

It started with a group meeting on invitation from the village chiefs. I came along to document the meeting. This particular fisher village is located inside of Bamako yet off the power grid. Can't speak to how this village lives compared to those in the rest of the country but this village very well organized and traditional. I live in Badalabougou and see these fishermen casting their nets in the morning and evening along the Niger River.

Long story short the meeting was interesting to be the fly on the proverbial hut. As part of the agreement I was allowed to take my camera out of the bag and document the proceedings.

This solar panel is part of the solution. It is capable of charging two rechargeable LED light systems and a couple of mobile phones per day. Perfect family unit size and not too expensive for the villagers.

It was fascinating to watch the mobile phones come out of the pockets at the end of the meeting. Nokia still rules in these parts. I've gone back to Nokia in Africa as well. I get 5-8 day standby on one charge. My smart phone gets 5-8 hours..

Everyone has a phone. I've seen farmers pull dusty phones out of their pockets to take pictures of their crops. These same farmers also work the land with pick axes and watering cans. I will try to document this once figure out a way to gain access and trust.

It boggles my mind to think about what will happen once these isolated pockets of the world have access to wireless internet. They are jumping over running water, the electricity grid, computers, and straight onto the mobile internet speedway. When the locals stand around my computer as I work we talk about how complicated a computer is. I have explained a few times now that my computer is no more complicated than their phone and that within the next few years their phone will be more powerful than my crappy computer. Always fun to watch the reaction at this point. Then also I tell them my smart phone battery lasts about 8 hours if I'm lucky and then they say 'pas bon'!

Mali

2011-03-05T02:39:00.000-08:00

We have arrived in Bamako. First time on the continent for me. So much to see. Everything is new. More details to come but here's the view from my bathroom window. This is a migrant worker watering his crops by hand. That means filling his water-can from a deep well at least 200 times a day. He's just finished pulling the water-can up from the well here. They come to Bamako during the dry season.

Liking the Facebook 'Like'

2010-12-15T08:13:00.000-08:00

I finally put together an AG Photography Facebook page. Why a fan page? Good question; I don't use an agent for business acquisition. Social media helps me put my portfolio out there and get work. The formula is pretty simple. The more I work the more chance I have to make great pictures and keep my business growing. The more my business grows the better I can support my photographic addiction and feed my family. Hopefully, I'll strike the right balance between shameless self promotion and sharing a few good picture stories happening in my photographic life. Either way, thanks for the dropping by and feel free to 'like'

Jamie Cudmore protecting my house

2010-12-10T03:58:00.000-08:00

This AD campaign is live in France. I posted a few more raw pictures from this shoot below this post. Always interesting to see what the picutres look like once they've been branded.

Jamie Cudmore

The Facebook feedback loop

2010-12-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

The web is an amazing direct feedback loop for photography. Some might say too direct. Always great to read what people have to say about my work though. Here's a photo composite Under Armour put together for ASM Clermont Auvergne Rugby. This one is currently being used for their facebook fan page profile. All good!

Julien Bonnaire, Brock James, Aurelian Rougerie, Jamie Cudmore, Julien Pierre

Clermont Auvergne Rugby

2010-11-30T13:15:00.000-08:00

Shooting Clermont Auvergne Rugby was in one word; Fun and a challenge. Okay, two words. The plan for this shoot was to spend two days on the beautiful pitch shooting action portraits of the Clermont Rugby athletes and a few Under Armour contract athletes. The weather had been amazing for weeks leading up to the shoot. Give this fact, we did not worry about the weather when planning our production.. After all, we only needed to have 5 or so 1600-2400 watt strobes connected to 200 meters of extension cables in the middle of the stadium pitch. This kind of strobe power is needed to knock out the (normally) harsh Southern France sun and get the look we were going for.

It started raining from the moment we got our setup right and kept on raining until the moment we wrapped the production, at which point the sun came out. Shooting in the rain with big strobes is next to impossible. Needless to say we improvised like mad. We took the whole shoot under the stadium bleachers. Client and I made the decision to go for the 'industrial look' as opposed to the planned magic on the field. I would have loved to have two days on that stadium pitch, but I'm happy with the photos we ended up getting under the stadium. Here's a couple from day one. Many thanks to my band of lighting assistants (Victor, Levi and Joost) who helped get us through two hectic days. I shot a timelapse of the incoming storm as we were setting up. Should make for a good laugh (now). I'll post it when I have a chance.

Jamie Cudmore - Clermont

Farid Sid - Perpignan

Jamie Cudmore - Clermont

Farid Sid - Perpignan

Clermont Rugby - Brock James, Aurelian Rougerie, Napolioni Nalaga

Making Of: Lying around under the bleachers.

