Posted by Foto Care | Posted in Foto Care Interviews
Posted on April 27, 2010 at 10:10 am

An exclusive Foto Care Interview with Photographer Rinze Van Brug by Robert French.

One of the most diverse young photographers of our time, Rinze Van Brug, the Dutch born Graffiti artist, turned art director, turned photographer fills us in on his personal and professional life, and what he’s been up to.  Rinze, a Foto Care customer for 9 years, has had his work featured in Aventura, Elle Décor, and LX Magazine. And that’s just recently. Prior to this, Rinze held the position of Creative Director at Ogilvy, a leading advertising agency in Amsterdam. This afternoon Rinze and I sit down with his new iPad to look at some of his work.

Fill me in on your childhood. How did you grow up?

I grew up in Holland, on a farm about 2 or so hours outside of Amsterdam. My father was a window display artist, and my mother ran an orphanage where our family, along with 20 or so kids lived. Our home was provided by the government so it was quite big. It had to be really, to fit all those people. It was fun though; you never really got bored especially since our town was a very orthodox based region–primarily very religious farmers. To express myself I started doing Graffiti as much as I could when I was about 10 years old, . Wherever you could think of Graffiti being it was there because of me, wherever you could not think of graffiti being, it was there because of me.  The Arts were so commonplace over in Holland, you would find design in everything. (Rinze points to his iPad) In Holland everything is made like this, design was everywhere.

Where’s this? I point to an image of an unusual office building that looks more like a space ship then a building

ING headquarters in Amsterdam, I’ve been doing a lot of architecture these days. I’ve been doing advertising for them for a long time, I’ve been an art director my whole life. I did work for them, American Express, IBM, MTV. Coming up with commercials and stuff. Then I came here, I couldn’t get a job. That’s when I started doing photography.

When did you come to the New York?

The week before September 11th, I was creative director for Ogilvy in Amsterdam.  I was hired here, then the whole market crashed and I didn’t have a job. So I just bought a little 10D for fun. That’s how I made a living for a while.

So was it more street photography that you started off doing?

Yeah, I was just goofing around, at the same time I started a web design company so I was doing that to make money as well.

How did you break into shooting professionally?

A friend of mine was doing fashion week and asked me to come along. While there, some people stopped me and asked me why I was dressed so bold for a paparazzi. I explained I wasn’t a paparazzi and showed them some of my work. They then put me in touch with a woman who was creative director for 944 Magazine in LA. Its funny, I can relate 70 percent of my work to referrals stemming from a friendship I made while waiting in line at the Dutch Embassy after I had lost my Passport.

How has your work changed in the last year?

Now, it’s simpler and more personal.  Where before I always did coloration and shallow depth of field, now its more straight out of the camera. It just got old.

Where are you drawing your inspiration from these days?

I’m a big movie buff; I watch a ton of them. Beat Street, was a huge one for me. Its funny, I live my whole life in the two dimensional world and by the time I get home I don’t want to read.

Where is your work heading next? Where do you see yourself in the future?

I want to mix architectural photography with fashion.  Video will probably be mixed in here in some way. It’s just really hard to convince the clients to go that route. Like right now, I have this location picked out in Holland, it’s actually the town I grew up in. I have all the locations picked out, I have the models picked out, and I’m just waiting on the client at this point.

Now that video is working its way into our market, do you see yourself stepping into the Hybrid Video market in the near future?

Its just that so many people ask me for it. I get it, I understand why people want it, I mean I get work out of it. I just think its something I have to do. I find it very interesting but in order for me to feel I’m doing this right i’m going to have to get a bit more equipment.  I recently purchased an adapted RedRockMicro Rig from you for a commercial for the Moroccan government based off another job i’m going over there for. The Commercials are in a way jump-starting the idea I have with mixing fashion with Architecture. Basically we’re doing a tourism video with fashion models in the foreground.

How did you hear about Foto Care?

I wanted some lights so I went to B&H. They said what’s your budget? I told them, and, judging by there expression, I just left. A friend of mine, Adam Den Haene told me to go to you guys and you hooked me up with these beautiful lights. You are just so much more relaxed than the others. I do all my business with Foto Care.

Currently what equipment are you using to produce your work?

I try to use my Leica M9 as much as possible but lately my Nikon D3S is used much of the time.  I try to pack small. My whole idea is to not have to carry a big load. If I can carry everything in one trip, I get less looks and people tend to be more relaxed. In terms of cameras, in the past I had the Canon 1DS, 1DSII, 1DSIII, but by that point I was already looking more towards Nikon.

Lastly, what equipment would you most like to own but don’t yet have?

Well the latest set up I’m looking at is an ALPA with a 23mm.  I want to use it for my architecture work. It’ll give me a bit more movement then what my other cameras have. Plus it’s so well made, nothing can beat it.

Tags: commercial photograophy, foto care, photography careers, Photography Interviews, professional photography, Rinze Van Brug