| November 24, 2013 |
SPOTLIGHT FOR INSPIRATION BIANCA DUIMEL Our Weekly [fa] Photography Spotlight for Inspiration is all about talent, inspiration, success, camaraderie and collaboration. Artistic success and appreciation is built upon networks of like-minded people and our team of artists here will inspire you for days.
If you have not taken the time to peruse our membership list, I think you will be shocked to see who you are rubbing elbows with. Some of the most amazing up and coming artists in the industry and they are all a part of this team! Each week we sit down with one of them and find out about them, what they are doing, what keeps them motivated and pull from them inspiration for us all. We will be covering artists at every level and every style. There is no requirement for this spotlight except a passion for your craft. Read on‌ network, be inspired and shoot your dreams!
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Bianca Duimel
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Spring 2016
Fine Art Photographer
I am so excited to bring you all this interview this week! I have followed Bianca’s work since I joined this group! Her style and inspiration are clear and will transport you to another time and place. All thanks to her Grandfather, who was groomed to be a monk? You guys are going to love this… Caroline: I am so excited to be interviewing you! You were the first person I started following when I joined the [fa] Photography Team. So many questions! Let's start by telling me how you got into photography? Bianca: Wow , that's so cool! My school experience was very disjointed. I emigrated from the Netherlands with my parents when I was 13. My family moved constantly, which caused to me
attend three different high schools. (After a while) my parents split, and my Mum wanted to go back home so again I had to leave school. I did not stay in the Netherlands long before we came back to New Zealand. (When we returned we) had nothing so Mum said it was best I get a job. I started work in a large-scale photo lab. I loaded film onto giant film rolls, mixed chemicals and read densitometry strips etc… It was just a job I was offered when I left 2 school. I didn't particularly like my job. It was
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own studio. Then low and behold! (A studio) came up for sale and I bought it! I was 30 then! My hobbies have always been drawing, clay modeling, painting, and listening to a wide variety of music. To this day I still draw and paint and am crazy about music. I'm keen to get into sculpture. Caroline: So you started young in photography! Where did you get your interest in painting and drawing? Did anybody else in your family have an interest in the arts as well
smelly and I had to work in dark rooms. I soon figured out there were other opportunities in the lab. I worked there for five years ending with the professional printing department and working as a darkroom printer and retoucher. I did enjoy that job and it sparked my interest in photography. When I left that job I started working in and setting up the (then popular) mini labs. Because of all the technical knowledge I picked up (in my previous jobs) this worked very well. When I got a little bored with that I moved into camera equipment sales. That was wonderful! I got to take home all the gear, Yeeha!! It was so much fun and I learned a LOT about photography. I managed a few camera stores and started dreaming of becoming a photographer and having my
Bianca: My grandfather was groomed to be a monk, ( I know this is a little odd) and he worked as an artist in the Catholic Church. He did all the Catholic church repairs, statues, paintings, glass stained windows. He was a painter and decorator. Later he moved into a little attic studio where he had a lot of projects on the go. I was fascinated!! I loved the smell, the beautiful ornate frames around the space, the tools, it was delightful (to be around)! When my grandfather died, he left me his paintbrushes and tools. At that time I did not know I would be using those very tools to create my own artworks. I grew up in one of the oldest cities in The Netherlands. It was filled with very old homes and Cathedrals. I loved visiting different churches to see inside (of them). I was always annoying my mum to go inside on nonchurch days. The most wonderful times where when they had a life size nativity set
outside the Church at Christmas time. There was snow everywhere, candles, the choir, (I am a) hopeless romantic. I used to fantasize about dressing like Marie Antoinette. One year (there is a fancy dress season in February) I arranged my outfit just so. (I hired) a white wig and everything! I was in my element, but everybody thought I was seriously weird. They were (all) dressed as cowboys, clowns and fairies. When we arrived in New Zealand I went into a shell for a while. I had to learn a new language, try and make new friends. It was a tough time. I started to draw, and paint. I was slowly starting to learn to use my grand-fathers tools and brushes. Caroline: OH that sounds like a fairy tale! What an inspiration you are! Looking at your fine art and classic portraits I defiantly see the inspiration passed to you by your grandfather. That is what really drew me to your images. Your ability to capture that light and feel of the artwork from the Late 1700's and early 1800's, your use of color is so rich and so inspiring! Bianca: Yes. My favorite time (for artwork is) from the 1600’s and upward. I'm so drawn to this time. Caroline: So bring us up to speed on what you are currently working on now. A lot of your work on your current business site is maternity and babies. When did you start doing fine art portraiture? Bianca:. The fine art imagery only came along about 4 years ago. I was inspired to enter in the New Zealand Institute of 3
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Spring 2016 July. I am a hopeless procrastinator. No idea what I would enter. I hired some costumes, found a few models and had a lot of fun shooting. Not really with a (specific) goal in mind other than just making cool
Bianca: I think it is movies that I get inspired by. I try to make a mood or set a scene (in my images). I think I was already creating these in my mind all along and then Photoshop arrived. Now I can create my dreams I guess. (I am a hopeless dreamer) Caroline: How did you learn the techniques to put them together? Are you self-taught? Bianca: I am a complete fiddler and I have taken no lessons at all. Caroline: You have had an amazing year. Did I hear you won a national competition? Tell me about that Bianca: I personally had a terrible year. I had few operations and time off work. I had a promotion that was my bread and butter, fall over as the company I was promoting myself with went bust. So I had time to create! LOL! The deadline for entries in the NZIPP print judging was Early August. I started shooting in