A little piece of Lance

2010-07-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

Worked the 2010 Tour de France start in Rotterdam this weekend. Amazing to have a shot at getting Tour pictures so close to home. Here's one of Lance Armstrong. Unlike the lucky official Tour photographers, I did not have a motorcycle at my disposal to whisk me around the course. Or more importantly to give me more than one shot at a rider. I went early and scouted a few spots from which I thought I'd get the best chance at making the shot. I wanted to shoot all the big riders in this years tour but mostly I wanted a good shot of Lance. I practiced on the first riders that came through to make sure I had everything set-up right. Then I took a little break and started to get nervous as I waited. I had about 5 seconds per rider to get my shot. The rain came early in the prologue making for some beautiful reflective lighting. It also slowed down the speeds of the riders a bit which made it a little easier to get my shot. Most of my favorite shots of the day came during the rain. Rain adds drama. I was selfishly hoping it would keep raining during Lance's ride. Lance got lucky. It stopped raining and the streets dried up a bit. I ended up having enough time to squeeze off 10 frames of Lance as he blasted past. I think I got him pretty good. Here's one. Click on the link below to see more shots of other riders.

Facebook: Click here for more Tour de France pictures

Tour de France 2010 Rotterdam

2010-07-03T03:24:00.000-07:00

Equipment check.. Got my sunscreen. Should be a fun day. Edit: No need for sunscreen. It freaking rained all day!

Bicycle Race Shoot

2010-05-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture from a shoot with Flavio Pasquino this past week. A sweet Spring day with a little speed and suffering mixed in. Click on the image to view this picture at the proper resolution. This one kind of needs to be viewed big.

2010 Giro d'Italia Amsterdam

2010-05-08T15:29:00.003-07:00

Nothing quite like rolling out of my own bed and shooting world class super heros racing down my hometown streets. The 2010 Giro d'Italia prologue took off from Museumplein Amsterdam yesterday. I got out early and found a great spot on the Ceintuurbaanbrug over the Amstel river. The athlete in the first two photos is prologue winner Bradly Wiggins. Click through pictures to see more on my Flickr.

Rabo Bank

Under Armour Football/Soccer

2010-04-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

This viral teaser was a Storeage creation for the kick off of the European Under Armour football boot launch. I shot the stills on location and we shot the player and referee on green screen @ DESMET studio's in Amsterdam.

We used the Panasonic P2 cam for the green screen (wish I had my 5D MK2 at the time). Dealing with the Panasonic MTS file format within your workflow can be a struggle if you do not work with it day in day out. It cost us some time to come to grips with it but in the end it worked out fine.

The beautiful high bit rate H.264 codec on the Canon DSLRs are perfect for these kind of effects shots (make sure you dial down sharpening). The 5DMK2 and the 7D are now in my bag at all times. Next time!

Credits: Agency - Storeage, Art Direction - Moritz von Graevenitz, Motion Graphics - Jay Goodman, Visual Effects - Joe Pavlo, Producer/DP - Arnout Groen

Phase One P65+ on a Hasselblad H3

2010-04-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

NDAs (non-disclosure agreement) are no fun for photographer. Clients working on campaigns need them and we sign and honor them (of course). Photographers love to show their work. Showing new work also helps to getting more work. Here is what I can show you. A test shot from a recent photo shoot. I can't say much about the job other than that we were working with 180 Amsterdam for Adidas on a World Cup related project.

I'm the one holding the beast of large format camera. Dropping this camera would cost me $50K. Big Bird covers the athlete for now.

Below is a test shot. Levi helped out with the lighting during this shoot. Locking down a good skate phot was the perfect way to test our set-up. The final set-up was Phase One P65+ on a Hasselblad H3 hard synced to Profoto strobes.

Working with the Phase One P65+ on a Hasselblad H3 body was fun. I shoot mostly with the Canon DSLRs. In many cases the Canon cameras hold up more than fine. We've printed 80 meter wide billboards from processed Canon RAW files with no problems. Aside from the crazy 65 mega pixel files, this new large format kit excels in flash sync speeds. Canon is stuck @ around 1/250th of a second. This is fine for most studio situations though I wish they could get things working up to 1/500th. If you want to capture fast sports action without the usual motion blurs you need to get up to around 1/500th-1/800th. The Phase One / Hasselblad kit got me there.

In short, my opinion on cameras is that a good photographer will get shots with whatever he or she is holding. Technology helps but it does not take the picture. That said it was a pleasure to work with this kit. Bit of a bummer I would need to fork out $50K to own one!

Now Tweeting

2010-04-14T04:12:00.000-07:00

Having a look around the tweetosphere. Plan for the moment is to tweet my new blog posts on twitter and see how it goes. Also following a few people and organizations. Great to be able to connect so directly. This is me: http://twitter.com/ArnoutG

Ode aan Marianne Timmer

2010-01-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

Good news update; Marianne missed the Vancouver Olympics but announced that she will extend her skating career another year. Most skating fans already know this, but there you have it. Hopefully (for me) I get another chance at shooting her in action!
--------

Damn.. Marianne Timmer was ready for her swan song this Olympic year. She trained her ass off all summer and was ready to go out on top. Unfortunately, she fractured her foot in an unlucky fall early on in the racing season. Everyone expected her to retire after this injury, but she fought through it. Amazingly, she recovered enough to fight for a place on the Olympic team but there was not enough time to get herself super fit for the comeback. Vancouver is about the start and she missed her final chance to defend her Olympic title. I followed the comeback. Very sad to see that she did not make it. Happy to see she went down fighting! I have a feeling she is not yet finished with speed skating. Here's one of my favorite photo's we shot together last summer.

