Sunday, 7th April 2019

1:30PM, lunch at HEMA

Met Elisabeth yesterday for brunch. Went to Ijhallen to visit Sophie at her stall after.

Shoot with Michelle van Bijnen @ 3PM later.

I’m very glad that my relations with Micha Models has developed well; that I can now work with their main board girls. In the beginning of my earlier trips here, I was only photographing their new faces. Bruna (the booker) is a big supporter of my work and I’m really grateful for that! Thinking of shooting at Marken later at the cafe and the fields, as well as the tram idea. Hoping for a great shoot.

P.S. The weather is beautiful today.

Monday, 8th April 2019

1:43PM, Cafe Boulevard

Took ‘the shot’ yesterday with Michelle. Very happy with it!

Yesterday’s shoot with Michelle went super well. We met at Amsterdam Central Station at 3PM, and went for coffee first at the station cafe. She came from a town near Eindhoven. We chatted for a bit and I told her about the tram idea and cafe shot that I wanted to do.

We took tram 24 towards the south, as that was one of the tram numbers which has the older carriages. I’ve always wanted to do a shot at the back of the carriage (the standing area), and was quite pleased with the result – however, I felt it was missing something. Thereafter, we went back to the central station and took the Metro to Station Noord (since the Ijtunnel was closed) and then took bus 315 to Marken from there, 25mins away.

Spent a lovely afternoon at Cafe Visscher, where I got ‘that shot’ which I am really happy with! I told Michelle to: “tell me who you are, but without speaking”; and that moment came. It was magical and I could feel that I got the shot after pressing the shutter.

We shared some soup (tomato and seafood soup) and then went to the field nearby for the last shots there. The bus did not arrive till later, so we decided to have pancakes for dinner back at the same cafe-restaurant. She shared with me her experiences during Fashion Week and of meeting and working with Karl Lagerfeld (very envious of that).

Happy to be able to photograph Michelle, and I felt that I have captured her well.