The fashion film director’s playlist is hosted on my YouTube Channel. This is a compilation of fashion films, branded content and online commercials that I have made.
In September 2018 I had the privilege of directing the shooting of the new Gore® Wear SS19 range of Fast Hiking and Trail Running clothing online commercials, purpose made outdoor apparel for extreme athletes.
The shoot was set in the beautiful and formidable Dolomites in South Tyrol, Italy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, perfect for the challenges Gore® Wear is made for.
This shoot was one of the most physically challenging shoots I’ve ever done, due to the altitude we worked at (I live at sea level!), but the results speak for themselves. Working with the right crew and talent makes all the difference. Huge respect to DoP Vale Rapp, his handheld tracking shots are the smoothest I’ve ever seen and his drone work outstanding! This was the first time that I worked with the DJI Mavic 2 Pro, featuring the collaboratively developed Hasselblad L1D-20c and the quality is exceptional.
Credits:
Client: Gore® Wear
Agency – 1000heads
Director – Deryck van Steenderen
DoP – Vale Rapp
Sound – Stephan Wieser
Editor – John Foxton
Stills Photographer – Harald Wisthaler
Fast Hiking Athletes: Eva Sperger and Jamie Ramsay
Trail Running Athletes: Yoann Stuck, Zac Marion and Amanda Basham
I’ve always been a big fan of Hasselblad. Their quality and craftsmanship combined with their relentless pursuit of excellence works for me.
The first Hasselblad I ever bought was a second hand ELX. A clever camera technician jippoed the battery compartment for me so that I could use a 9v battery in it and I shot on it for years. My second Hasselblad was a 500C/M, the AK47 of medium format photography. Manual beauty. I’ve always wanted a 503CW with a pistol grip, they’re as scarce as hens teeth.
The arrival of digital slowed down my Hassleblad purchases due to the cost but when Michael North of Hassleblad South Africa recently offered me the chance to test the new Hasselblad H5D-50C I grabbed it with both hands. The question was, what to shoot?
Presented with an opportunity like this I didn’t want to waste it. Cirque Magazine was doing a fashion story on Norwegian Rain, a clothing range from Norway designed by T-Michael that debuted in South Africa at the Mercedes Benz Bokeh Fashion Film Festival that was the perfect fit I thought. Shoot Scandinavian fashion with a Scandinavian camera.
Norwegian Rain specialises in rain coats since they live and work in Bergen, the town with the highest rainfall in Norway. Visions of a grey day preferably pouring with rain swirled through my mind. The shoot date set, perfect location secured and models and crew in place we were set to go. I even had his and hers umbrellas in the kit as props.
Cape Town is a city well known for it’s ‘four seasons in one day’ weather. I’ve always had the most incredible luck with good weather for my shoots and this day as no exception. Mid winter in Mediterranean climate (rains in winter) Cape Town the sun shone and the sky was pure blue. So much for the grey day my heart was yearning for.
Enter the thing (apart from the quality!) I love most about shooting on Hasselblad. Leaf shutter lenses. When I need to shoot with the shallowest depth of field possible combining natural light with portable flash (strobe) there is nothing like leaf shutter lenses to give you maximum creative control. Standard on Hasselblad. I said a silent prayer of gratitude for having the right camera in the bag for the job.
The Sunshine Company, distributor of Hasselblad in South Africa, gave me their newly arrived Profoto Pro B1 500 Air TTL Battery Flash 500W portable lights with lithium batteries to test with the Hasselblad. Off-camera flash. With TTL. Without cords. Nice. I’ve been working with Profoto lights, the standard in lighting rental in South Africa, for years. As an assistant I carried more packs and batteries up and down Clifton 2nd beach stairs than I care to remember. I’ve never had need for a gym membership.
When picking up the gear, the lads ran through it with me.
“Where are the packs?” I asked. They laughed at me.
“The batteries are on the heads!” they replied.
I had visions of what look like mini car batteries stuck to the heads. Clement showed one of the batteries to me. It was tiny by comparison to it’s predecessors.
“How long will it last?” I asked, the concern obvious in my voice.
“220 full-power flashes per charge,” he laughed.
“Can I take an extra spare to be sure?” I’m not a big fan of a battery dying on me at exactly the same time that everything comes together for the perfect picture.
The Pro B1 lights come standard with the Profoto Air remote TTL, an adjustable wireless remote trigger that can adjust the power of the lights proportionately while you’re shooting based on your TTL light meter. I’m too much of a control freak for that and prefer shooting on manual. What is really cool about it is that you can adjust the power of the lights up or down using the remote and it does it proportionately, keeping your lighting ratios the same. Nice. Less running on set required.