Facebook

2010-01-19T06:30:00.000-08:00

Joined the Faceblogging people of the world. I will also be keeping my Faceblog updated with the latest photographic happenings in my life. Click the facebook icon to have a look at my public page.

Ireen Wüst

2010-01-19T01:40:00.000-08:00

Odlo asked me to shoot portraits of TVM Olympic speed-skater Ireen Wüst. She's busy prepping her Olympic year, so we had just a few good hours with her on a Monday morning after a long race weekend. She was gracious enough to work with us as we scrambled through our set-ups. We managed 3 scenes in just under 4 hours. Here's one.

styling: Philip Deliever | make-up: Dainora Dulcyte | assisting: Levi Verspeek

First Chair

2010-01-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

Took a nice long break over xmas and recharged the battery. I finally had time to test new software and a new camera. Here's a mood shot from my travels in the Alps. Winter wonderland and snowboarder heaven.

First Chair | Aminona Switzerland from AG Photography

7Ding it in Paris

2009-12-16T06:37:00.000-08:00

Breaking a few of my own rules with shooting cityscapes. This one is handheld, ISO way up, camera set to black and white, big aperture, short shutter, lens IS way on. Bumped the contrast and levels up in post. Still getting to know my 7D.

Sven Kramer

2009-11-04T05:10:00.000-08:00

The Sven Kramer 'Brood Daar Zit Wat In' campaign is kicking off. Agency Keesie and Voorlichtingbureau Brood are leading the campaign. Look for the posters and ads around Holland if you happen to be a Dutch reader.

design: Moritz von Graevenitz, Jeroen van As | styling: Philip Deliever | make-up: Anna Speller

The 'making of' is rough cut movie of the photoshoot. Click on the HD option to watch at the highest quality. We shot @ Angel Studio in Amsterdam. Great place to work.

making of from AG Photography. cameraman: Levi Verspeek

RTL Boulevard (TV) aired a short segment about Sven Kramer and the BROOD campaign. I think they said they liked the poster. All good! Click on the picture to the watch the show: RTL Boulevard with Sven Kramer

Sven Kramer signs posters at the Euromast National Schoolontbijt Evenement.

AEGON NK Afstanden 2009

2009-11-02T04:40:00.000-08:00

I joined the sports photo press pool for a day of hard work at the Dutch Speedskating Nations. Respect for the photographers who do this kind of work day in day out.

Sven Kramer racing the 1500m

Ireen Wüst getting ready for the 1500 meter

Naish Wave Masters | Aloha Beach Wijk aan Zee

2009-10-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

Worked together with film maker Julian Watson to shoot motion and photos of the Naish Wave Masters windsurf competition @ Aloha Beach in Wijk aan Zee. I shot the whole thing on a Canon 5DMK2 with a 400mm 2.8 plus 1.4x extender. The set-up performed well. It was blowing 40 knots so conditions were pumping. Good fun! Julian had a 4x4 truck parked almost in the surf-break. I shot from the inside through an open window. It was kind of nice to look out from the car window at the other photogs standing in the wind and rain! While setting up a few mood shots I got lucky: Maurice Both (winner of the event) pulled this move off in the background. Thanks also to Motion Magazine and Access for putting on this event.

Diadora

2009-07-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

Diadora "Always Ready campaign" From the new Diadora football (soccer) campaign. Creative design and art direction by Mendo. The concept and pre-production work for this shoot was great. Getting images like this to work during a shoot means being in-sync with art director, client, models, stylist, and make-up artist. I'm the one working the camera and hunting for the perfect frame, but without a team around me I would not be able to get this photo. We all knew what we needed to do to get the images we wanted.

styling: Philip Deliever | makeup: Anna Speller | model: Armin

Adformatie

2009-07-10T04:14:00.000-07:00

Kind of what Rolling Stone Mag was to Rock, Adformatie magazine is to the Dutch advertising industry. Bummer they forgot to give me a name credit for the photography..

edit: Adformatie was kind enough to add my name to the list of credits for this campaign.

Screen grab from the article. Click in the picture to go to the post on the Adformatie page.

Under Armour Presentation

2009-07-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

Very cool to see my photos pop up unexpectedly. Came across this corporate presentation by Kevin Plank the Under Armour Chairman & CEO. He made reference to an Under Armour sponsorship deal with Football/Soccor team Hannover 96. In the backdrop they used a campaign photo I shot for Under Armour last summer. Difficult to see, I know.. but it put a smile on my face. Click on the pic to link to the youtube video. Interesting presentation if you are into the sports apparel market.

screen grab from the UVA DardenMBA video presentation.

Sven Kramer

2009-06-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Can't say much about the actual shoot as the campaign still needs to launch. I can say something about the man. Amazing presence and so bloody fit. Standing next to him I kept thinking 'damn... I need to work on my posture'. It was good fun to work together. We ended up having to push everyone pretty hard to get the images we needed for the client. I'll post more images from the actual campaign once it goes public.

Photo by Elmer van der Marel

The tiny looking camera in my hands is really not that small. This shoot is going out the door as an 'Abri' or A0 size poster campaign all over the Netherlands. Shot properly the canon 5D MK2 with 50mm 1.2L can handle even these print sizes with ease.

The 2010 winter Olympics are coming and he has set some big goals for himself. I'll be watching.

