Word of mouth is a great thing when you can get it and a sign you're doing a great job. A couple of weeks ago we got notified that Raziye would like to do a photoshoot with us after hearing about the Bouman Sutcliffe experience from a previous model. Raziye is a colleague of us and works for the same engineering company as we do. Simon didn't know Raziye, but I did. So, after Simon came to me, telling me that we had a new model, we walked to Raziye to introduce her to Simon and have a quick chat. We explained that the most important thing for us was that she was happy with the arrangements concerning the shoot. The date, type of shoot, type of location, etc.etc.
After about a week of planning, the three of us drove to Amersfoort's city centre for the shoot.

Exactly one month ago, Simon and I were drinking a beer at a pub helping a fellow photographer out, giving him advice for his upcoming (first) wedding assignment later that week (he managed to do a great job by the way). When we had no more advice to give, we turned to our next 'concern'. Our lack of models this autumn. Simon said he couldn't believe I didn't know any potential models. With so many people working around me, there certainly had to be at least one that had a spark within her. One that had to translate into amazing imagery. I thought for a moment and came up with a name of a colleague who certainly had that spark within her. I suggested: "Kerusha".

A couple of weeks ago I saw a Petapixel article about  a photographer called Alireza Rostami. This photographer modified a Zenit MC Zenitar 50mm f/2 lens and created some extraordinary images. He did this by taking apart this lens and flipping one of the lens elements the other way around. Some were amazed by the results, others thought they looked awful. I really liked some of his images and was itching to try it for myself. As this lens is very cheap (I bought one for around 40 euros), I didn't worry too much about messing up the assembly or not liking my results. 

Being an admin of one of the best en most fun Facebook groups that exists on this planet (okay I'm a bit biased ;-)) I get to opportunity to try out lenses made by the Meike company, which they very kindly provide us with, so we can use them for our traveling lens project. In this project selected members of our group (the Micro Four Nerds Facebook group) get the opportunity to try out (Meike) lenses. This time Meike send us the Meike 85mm f/2.8 macro lens. Here are my experiences with this lens.

Wherever I go, Nikki is with me. Well, most of the time. We go on walks together and visit friends and family together. When I leave the house, I usually also take my camera with me, as I'm always looking for interesting things to shoot. Because Nikki is often with me, she regularly shows up in pictures I make and post on the internet. Her being in my pictures on Flickr, Instagram, Facebook and on my website makes her a familiar sight for hundreds if not thousands of people who visit these pages. Now, next to being photographed, and her image showing up on the digital highway, they now also exist in a more analoge form; in paintings. This is the story of how her foxy smile was captured on canvas.