Shooting on the Hasselbald H5D-50C was pure pleasure for me. Being a professional photographer means I’m a professional crisis manager as there are so many factors that have to come together for a shoot to work. The better the gear, the easier it is to cope with changing conditions. My beautiful grey, raining day that I envisioned turned into blue skies and sunshine. To shoot rain coats in. Without the budget for a water tank. I’m always up for a challenge but there are challenges and then there are challenges. My favourite lens for shooting fashion with my film Hasselblads is the 150mm due to it’s perfect flattering perspective. I made sure there was one in the bag but never used it. The Hasselblad HC 80MM/f2.8 lens was a dream to work with. The True Focus system is a pleasure enabling the re-composition of the image without losing the focus point and there was no noticeable perspective distortion, allowing me to include the architectural shapes of the location, the reason I chose it in the first place.
The shoot over I reluctantly returned the gear having changed the batteries only once on the lights. I’m not big on shooting thousands of frames for one shot but I was surprised. Not as surprised as the MyCiti employee who locked herself in the staff toilets on location by accident, who we had to rescue, but surprised nevertheless.
The biggest dilemma followed in post production. The images were so sharp, with so much detail that they created the temptation to retouch and retouch, and retouch some more. I’m not a big fan of over retouched images, preferring to keep an element of realism in my work, but when presented with such fine quality there’s an OCD tendency that creeps in to just keep going. OCD under control I managed to tear myself away from the computer and send the finished images, out now in the August edition of Cirque Magazine.
Sometimes preparing for a photo shoot can be like giving birth. Not that I know what giving birth really feels like, being a man and all.
However, sometimes preparing for a photo shoot can be like giving birth, where it takes a really loooong time to bring all the pieces of the puzzle together. Sometimes it’s not that long, it just feels really long, because I can’t wait to get to the shoot day and start capturing the creative vision that’s been simmering in my brain for who knows how long.
The fashion shoot ‘The Industrialist’ was one of those shoots. One delay after another due to team availability until days became weeks and I became like a cat on a hot tin roof.
The thing is, I would be testing the Leica S2-P, one of the best medium format digital SLR cameras in the world (supplied by Tudortech in South Africa), for the first time, and I couldn’t wait. Hours felt like days and days like months.
FINALLY all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and it was go time. I picked up the Leica, dashed home and opened the boxes like a kid at Christmas. It is a thing of classical beauty. The S2-P looks like a standard SLR but is a lot bigger. The design is simple elegance. In this age of greased lightning technological advancement I yearn for the days when I shot real (slide) film, when photographers really had to know what we were doing because we couldn’t just ‘fix it in Photoshop’.
In a heart stopping moment I couldn’t figure out how to change the electronically set aperture on the camera. I downloaded the manual from the internet so that I could RTFM but worked the camera out without it. The functionality of the Leica is simple and straight forward. I loved setting the shutter speed manually with the dial, clicking it through the different speeds.
On the morning of the shoot I arrived at Kelly Jean’s flat with a car full of equipment, leaving Lindsay Rae Nel, my digital assistant, locked in the car to keep an eye on the gear. Kelly was forging ahead with the model Monique Darton‘s hair and makeup. Kelly pointed out a safer parking bay, part of the complex, so the car was moved and Lindsay retrieved to join us.
Natalia Keet, the fashion stylist, arrived with her assistant Caitlin Killassy and the collection. Nice. Elegant and sophisticated whilst still contemporary. “I can work with this,” I thought to myself.
With Monique’s base coat on we piled (literally) into our cars, the excitement building. We took a ‘small’ detour through Khayelitsha to pick up my lighting assistant, Cinga Samson. Jackie Murray, the videographer, met us en route, perfectly positioned for a toilet and refreshment stop. The location we were heading for doesn’t have water or electricity. Not in pipes anyway.
Despite showing her location pics I suspect Natalia was apprehensive about the location. Until we got there and the oohing and aahing started.
The location, an abandoned incomplete construction site, is awesome for shoots. I’d been wanting to shoot there ever since I first saw it. My vision for this shoot was structured, simple elegance with a twist. The location was perfect with it’s mono-tone backgrounds and clean, geometric lines. With a flooded basement.
The simplicity of the Leica S2-P is striking. As Monique and I found our groove the camera moulded into me. I loved using the single point autofocus, tweaking it manually to the fine focus point I demand in my pictures. The more I worked with it the more I decided to push it. The lens was clear and sharp, what I expect from Leica. One of the cameras I used to shoot fashion on was the Pentax 67, a large, clunky film camera. It was a great SLR camera but the focal plane shutter was big and clunky and caused vibration in the body, making it prone to images with ‘camera shake’. The handling of the Leica reminded me of the Pentax 67 and naturally I had the same concern about the shutter. Shooting on the 70mm lens at 1/60 second proved no challenge for the camera. The images were sharp.
There has been immense progress with digital sensors, ISO and resolving noise recently. Shooting in the basement was challenging due to the low light. Balancing available light and battery powered flash (strobe) can be challenging, especially if your camera is prone to noise at high ISOs. I wanted to shoot Monique wading through the water, creating movement and energy. I asked her if she was up to putting on my wet water boots and wading through the murky water hoping she was game for it. She was. Holding my breath I set the camera to 640 ISO, knowing that if there was noise I could lose the shot. There wasn’t, to my relief. The shot was pin sharp and clear with good highlight and shadow detail.