Le Coq Sportif - Campaign - Press release

2009-06-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Concept and Art Direction by Mendo

NIEUWE CAMPAGNE LE COQ SPORTIF TOONT STRIJDLUSTIGE HOCKEYTOPPERS

LE COQ SPORTIF start in augustus met een campagne rond haar nieuwe hockeycollectie. De campagnestart vindt kort voor het begin van het Europees Kampioenschap in Amstelveen plaats. In de campagne benadrukt Le Coq Sportif dat topprestaties niet zonder slag of stoot tot stand. Dat het er soms hard toe kan gaan tijdens de trainingen en wedstrijden laten de campagnebeelden duidelijk zien. De door het Franse sportmerk gesponsorde hockeytalenten Ellen Hoog, Fatima Moreira de Melo en Roderick Weusthof zijn daarop te zien, kort nadat zij een wedstrijd hebben gespeeld waarin zij overduidelijk een bikkelharde strijd hebben moeten leveren. Ze zijn weliswaar verregend en gehavend maar tonen nog volop enthousiasme en strijdlust. Ook hun outfit heeft niet noemenswaardig te lijden gehad van het ‘geweld’ op het veld. Met de campagne laat Le Coq Sportif duidelijk zien dat functionaliteit en een fashionable stijl wel degelijk samen kunnen gaan. De nieuwe Le Coq campagne is bedacht en uitgewerkt door het Amsterdamse bureau Mendo. Fotograaf Arnout Groen, gespecialiseerd in actie- en lifestylefotografie, maakte de campagnebeelden. De nieuwe hockeycollectie is vanaf medio augustus te koop bij Perry Sport.

UA11 launch

2009-06-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

Under Armour 11 as they are called. We photographed this series a few months ago for Under Armour. Now after months of hard work by agencies Store-Age and Perfect Fools the campaign has launched. I have not seen all the final images, but I like this one.

Concept and Art Direction by Perfect Fools: UA11 in Action

Anatomy of a Photo Shoot Setup

2009-04-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

Timelapse from a couple of days of work during a shoot. The campaign was called UA11 and kicked of the launch of their football/soccer boots. This clip is a quick taste of the setup. We shot for three days in the studio and on location. The images will be used for an up and coming football boot launch. All the images are now in the hands of the designers @ Perfect Fools. Can't wait to see what they have done with them. Once everything is published, I'll put the whole 3 day time-lapse sequence together and mix in some images as I shot them. If you're prone to epileptic fits I might warn you against watching!

You will have to click on the HD option to see this in highrez.

Photoshoot Setup Timelapse v04 from AG Photography on Vimeo.

Le Coq Sportif

2009-03-20T03:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a short clip from the shoot with Ellen growling at my camera. The final images are still in the hands of the designers @ the agency (Mendo). I'll post some when the campaign goes public.

Le Coq Sportif - Photo Shoot from AG Photography on Vimeo.

Camera man credit goes to Coen on da phone-cam. Thanks Coen!

Hockey.nl also dropped by the shoot to do a little filming. Click the links to check the vids.

Ellen Hoog

Roderick Weusthof

Joining the Blog-wagon

2009-01-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

Hey Reader,

Thanks for stopping by. I'm calling this a blog but many of the older posts below have been added in the last couple of weeks. I make a habit of keeping a sloppy journal about my shoots for personal use. It helps me to think about what I need to do better or keep the same for my next projects. The plan is to start keeping parts of this journal online if all goes well. Basically everything post 2009 is blog and everything pre 2009 is a look back at some of the projects and pictures that came to mind to add. Feel free to comment!

AG

New Camera :)

2009-01-20T17:35:00.000-08:00

Testing my new camera and my vimeo account on my unwitting cutie Nephew. This motion was shot with Canon's new 5DMK2 and a EF 50mm 1.2L.

AG Photography on Vimeo.

I did not lock the camera's exposure on this test shot. If you look closely you see the undesired exposure jumps when the camera auto adjusts to ambient light changes. The blacks have also been crushed too much. This can be adjusted in camera. I'm also still sorting out the best way to keep image quality when uploading to vimeo. The point is; even with all of the current shortcomings, the image quality, low light shooting options, shallow DOF, and beautiful bokeh you can pull off with this lens/camera in video mode are simply amazing. Once Canon sorts out better creative control with a firmware update (i hope), creatives are going have have a field day with this baby.

Will update if/when I've done some more testing and something cool comes up.

WRU Stadium Billboard

2008-10-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Here's one of the billboards hanging in the Cardiff Millennium Stadium. This is a composite image from a photo shoot for Under Armour with the Welsh Rugby Union. Store-Age put the composite together. This one goes down as my largest printed photo to date. It's around 10 x 80 meters huge.

Stadium photo courtecy Under Armour.

Design by Store-Age Amsterdam.

Here's another version up closer. We shot 20 athletes in two days. Working with the WRU guys was great. These are the kind of gigs where you wake up in the morning smiling at the thought of getting paid to do this kind of work. I have photographed live action Rugby games, but had not had the chance to get rugby athletes in the studio. Watching them train felt like looking in on something medievil.

Fedex lost one of my lighting equipment bags so we really had to push things on set-up day to get local gear backup. I had amazing help from local Cardiff photographer Brian Cottam who also assisted me on lighting for the shooting. Thank-you Brian.

