Michael Kruger Photography

Not all of you will know this, but I’ve been connected to the music industry in various parts around the world for longer than I care to remember! In my native South Africa where I lived to the ripe “old” age of 26 I lived in the same house as a music crazed adolescent called “my little brother”. Darryl, now know as Dm, took to playing, composing and singing all his own music from the age 14. Obviously being his big brother I was pretty proud of what he was coming out with and also supported him as much as I could! When I had the chance I would photograph him and his various bands at live gigs and dedicated photo shoots. Now an accomplished singer/songwriter and music producer he is living his dream! If anyone wants to check out his various projects….take a look at these links:

1. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Descendants-of-Cain/36758163750
2. http://www.facebook.com/ThePressureCell

Whilst living in London I shot for various artists and bands, however it wasn’t till I reached Dubai in 2008 that I really got some cool gigs shooting for both solo artists and bands! They have ranged from Classical, Rap, Rock, Pop, Gothic and Jazz.

My last shoot was for Jazz singer Cairan Fox. An Irishman by birth he has found himself in Dubai, ready to perform, but needing some edgy and interesting promo shots. So on a dusky evening in the heart of Knowledge Village Dubai, we took some great shots. With a bit of help from Cairan’s wife and my two assistants we got the looks we were after. Just a bit of insight to the first shot below! I parked my car with the lights on behind Cairan and got the assistants to kick up as much dust in the car park as possible. So what you see is in fact dust…not smoke and with two half crazed assistants (and one wife) jumping around and kicking up all that dust!! The final effect of lights, “smoke” and background buildings turned out great….I’m sure you’ll agree! Check out a few more of the other shots taken on this shoot:Cairan Fox Shoot

PAST PROJECTS:

One of my highlights and probably my most memorable shoot to date would have to be
with solo artist (with her own band) “Fatiniza”. This little “pocket rocket” from Columbia likes to rock it! She’s growing in stature around the Middle East and Columbia! We spent 2 days camping and shooting her first major album in Musendam, Oman. We shot from morning till night and even into the night to get some fantastic shots. With a bit trickery and effects on Photoshop, we ended up with some cool stuff for the album. Here is a link to Fatiniza’s facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/fatiniza/ and some images we took for the album:Fatiniza for song ” Hard to be a woman”Left image “Fortune Teller” and right image “Untitled”

Other projects include:
Vanessa Tuna – Pop Artist (German – shot in Dubai)
Jihad – American Rap Artis (Dubai)
Chiara Dodd – Classical Soloist (Dubai)
Betty Blitz – Goth Band (London)
Descendants of Cain – Rock Band (London)

07 October 2011

Epic Creatives – The Birth

So, if you’re a creative person in the fashion industry, how often do you get a chance to really go crazy, let loose and sell your ideas to your client…..the honest truth is…..not very often. Almost all of the time your own creative ideas don’t come to the fore when shooting for a client. The technical aspects, most definitely, but not always the creative ones! Well…..what am a rambling on about you may ask?

I’ve taken it upon myself to create a collective group of industry people to help realise those creative dreams and really get the juices flowing! Once a month we will all get together for a creative project and shoot it. The main category will still be fashion and beauty, but we may stray in to epic film imagery too.

So, Why the name “EPIC creatives”? If you check it out in the dictionary, it means “heroic or grand in scale”. For me the word “EPIC” means “BIG”, “EMENSE”, “POWERFUL” and “UNFORGETTABLE”. This will be our mantra when creating our images for all who see them. The definitions above will epitomise the images we will create.

I think introductions are in order!! Who’s who in the group of creatives? We have a few core members and from time to time we will invite fellow creatives to join us for a conceptual shoot.

Photography: Well as I’m sure you’ve guessed, yours truly will be doing the photography and coming up with most of the concepts, although and of course, all members are encouraged to come up with exciting and epic concepts!

Make Up: I’ve mentioned her before in my “Latest Photo Shoots” blog posts. My good friend and very creative colleague, Aliya Rizvanova. Aliya is not just a make up artist, but also a jewellery designer. So we have plenty to work with when she’s on set!!

Fashion Stylist: Again, someone who’s work I love and admire, is fashion designer Kay Li. She has her own brand called “Christie K”. Having shot her last collection which featured at Dubai Fashion Week 2011 (S/S) I invited her to join us. Kay will be in charge of styling and perhaps designing special pieces for our shoots.

Creative Director: To be honest, I thought I’d have a hard time finding a creative director for our shoots, but it so happens that I kind of stubbled into one only yesterday!! I’m talking about Omar Ponsot!! Also a fantastic designer himself and a leading fashion man in the Gulf region for over 10 years, I’m really pleased to have added him to our group. Just yesterday we were both shooting for “Bellucci” mens wear and I was blown away by his creative direction. He was coming up with ideas and is definitely an “out of the box thinker”!! Having a creative director really helps me as a photographer. Some times I’m always really focused on getting the shot, but can miss the odd thing here and there!  This means I can’t take that step back to see what’s going on around me and having an extra set of eyes and brain is a huge advantage to having on set! Welcome to the team Omar!!

