Content shoot for Dutch nature conservation foundation Natuurmonumenten. The goal of this shoot was to produce a wide range of images of everyday people riding their mountainbike in the Veluwe region of the Netherlands.
For the 2024 Tour de France, this elite cycling team launched a special kit in the theme of Renaissance. With the Tour starting in Florence, Italy, this was a perfect match. The tagline of the campaign was: The spirit of limitless thinking, referencing the philosophy of the team.
I traveled to the team’s altitude training camp in Tignes, France. Here, I set up a photo studio to capture a very wide range of studio shots with the team’s riders. These included Wout van Aert, Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson. Additionally, we went to a quiet climb to shoot some action and lifestyle images of the riders, making sure no passers-by got a sneak peak of the still unreleased shirt. The images were used on a variety of online channels to promote the kit and campaign.
Nationale Nederlanden (NN) has a longterm commitment to major running events. The focus in this ongoing relationship is on runners of all levels. This ranges from the world’s best athletes to casual runners, kids and athletes with reduced vision. My assignment at these major Dutch running events is to document all angles of NN’s support.
Last sunlight
For this personal shoot, I wanted to capture that feeling of grabbing the last bit of light on a bike ride. A cyclist tries to get the most out of the limited time he has left before the sun sets.
When Jonas Vingegaard was close to winning the 2023 Tour de France, Jumbo-Visma’s bike sponsor Cervélo created a unique bike for him to finish the race on. I hopped in at the team’s headquarters as the one of a kind bike was being built up. As soon as it was done, I shot a number of product photos in a studio setting I built up on location. Right after I finished, the bike was transported to France. I rejoined the bike and the Dane who’d be riding it during the final day of racing in Paris, completing this report on the bike’s journey.
For this personal shoot, I went and found a perfect sunset at Gulbergen in Nuenen with running athlete Kim Jansen. The location had been in the back of my mind for quite a while. It’s also known as the ‘roof of Brabant province’, at a proud 62.3m above sea level.
I’d envisioned doing a shoot with a runner at sunset, using the soft light as the sun is just about to set, just past golden hour. For this shoot I collaborated with Kim, who I’d worked with before for Runner’s World. Our goal was to shoot a mix of lifestyle and action shots, really doubling down on seizing that last bit of light.
Team Jumbo-Visma launched a special shirt to wear in the 2023 Tour de France. The shirt is a collaboration with Dutch theme park Efteling and was designed around the theme of the Velodrome, a nostalgic attraction and also in a sense translates as a cycling dream. Each rider of the team has a custom dream of theirs that came true printed on the back.
To promote the shirt, I did a number of photoshoots with different riders of the team. These included studio shoots in Belgium, France and at a training stage in Spain. Additionally, riders posed outdoors to get some more lifestyle feel shots. Finally, I joined the men’s team for the Tour de France training stage in Sierra Nevada and captured content of the riders training while wearing this beautiful shirt.
Altogether I shot multiple hundreds of images of about 16 riders wearing the shirt. The images were used on a variety of online channels to promote the shirt.
For this photo series I joined top Slovenian cyclist Primoz Roglic and his team on the final day of the 2023 Giro d’Italia in Rome. After three weeks of racing, the Team Jumbo-Visma rider came out on top and won the overal classification.
My focus for the series was on capturing authentic behind the scenes moments. Instead of shooting in-race action shots, I focus on shooting in locations you don’t normally get to see: in the team bus, behind the podium before and after the ceremony, in the restaurant where a little celebration took place, and with the team’s manager proudly carrying the gorgeous trophy through the airport.
ING bank has been the main sponsor of Dutch football for 25 years. In light of the extension of its partnership with dutch football association KNVB until 2028, I was commissioned to shoot a series of images to be used in both campaigns and as a pool of content. The goal here was to illustrate the wide spectrum of players supported by ING.
As KNVB’s main sponsor, ING supports all Dutch football players. This includes the youngest kids and the most senior players, and ranges from the most amateur of teams all the way to the national squad. A big part recently has been promoting and supporting women’s football.
The most visible place the sponsorship has traditionally manifested itself is on the traditional orange vest players wear, which was the central connecting item for this shoot. Models for the shoot included a street football artist, two Down syndrome players and national team player Kika van Es.
In 2022, Team Jumbo-Visma completed their long-time dream of winning the Tour de France, the biggest cycling race in the world.