Design by Karina Engedal @ Under Armour

The Under Armour crew out of Baltimore worked the the styling, athletic moves, and general look and feel during the shoot. Working with this many athletes in front of the camera requires a team effort. No way in hell I could pull this off alone.

Here one frame as the athletes were shot. This gives an idea how much post production goes into the final design for this production.

I'll get more photos online to show the end results after the post production team is done with the images. For me, it's always interesting to see what comes out of the final design.

We used Profoto strobes and shot with a Canon 1Ds MK3 and mostly with a Canon EF 50mm 1.2 lens.

Concept for the photo came from Nate Shriver @ Under Armour

Here's one more from the studio. The photo was cleaned up a little and a vignette was added in post. I have not seen how Under Armour used this one. The plan was to use it as part of the campaign meant to launch the Under Armour WRU jersey.

DSB BANK SPEED SKATING TEAM

2008-09-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

Edit: DSB Bank went under in part due to the credit crisis. Ironic as I mentioned below about the crisis unfolding on the day we did this shoot!

Before you ask, 'where the hell are the speed skates'? I'll answer you. This was cross training photo shoot. The DSB bank team is co-sponsored by Under Armour. We shot three athletes in half a day; Marianne Timmer, Annette Gerritsen, en Mark Tuitert. It was my first time working with speed skaters so we had to feel it out a bit to figure worked. We had the athletes run through their usual training routines in under my big lights.

Design by Moritz von Graevenitz: Speed Skater Mart Tuitert in Action

Gear used for this shoot; Profoto strobes and a Canon 1Ds MK3 with a EF 50 1.2L. This lens holds it's own under big strobes. I love it. Only downside is the slow auto focus which can be a pain in the butt when shooting movement. The athletes came at me for some photos and the slow focus got in the way a few times.

Elmer van de Marel assisted for this shoot. Elmer is a photojournalist. He works for various Amsterdam newpapers. Check out his site. This shoot happened in September as the credit crisis was unfolding. Papers were calling him screaming for images. Once we got things under control he made a run to the Amsterdam version of Wall Street and took some great pictures of stock brokers staring bored and depressed at their computer screens. At least the news paper editors were happy.

Annette Gerritsen in Action.

The key to getting this kind of photography to work is all in the eyes. Athletes know how to move. Most of them have been doing the same moves since they childhood. What they do not do every day is stand in front of a photographer in a big studio with lots of light. Getting the eyes 'working' in takes time, coaching, and a bit of luck. You have to be very aware how far you can push things. In most cases we are not going all out in the training. For one, I don't need it to get the photo and secondly I don't want to hurt anyone! It took Annette (and myself) some time to get it right. When she did, we got some great shots. Mark Tuitert was pretty much a natural from the first photo. Marianne Timmer held her own as well.

Athlete Marianne Timmer flashing her eyes.

design by Mendo - photo curtacy of USG

Here's a Perry Sport storefront window with one of the final designs.

HANNOVER 96 FOOTBALL

2008-06-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

I worked with the Hannover 96 fooball team for their player signature cards and merchandising photography. This was one day full day of going all out and getting the entire team photographed in action in the studio as individuals. The challenge was to get each player performing a move they would do regularly in a real game situation. The whole shoot was hard work, but we had good fun. I had worked with a few of the players already from previous shoots so at this point the players knew how I worked and what was expected of them. Everyone worked hard and that made my life so much easier.

Graphic Design by Karina Engedal. Photo Illustration by Moritz von Graevenitz: Tim Hofmann going for the ball.

Valerien Ismael going for a header.

This is what the photos look like before the post production. Because the schedule was really tight we had a lot of people on the photo set. The good thing about having more athletes on the shoot set at the same time is that they start to compete with each-other to get the best shot. This little trick helps create the loose atmosphere you need to get the special photos. Digital workflow has really helped as well. I typically will have my assistant immediately load the photos onto a computer to view the photos on a large LCD. I personally do not need the large screen to see if I am getting my shots. The large screen does help pump the athlete up to go harder to get the perfect photo (or at least a better one than the other guys). The client also loves seeing the immediate feedback.

Shooting Mike Hanke @ Hannover 96

2008-06-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Mike and I have worked together a couple of times now and he knows the drill. We pushed things pretty hard on the first shoot and got some great shots. He's a powerful athlete and a strong personality in front of the camera. The design below was used for advertising in the German market.

Design by Michael Todas @ Under Armour

There is plenty more to show and tell. We shot most of the Hannover 96 team in one day. For our part it was a team effort as well with everyone behind the camera working just as hard to get the photos we needed as the athletes in the spotlights. This shoot was done mostly with Canon 1Ds MK3 and a 85mm 1/2L and big Profoto strobes.

Design by Moritz von Graevenitz

Handball with Sebastian Preiss

2008-06-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

Shooting handball was new to me so I did my research on Sebastian before the shoot. From the images and stories I found on him, I was pretty sure he'd be ready to dive around the studio. We set up a net in the studio to allow him throw the ball with power without destroying my lights. I had no idea what I was getting into. It felt more like he was launching a weapon than throwing a ball. I feel sorry for the goalies..