portraits of people. I shot two models that day: One with the red hair and (the other) my daughter. The costumes were of the era that I am inspired by, so we just had a great time dressing up and having some laughs. Then I had to start processing. That is when I decide which shots stand out to me. Then I start thinking creatively about what to do with them. The hot air balloon image (featured on the cover) may have been inspired by a movie or I think I saw a post card. (That is a story in itself and I have made a slide show of the making.) The images scored well, a lot better than I thought (they would). Consequently I won Classic Portrait Photographer of the year and a Gold award for my hot air balloon shot! Caroline: What a whirl wind! It's
sounds like the very thing you were not expecting to boost you, was the very thing you needed! I would love to have some of that “Well of courage” you draw from to put myself out there like that! When you were awarded the gold, did it cause you rethink what you were doing in photography and where you were planning on taking your business? Bianca: It was a bit of a surprise, but kind of my goal? That sounds weird. I am a bit older now and thought to myself, “I gotta do it now or it will never happen”. The response has been out of this world! The result has created so many new opportunities. It has made me see myself and my artwork, in such a different light. I am currently opening up a Glamour photography studio. I have started an information website to teach photography and creative shooting. And eventually I would like to list and hopefully sell my (fine art) work on that site. My goal is really to make those dreams (I have) into images for others to enjoy. I am involving my children at every step of the way, so they can be part of the journey as well. I am hoping my glamour studio will fund my art. That is my goal. I studied art history for two years and am using what I learned there all the time. Caroline: Where most people use age as an excuse to stop growing,
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you used it as an inspiration to keep growing! There are going to be many aspiring fine art photographers who read this. If they asked you "Where do I start? I know I want to do this but I don't know where to start?� What would be your best advice to them? Bianca: I think the reason I am the way I am is because I had cancer as a teenager. I was very sick for quite a while. They didn't know I'd survive even five years. Actually no one does. I never thought I'd ever have children. It was the same cancer Steve Jobs and Patrick Swayze died of. I have had to live with horrible side effects all my life and have had a lot of reconstructive surgery. This has caused a lot of downtime at work of course. Because I have always felt life is a race, a race against time, I am always setting goals and dreaming and doing far too many things at once because life is short ! Dammit! Ha! You must follow your passion in life and I inspire my children to do the same. Follow your passion! Learn as much as you can and just do it! Caroline: What an amazing outlook you have! I am so amazed and inspired by your story. I wish I could ask you 100 more questions! Before we leave I want to make sure everybody hears about your new endeavor! I am excited to hear you now have a site where artists and fans can learn from you? Tell me about thenakedrobot.com? Bianca: After doing quite well at the NZIPP awards, people started asking me how I made my images. So this sparked the
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idea. I could tell them OR I could hold workshops for all the types of photography. It is nice to give back and let people see and develop their dreams! So I invited a team of people, whom I thought have an incredible amount of knowledge to share and I developed this website. It is, of course, a work in progress so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into future projects! Caroline: Is the site where you publish tutorials? or can you sign up for workshops or classes? Bianca: There will be tutorials published and workshops can be booked there. At the moment (those worships are) just in New Zealand but in the future who knows! (We are planning) Online workshops in the future. We (the team of artist I have partnered with) will be covering all aspects of photography. Caroline: How did you come up with the name thenakedrobot.com? I love that name Bianca: Ha ha! Not my choice to be honest. All the other members (owners of the site) are men, (therefore) it had to be robot something. I would have made it a steam punk robot myself. LOL! I would have called it Dr. Wiseguy or something. HA
a licensed Adobe teacher, so he's seriously clued up about anything Adobe. A guru if you will. Another Photographer, Mike Holman, is the top landscape photographer in the country and holds many tours overseas, often visiting China and Europe with his photo-tours. He is a master of vision and light really. Then there is me, a photographer that is teaching about anything. From Maternity and Newborn Photography, taking you right through the entire process. I teach Beauty photography and I am also a make up artist and hairstylist. I have a wealth of knowledge in this field. I also teach Creative shooting. Showing artists (how to make) their dreams come to life and all the Photoshop techniques necessary to develop their own style. There is also available oneon-one lessons, as well as group lessons and there are on-line classes, half day courses and 2-day courses. We are just building them up as we can plan and develop the courses and workshops. There will be guest speakers and tutors. There will be interviews and exciting articles about photography and all other aspects of this exciting industry. Caroline: That sounds amazing! What a wonderful resource and I am sure a LOT of our team members will be seeing you there and using this amazing site! Thank you so much for sitting and chatting with me! Bianca: Anytime! Thank you so much for the invitation. I really enjoyed that. I have never really had to think about how and why I do things. (It has been) quite a good exercise!
Caroline: Ha! So you can go and learn about more than just fine art photography on your site? What other things can you learn? Can you book one-on-one lessons with different instructors? Bianca: Really anything about photography, there are many Photophop and Lightroom tutorials. One of the photographers, Harry Janssen, is
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[fa] Photography Spotlight for Inspiration: Bianca Duimel
November 24, 2013
A Gift of inspiration for you… With each F.A.P Spotlight look for a link to a tutorial, texture, preset, tip or stock image! Bianca’s Gift of Inspiration is Theatrical! She is so inspired by movies she wanted to share with you some of her favorite clips! Copy and paste the links below to view the clips on youtube.com The Piano (Beach Scene) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6ihJhhDgAQ Interview with A Vampair: Claudia Lullaby http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=M KeKm1XImK0 Marie Antoinette http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfgRCe0i8_c&feature=youtu.b e Lemony Snicket'sA Series of Unfortunate Events Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWB1HGnA3tA&feature=yo utu.be
Bianca’s 411 Website: www.biancaduimelphotography.com, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/bianca-duimelphotography/338388599585 Professional Site: http://www.thenakedrobot.com