After joining the team for the Tour’s start in Denmark, I rejoined them in Paris to document what their victory looks like, with some special attention for Jonas Vingegaard.
From the start of Le Tour’s last stage, to the celebration at the Dutch ambassador to France’s residence, all the way to Copenhagen where Jonas got a hero’s welcome, my focus was on capturing what comes your way when you win this biggest of all races.
When PSV Eindhoven and their star striker and local hero Cody Gakpo launched a collaborative clothing collection, I was tasked with shooting the images that accompanied the launch campaign.
I’d worked with Cody before, on this stomping grounds photo series. This came in handy, as it allowed us to work efficiently and shoot a range of images in a short amount of time.
Considering the weather that day, this proved to be useful: we had sunshine mixed with heavy rain and even snow. I tried to use these elements in my photos to add a bit of atmosphere.
In the end we hit as many as five locations, ranging from locations from Cody’s youth to iconic locations in Eindhoven to showcase Cody’s connection with the city.
The final images were used in a range of the club’s media outlets, both online and offline, to promote the launch of this clothing collection.
Paris-Roubaix is an iconic cycling race in any given year. The 2021 edition proved to be historic: after heavy rainfall, the gruesome cobbles were coated with mud and deep puddles. In addition, this was the first time a women’s Paris-Roubaix was finally raced.
I shot the race behind the scenes for Jumbo-Visma cycling team. At the finish line, riders looked more like miners than athletes.
It’s arguably easy to shoot interesting images when riders come in looking like this. Therefore, I focused on capturing some meaningful moments that make you appreciate the brutal day these riders had.
This was one of those rare assignments that doesn’t come along often and can’t turn out to be anything but epic: capturing a solar car race through Morocco, straight up to the desert.
Solar Team Twente is a student’s team from The Netherlands that built their own high-tech solar car. While the race normally takes place on a straight and flat parcours in Australia, due to COVID the race was moved to a very challenging route in Morocco.
The solar car endured massive mountains, winding roads, chaotic villages right up to the Saharan desert. Over the course of 5 days it covered over 2500 kilometers, only using 1 fully charged battery and the power of the sun.
Quite similar to my work for Jumbo-Visma cycling team, my assignment was to embed with the team and capture the race as they experienced it.
The start 2022 Vuelta a España was special for Team Jumbo-Visma: with the first 3 stages taking place in the Netherlands, this was a real chance to show themselves in front of a home audience.
Stage 1 offered the perfect opportunity, since it was a team time trial. I documented the journey of the team, from training at an airforce base, to final race day preparations, and finally to celebrating a decisive victory. The icing on the cake was Robert Geesink getting to wear the red leader’s jersey in his home country, making this just a perfect story for the team.
One of my favourite types of assignments is shooting behind the scenes images of top athletes. I always aim to show their personality and capture typical moments that define them and their sport.
Dutch Gymnastics (KNGU) tasked me with shooting this exact thing for their Olympic qualifiers just before Tokyo 2021. The country’s top female athletes would be putting in their bid for one of only a few tickets to Japan.
My goal was to really focus on the athlete this day, even more so than capturing the action images sports photographers usually shoot at these events. I’m always drawn to shooting the athlete’s concentration and anticipation just before they perform.
My briefing stated to also shoot typical details of gymnastics, which really helped create a diverse series of images.
Cycling team Jumbo-Visma tasked me with shooting a series of series to showcase their new 2022 kit. These images are used to launch the new kit and are also supplied to media.
The images were shot on the gorgeous coastal road near Girona, Spain. The biggest challenge on shoots like these is logistics. The riders follow a strict training schedule, so a shoot shouldn’t take too long or be too demanding physically.
In addition, the shoot takes place a few weeks before the kit is launched. Just one cycling-savvy bystander is enough for the kit to be leaked, so time is of the essence while shooting.
To make the shooting easier to do, we used a convertible car, allowing for a nearly 360 degree view of our subjects. The view between shots wasn’t too bad either.
This series of images shows Herbalife athlete Noël Van ‘t End in a cinematic setting in a locker room. The goal of the shoot was to create content that both the brand and athlete could use, showcasing their partnership.
Demi Schuurs is one of Holland’s leading tennis players, specialising in doubles.
Herbalife tasked me with shooting a series of images before, during and after one of her training sessions.
The goal was to shoot action shots, some lifestyle images and also capture portraits. We found a green training wall to shoot the portraits, which provided a nice graphic backdrop while also linking with Herbalife’s green branding.