Sebastian Preiss

We had about an hour together and true to form Sebastian jumped all over the studio to help us get the shots. My gear for this shoot was Profoto strobes, Canon 1DsMK3 and mostly a fixed 50 mm 1.2L. My gear was rented and delivered from Hamburg to Hannover with perfect service by 711RENT. Highly recommended!

Hannover 96 Fooball Kids

2008-06-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

This was an Under Armour photo shoot we did together with the Hannover 96 bundes league team. These little guys are part of the select team at the club. These kids came in a little shy but once we gave them a football things got nutty. We were all standing around amazed at the control these little guys had. That was a good thing because I had a lot of photo gear set up as we were also shooting the Hannover 96 pros later that same day. Even with all the kicking and jumping around, all my gear remained upright. The one on the right in the shot below could not get a game face on for one of the shots we had in mind. He just kept on smiling and laughing no matter what we did.

This photo below is one of the ad designs Under Armour put together with a photo from the shoot. This was for their kids football gear.

Design by Michael Todas @ Under Armour

The photos against white need some cleaning and whitening up but you get the idea.

Here above is another one I like. This little guy would just cross his arms and look angry when asked to pose. Worked for me! It was a fun shoot and the next day the parents told us the kids had a lot of fun too.

Belgiun Sprinter Frauke Penen

2008-06-20T06:03:00.000-07:00

We worked together during a shoot in Hannover Germany. We shot a sports model the day prior for the same shoot. The model was athletic and very good. Frauke is not really a model. She's an athlete who happens to work well in front of the camera. I was hesitant to show her the photos from the previous day as example because the model had done so well and I did not want to intimidate her right at the start. Athletes are not usually good at studio work. It could be that after years of practice they get better, but standing in front of a photographer in a big studio is not the primary reason they got into their sport.

Frouke insisted on taking a look at the photos with the model and we did. As we sat behind the big LCD studying the images from the previous day, I was really happy with the way the photos with the model turned out. After looking she said, 'is that all'. I had to laugh and figured we'd be in good shape for her shoot.
Here's a shot as they came out of my camera. Post process was a crop and some sharpening.

Design by Karina Engedal @ Under Armour

As a result of her efforts, I believe Under Armour chose to use more of her photos in place of the photos from the shoot with the sports model.

Design by Moritz von Graevenitz: Belgian Sprinter Frauke Penen in Action

This last design from Mortiz was a concept design for a pitch (edit: which Reebok later created to perfection without us).

ARMY OF ME

2008-02-20T18:33:00.000-08:00

Fashion editorial shoot together with stylist Majid Karrouch. Shot with a Canon 5D and a EF 50mm 1.2L. There are more photos to this series.

Designs by Moritz von Graevenitz

Majid getting in front of the camera.

Our model was all of 14 years old. First time I worked with someone so young. She came in nervous, but things started working in no time. She did amazing.

MODERN TIMES

2008-02-04T02:29:00.000-08:00

Stylist Majid Karrouch put together a concept that plays with the times. I'll call it a modern take on Charlie Chaplin's greatest film hero. The photography and design takes a bit from the past.

Designs by Moritz von Graevenitz and make-up artist Severie van Donkelaar

Fall/Winter 08 Collection: Dior Homme, Issey Miyake, Lanvin, Burberry, Dries van Noten, Cerruti, Kris van Assche, Paul Smith, Dolce & Gabbana.

FEAR

2008-01-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

From a photo shoot for Truth or Dare jeans. Shot in a Amsterdam subway station just before we got kicked out. This is part of a concept shoot we put together. I shot on a canon 5D with EF-17-35m and 85L lenses and a couple of off camera 550EX strobes triggered by Canon's infrared remote trigger. The idea was to go for film noir shadows and grading. We got a few frames before we got kicked out. Click the photo to see more.

Model: Christa Davids

ACG Super Heros Hot HOT!

2007-08-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

No really, it was the hottest shoot I have ever been part of. It was July and we were in the middle of a heat-wave in Amsterdam. The studio I rented out had no air-conditioning. Either way it would have been impossible to keep cool as it was huge. We shot 10 NIKE ACG sponsored team rider athletes in a super hero concept. This was for the ACG winter apparel collection. Imagine wearing hot winter outfits in 35 degree Celsius weather. It may have been 40C+ degrees in the studio. Then imagine a make-up artist pulling out her hair trying to keep the sweat from running down the faces of the athletes during the shoot. Also picture me barefoot in shorts and no shirt jumping around the studio trying like hell to get my shots. On second though scratch that last image..

I still had my shoes on at this point.

ACG team rider: Max Galfre

Sweating athlete and ACG team rider: Jaime Pauigdengoles

ACG team rider: Dan Wakeham

These action sports heros have way too much fun. If you are good enough to get sponsored and make a living in action sports, I recommend you drop everything and just do it. We shot for three days and got some cool photos. Nike asked me to bring a skateboard to the shoot which I did. We were going to use it for a few shots not related to the Super Hero concept. It took these dudes all of 30 minutes to break my board jumping off trash-bins.