The camera RAW (DNG) files were huge, much to my surprise. The camera is a 37,5 Megapixel camera but the DNG files are approximately 76 Megabytes each, requiring a lot more memory than I anticipated. Luckily we had enough CF cards with us. I was also concerned about the battery as we only had one with us. Thankfully it lasted the day with about a quarter charge remaining at the end.
There are fewer greater feelings than a shoot coming together for me. I love the energy created by a team working in sync with one another, especially when the model and I find our rhythm. Every shoot presents it’s unique challenges but these challenges diminish with a great team and great gear. My mind is already racing with the possibilities of the next one.
That feeling when you’re presented with a tough choice. Be present at the Cannes Short Film Festival for the screening of my fashion film ‘Immersion’ or be present at the birth of my identical twin sons. The thing was that we weren’t exactly sure when the boys would be born. We knew that they were likely to be born early being twins, we just weren’t sure how early. I chose not to risk it.
The boys were born on the same day as the film’s debut screening. My wife at the time, the underwater model in this film, was in labour during the time slot the film screened in. The irony has not escaped me.
The creative process is exhilarating, yet daunting. Thrilling yet terrifying. Creative people tend to put their hearts and souls into their work, courageously daring to bare their innermost selves to the world and all those who would look, who would see, who would understand and appreciate the essence of who we are, what life and all its complexities means to us.
Immersion examines the agony and ecstasy of the creative process. The need to perform under pressure with looming deadlines and yet still produce a work of magic, the wow factor that will embed our work into the minds of the people who matter the most to us.
It’s always a great sense of accomplishment when hard work pays off and is recognised, so I was delighted to be informed by the Bokeh Fashion Film Festival that TWO of my fashion films have been selected as part of their 2015 Official Selection! ‘Caress‘ is the second fashion film that I made, that I co-directed with Roice Nel (DoP) for Cirque Magazine. ‘Immersion‘ is my third fashion film, made in collaboration with Alma van den Berg of Spilt Milk Clothing, initially for the opening of her Spilt Milk SS14/15 Fashion Show at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Cape Town, subsequently expanded to the full fashion film. Both were challenging and rewarding experiences in their own ways!
Caress
Shoes in hand she climbs the stairs, exhilarated, her finger trailing along the polished wooden hand rail, the memory of the caress lingering in her mind.
That caress. That first touch. Longing for more…
Dreamily she enters the bedroom, the open doors, the warm evening breeze filtering through. Tossing her shoes aside she leans on the balcony, remembering the feeling of the first touch on her skin.
The invitation to the ball was beautifully gilded in silver. The event of the year, she needed to look her radiant best. The belle of the ball. A famous actress turned producer she was used to the attention and knew that the tabloids would be there, like skeletal vultures willing potential prey to fall, to die, for the feast. She chose to give them something to feed on.
The choice of who to approach to make her dress was simple. Only the best. Only authentic haute couture. Her favourite designers knew her well, always making time for her, despite their hectic schedule preparing for Milan Fashion Week. The creative process was her favourite part. The colours, textures, shapes, fabrics, adornments, all melting together into the perfect presentation, the perfect unattainable woman.
The feeling of that caress on her skin. The first touch. The excitement of the unfamiliar, wondering what it would lead to. So many disappointments. This time it would be different.
Her driver picked her up in time to be fashionably late. In time to make the perfect arrival, to be the centre of attention. Late enough to irritate the sticklers for time but on time enough to be socially acceptable. She knew it all so well.
As her car glided into the red carpet drop off zone the tabloid vultures rushed in, their flashes blinding her temporarily, again. She stepped from her car, her dress tumbling out after her. Her walk down the red carpet was flawless, her languid gait fast enough to make the photographers run after her but not too fast to miss the pictures.
The doors opened in front of her, the doorman unable to resist an almost imperceptible smile. She understood it so well. “You’re beautiful, completely out of my league,” his thoughts almost audible. A woman on the landing gave her the once over, her jealousy blatantly clear.
That caress. That first touch. Longing for more…
Walking through the crowded dance floor, people parting in natural submission, a young actor caught her arm. She spun around, defiantly looking into his eyes, and went with it. He was a good dancer. Confident, if not a little arrogant. She liked that.
The world disappeared around them, the perfect moment. The synchronised movement of their bodies, lightly touching, the energy between them perceptible. She held his confident gaze, pondering the brashness of youth. His hand, until now appropriately placed, slid down. In a flash she spun away, breaking contact, and left. Not tonight. Not like that. Not with him.
That caress. That first touch. The deep longing for more. If only they understood, it’s not about anything else other than the way it makes you feel.
And she felt beautiful.
Caress is a short fashion film co-directed by Deryck vS, starring Tarina Patel wearing Hendrik Vermeulen Couture.