MissieH2 is an initiative by major brands including Shell, Toyota and the port of Amsterdam. Its goal is to promote the use of hydrogen as an option in the energy transition.
The initiative has taken up co-sponsorship of the Dutch Olympic team known as TeamNL. In order to help promote this partnership, I was tasked with shooting a number of images of some top Dutch water sports athletes. Pictured here are rowers Ilse Paulis and Marieke Keijser, and open water swimming athlete Ferry Weertman.
These images will be used by MissieH2 across its communications, including its website and social media channels, digital and print mailers, and various other promotional materials to support its partnership with MissieH2.
For their 2021, top Dutch cycling team Jumbo-Visma switched from the Italian Bianchi brand to Cervélo.
The team and the brand had worked hard on designing custom colours and graphics for all four models they’d be racing in the new season. All bikes sport the team’s black and yellow colours and the honeycomb from the team’s logo.
This photo series celebrates the introduction of these branded bikes and takes viewers up close with all features of the team’s weapon of choice for the new season.
Talent Empowerment is a Dutch agency that helps match top athletes and companies wishing to get into sports sponsorships. Their main goal is to guide the athlete to the Olympics and develop their full potential along the way.
The agency commissioned me to shoot portraits showcasing the personality of each of their athletes. While these athletes range from skateboarding to sailing and from fencing to karate, the main staple of them are top Dutch hockey players. Pictured here are Frédérique Matla, Sanne Koolen, Josine Koning, Maxime Kerstholt, Hester van der Veld, Marijn Veen and Renee van Laarhoven.
The final images are used for multiple stakeholders. The athletes use them on their social channels, Talent Empowerment uses them for both online and offline promotion, and the athletes’ sponsors use them to activate their sponsorships.
2019 turned out to be Jumbo-Visma’s big year, seizing some 52 victories and winning their first Grand Tour. I joined the team on one of the final stages, just as Primoz Roglic went down in a crash. The stage saw the team have to fight extremely hard for the red jersey, which they took to Madrid safely during the Vuelta’s final stage. My focus here was on documenting some behind the scenes moments that show how the team experienced this unique Vuelta.
This series of photos was shot during a reconnaissance trek through Morocco’s High Atlas, to be a part of the trip’s first real edition’s campaign content. The trip promises travellers a unique into the wild experience in these inhospitable lands, with Berber guides and donkeys helping them out just a tad.
What was quite important was that these photos show the various elements that make up a trek through the High Atlas mountains. These include bivouacs, local guides and donkeys, hiking through barren plains and of course sweet tea, very sweat tea.
In recent years, the Jumbo-Visma team has focused on perfecting its time trial. Wind tunnel testing, custom shaped handlebars and bringing in top staff like Mathieu Heijboer and Tony Martin are the pieces to complete the puzzle.
The 2019 Tour de France featured a team time trial in Brussels, which was to be a significant factor in the general classification. I tagged along with the team to document the process they went through for this stage.
We started at a Dutch airforce base, where the 8 riders fine-tuned their tactics. Afterwards, we relocated to Brussels, where I witnessed the team’s final preparations on the day of the stage. I went straight from the starting location to the finish, to capture the team’s sheer delight after they pretty much destroyed their competition.
In the end, this was a unique opportunity to document the process that goes on when 8 elite cyclists turn into one dominant team.
Mountain Network is Holland’s largest brand of both climbing gyms and guided alpine adventures. I’d worked with this company before, shooting some trips in the French Alps. When they asked me to climb Iran’s highest mountain, I knew this would be a little different.
My assignment for this trip was to document the experience of the travellers, with the photos being used to show possible future customers what the experience is like.
The trip included a three day trek through an absolutely stunning valley right in the middle of spectacular mountains and some acclimatisation climbs. The final climb to the peak of Mount Damavand (5610m) took four days and saw us narrowly dodge a thunder storm on our way back from the summit.
You may wonder about the somewhat yellowish look on the summit: this was caused by sulphur gasses constantly exuding from this sleeping volcano. Yes, it actually smelled as foul as it looks.
The FIH Pro League is a top competition for a limited range of the strongest national hockey teams in the world. During its yearly finals, the international hockey federation tasked me with shooting a series of behind the scenes images.
The focus for the set should be on the players and staff, showcasing their emotions and capturing typical moments around the game. This assignment was right up my ally, and though this was a relatively new sport for me to shoot, FIH was very happy with the results and has been using them on its various platforms during and after the finals.