'Sunstroke' editorial for Link Magazine

2007-08-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

Editorial work with stylist Majid Karrouch. Concept was all Majid. You can probably guess the plot line from the pictures. A boy spends too much time in the sun and wakes up confused about who he is and what he wants. The styling mixes summer and winter fashion. Some editorial fashion concepts can be so creative they lose you. This one is nice and clean. It works for what it is. Fashion.

Model: Sebastiaan

Model: Julian Pechler

Model: Julian Pechler

A behind the scenes shot with Majid checking the model and Anne Platjes @ Viewagency looking on. Anne did the Hair & Make-Up.

The Wedding Photographer

2007-06-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is a funny one for photographers. I started working as a commercial photographer only after my first career in product management for various tech companies in Silicon Valley. My first couple of paid gigs in photography were weddings and events. To this day I have experienced few clients out there who look at photography with a more critical eye than certain brides.. Getting really good lasting photos during weddings is hard freaking work. You have to be everywhere at once and you absolutely cannot miss the key cliche moments. I have a lot of respect for the photographer who can pull off successfully shooting them full time while still remaining sane.

It's been a few years since I shot a wedding now. I'm posting this one because I love the photo.

Kluun and Nathalie just married and riding a 'bakfiets' in the vondel park.

I shot this wedding without really knowing much about the character on the bike. I got to know him and his wife during a fabulous wedding day and long crazy night (that went on into the next day). Turned out he's a pop culture figure in The Netherlands. I missed that one as I did not grow up here.

This shot was taken as they were leaving the Vondel Park after getting married in the local court house and having a great lunch in the Vondel tuin with all their friends and family. This was their first moment alone together (well.. almost alone) after an action packed first half of the day.

By now I know who he is and I follow his writing. This being his most famous book Komt een vrouw bij de Dokter.

FASHION EDITORIAL

2007-06-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

Concept Narcolepsy fashion editorial done together with stylist Majid Karrouch. Concept was all Majid. Sleepy dreamy tranquil models caught deep within their own thoughts.

Model: Sebastiaan

The challenge in this shoot was to get the right look in the eyes. We finally got there by having the models blink and I would catch them as their eyes were opening again. Something to think about should you ever find yourself needing to shoot someone looking sleepy..

Shot with a Canon 5D with a 85 1.2L lens and Alien Bee 1600 strobes.

EDITORIAL

2007-02-04T03:31:00.000-08:00

Fashion editorial shoot together with stylist Majid Karrouch. Shot with a Canon 5D and a EF 85mm 1.2L. This was created for a coming trends style sheet for a magazine. Nothing new here, just great styling and decent photography work delivered for editorial. These kinds of shoots keep you sharp. There is so little money in editorial fashion that you need to pull everthing and everyone together and crank the shoot out in half a day. I changed the layout for this site.

EURO NFL

2007-01-26T08:23:00.000-08:00

The Amsterdam Admirals represented the NFL in the European NFL League. These guys were a great client of mine. I got to know the team players over the many photo shoots. I also got out to shoot the games when they came to the Amsterdam Arena.

This is one of my favorite portraits that I shot. The Admirals used this one for a design in one of their promo campaign.

AD designed by Moritz von Graevenitz

One of the head cheerleaders posing for a photo that was used in one of the NFL ads. She was so athletic she could jump from a push-up position for this shot!

Unfortunately the NFL pulled the plug on the league in 2007. C'est la vie.

Rugby in Holland

2007-01-24T16:19:00.000-08:00

I love shooting live rugby. The problem is that I live in Holland. The problem is not that there are no great rugby games happening in Holland. There are. The problem is that the economics of it do not really make sense for a photographer who makes his living from his pictures. There just are not enough news outlets or fans willing to pay for the images. I still go out and shoot games for the clubs for the pure joy of it. The game has so much to offer to the photographer and fan. The Dutch rugby league is made up of hardcore amateurs and some paid pros. I'm guessing the French or UK or SA or Kiwi rugby fans are going to say that the caliber of the game is much higher their country. That would be a true statement. It does not mean that the games in Holland are not fun to watch. They are! If you are living in Holland and have not gone to see one, I recommend you go. The games are from the heart and the teams go at each-other hard.

This shot was taken at the end of a game with AMSTELVEEN RC 1890 beating AMSTERDAMSE AC. This photo to me is all about 'To the victor goes the spoils'.

For the non-rugby fans, at the end of the game the losing team lines up and claps while the winning team walks through the lineup. It's a great sporting moment after what is usually a brutal and hard fought game. The next step after the lineup is shower and then clubhouse pub. The Amsterdam rugby club house is a great place to have a beer or 20.

Tesing my new Canon EF 85 1.2L II lens

2006-09-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

I remember this day well. Hanging out with my niece and shooting off a few of the first frames with this amazing lens.

SHOOTING THE BRAZILIANS

2006-05-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

I went on a number of shoots with Nike during their Jogabonito campaign. I was there mostly to shoot stills during the commercial campaign for TV ads that were being shot. We were lucky enough to spend some quality time with the Brazilian team. These guys are under so much pressure to perform and have so many people coming at them, you wonder how they can get loose enough to play the game they love. The shoot was high pressure, but also loose and fun. The key with top footballers under pressure is to give them a ball. It's pretty much that simple. Once they have a ball, the play factor comes in. Once the play factor is in you have a shot at getting some real moments to photograph.

Ronaldinho

This all sounds easier than it really is. A shoot like this goes way beyond me and my power to control a moment. I am just a cog on the wheel. I need to make sure I get my shots during the brief time I have with them. That is what the client pays me for. The players have so much going on they are not going to wait for me to get it right. In situations like this you really only get one shot. There is no time to be nervous.

Robinho: Art direction and design by Pierre Jeannau.

Ronaldo

Ronaldinho at play. Art direction and design by Pierre Jeannau.

This design from a wallpaper that is downloadable from the Nike site.

Shooting Zlatan

2006-05-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while you get really lucky on your photo shoots. Having a chance to get one on one with Zlatan was one of these moment.

On set with film maker Mark Hoffman

This one was part of a profile story Apple did on the shoot. I was there to shoot the stills.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic dropping by to say hi to Ronaldinho during the JOGABONITO commercial.

We had a little down time during the shoot . Zlatan knew that Ronaldinho was shooting a commercial spot for the same campaign near by. Zlatan asked me to come with him to take a picture of him meeting the 'champion' as he referred to Ronaldinho. It's was good fun to tag along.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

We had an early morning shoot on the pitch in Barcelona. I got lucky with the right light and the right background coming together for this one. There were a lot of people on the set and I had no say in getting Zlatan into position. I was focused on getting the shots when the opportunity came. I'm not sure how Nike used this shot. It is one of my favs.

Fernando Torres

2006-05-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

I was part of a team who went around to profile key Nike football athletes during the Jogabonito campaign leading up to the world cup 2006. Don't need to tell you, this was amazing fun. Nike sorted access to the players and I had decent freedom to get the shots I wanted to get. Fernando is a super mellow and nice guy. We shot him when he was still at Atlético Madrid. He was already a great player, but really just getting started and still a little camera shy. The thing that blew me away while shooting him was how much power he could generate when kicking the ball from an almost stand still position. We were shooting him in the center of the main pitch at Atlético and I was booming balls at the goal with ease.

This one below was actually shot with my point and shoot while I was changing the battery on my SLR.

Fernando Torres getting his game face on. Shot with a small point and shoot.

Design by Moritz von Graevenitz

This photo was not used for the Jogabonito campaign. The design is part of a series of design tests that Mortiz made with the Liverpool logo. I just really like what he did with the image. I shot this one in bright daylight on the Atlético stadium field with my Canon 1D MKII and a 70-200mm 2.8L

FASHION ANGELS

2006-04-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Fashion campaign shoot for a Jeans co. Grey backdrops were used for the photoshoot. Illustrator Diana Heemkerk then created the beautiful photo illustration from there with a combination of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Model: Christa Davids

Illustrations and Designs by Diana Heemskerk

We shot this with a Canon 1D Mark II and a 50mm 1.4.

TRUTH OR DARE

2006-02-04T04:51:00.000-08:00

Jeans Co shoot. Photography was used for advertising in tradeshow rags. This was actually just a test shoot with Christa that turned into something more. I like the way we captured the pose. To get the hair right, Christa did the move over and over and over. The next day, she had a sore neck.. oops!

Model: Christa Davids

Heineken Regatta on the Amstel in Amsterdam

2004-03-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

Each year there is a great rowing regatta on the Amstel called the Heineken Roeivierkamp. The boats race up to 5Km on the scenic Amstel river from Ouderkerk and finish in Amsterdam city center. It's a beautiful spectacle. Many pros and top amateurs from all over the world race this event. That's all good. I love watching are the real amateurs come in to the finish line. The guys and girls who train hard and probably party harder. The athletes who might be in really good shape but may not be in perfect shape. This race is early in the season.

As the boats come into Amsterdam center you can watch from the bridges along the Amstel river. From the bridge you can look down on the pain and suffering going on as they approach the final meters. Some look as though they are having a serious internal dialog questioning the sanity of racing 5KM so early in the season. Respect! All this makes for great moments in sports photography.

I find it hard to pick my absolute favorites in sports photo journalism, but these two photos are very high up on my list. The photos were taken from Berlage Bridge about 200 meters from the finish line.

Kids at Play

2002-07-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

This picture reminds me of so many things. One of them is about why I started shooting pictures. I took this photo while on a surf trip along the Atlantic coast of France. I was still shooting on film, mostly Fuji Provia 100 and 400 film. My longest lens at the time was 100-400 f5.6 zoom. I did not have water housing. The waves were not that great. My photos were not turning out the way I planned. The list of excuses goes on. I was not getting anything. So, I'm sitting on this dune over looking the ocean, not feeling all that great about myself as a photographer when all of a sudden these happy boys show up with their parents. The waves were closing out and crashing hard on the beach. The kids were not really prepared to swim as none had swim suits. I think they came in from a local hockey tournament at a nearby arena. For about an hour the parents (and I) watched these kids committed kamikaze in the shore-break. They were getting smashed by the waves and absolutely loving it. It was amazing fun to watch.

I shot a few pictures that day and this is one of them. It felt so good to have a camera with me to capture the moment. You never really know how others will react or interpret your pictures. Sometimes a very personal feeling you have for a photograph can get in the way of sorting out if the photograph has meaning beyond your own memory of the moment.