Hair Stylist: Sadly we don’t have a pro hair stylist yet, but we are still on the look out for a good and creative one for our group! So if there is anyone out there reading this and has what it takes to join us…please get in touch via mike@michaelkrugerphotography.com

Models: No shoot can be complete with out an amazing model or models! We’re always on the look out for great models, both male and female! Please get in touch on the above email address with your stats and portfolio images.

As we’re still in our infancy stage, we’ve to date just done our maiden shoot. The team was very small! Just me and Aliya, and of course our model, Ghadeer. The concept was to do a beauty shoot with a difference. Apart from the usual make up, we also added dabs of dripping paint down Ghadeer’s face. We used a grey background just one flash light and a whole lot of paint!! I was very happy with the results. Not only does EPIC creatives give all involved a chance to be super creative, but gives us all access to experiment and learn from our mistakes, which are invaluable when coming to working in the real world with clients!

Here are 3 images from our first project called “PAINTED BEAUTY”.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more news and shoots regarding “EPIC creatives”!! Oh…and don’t forget to check out my website with loads more work and info on www.michaelkrugerphotography.com

MK

15 October 2011

I’m happy to give you all a quick update! I’m very pleased and proud to have my fellow country woman and exceptional hair talent “Helga Bosman” join the core EPIC creatives team. Helga has years of experience with hair styling for photo shoots in the fashion and beauty industry. She recently did the hair for the latest SPLASH campaign. She has also worked for top designer FURNE AMATO also known as FURNE ONE.  Welcome Helga, we all look forward to working with you on the next project soon! Here is a couple examples of Helga’s work:

06 December 2011

What a bit of luck!! I have been privileged to shoot some beautiful people in my somewhat short career as a photographer….and Mia de Klerk definitely falls within this category! Not just beautiful on the outside….but also a super duper lady!! It’s easy to see why she won Miss Namibia and then was also a contestant at the Miss World Pageant!

Mia contacted me to up date her modelling portfolio for the Dubai/Middle East market. Of course I jumped at the chance! After a couple initial meetings between Mia, myself and Aliya my make up artist we came up with some styling ideas. We decided to do a few “beauty shots” and some fashion images in the studio. Afterwards we decided we’d go on location and carry on with some more images with a completely different theme! I recently got my hands on the latest “Diesel” catalogue and being a big fan, I loved what they’d done! So we decide to use this as inspiration for our location shoot.

Mia and I met up a few days before the shoot and went on a fantastic shopping spree. We visited all the “high street” fashion brands and came up with some great pieces for our shoot. In addition to the shopping, ESMOD Dubai kindly loaned me some of their graduating students one off designs for the shoot!

On the day of the shoot, the usual hair and make up got started whilst we set up the studio. We used a white background for the studio photos with a black theme to the styling…as seen here:

Studio shots of Mia

Rushed a bit for time we finally got out of the studio and onto our location, an abandoned Emaar building site just behind the Springs here in Dubai. It was a great location and we took some fab shots before being ceremoniously told to get off the site by security. Fortunately we were almost done!! We moved around the corner to all the huge cable holders before the sun set and put and end to our afternoon and shoot! Some more pics for this shoot:

The location for our shoot and aptly named for the shoot – URBAN DECAY

Mia on location

Mia finishing up on the shoot

More news and shoots below! MK

19 November 2011

Spirit of Arabia Shoot
Since my last post it’s been a busy few weeks again! Not long after the Bellucci Shoot (see below), I was commissioned by a new fashion label just launching in Dubai. The label is called “Spirit of Arabia”. As the name suggests, the designs are contemporary chic, ready to wear, with a Middle Eastern flavour. The clothes are simple, light and easy to wear. Spirit of Arabia are designing and producing clothes for both men and woman. Their new store is due to open at the end of November on the new “Sunset Mall” on Jumeirah Beach Road. So go and check it out sometime soon!

The shoot it self took some planning. We held castings for the models and in the end the client chose four. Three female and 1 male. We also decided to bring in a videographer to make a documentary of the day’s shoot, which will be used for marketing and PR purposes. This is currently still on the editing table so to speak! Spirit of Arabia managed to secure a fabulous location in the Majilis Art Gallery (http://www.themajlisgallery.com/) in the Bastikia area of Dubai. A fantastic scene of tranquility and with a great Arabian feel. Perfect for our shoot!

I tried to use natural light as much as possible with a bit of flash for fill in purposes. The gallery is open air for the most part, but it has shade cloth over the entire internal court yard, make shooting through out the entire day possible. Here’s a shot us all in action.

Assessing the images shot to laptop

We literally moved around the gallery, inside and out all day, finding some great nooks and crannies to shoot in. We took some great shots on the day and my clients at Spirit of Arabia were very happy with the end results. Here are some examples of the days shoot.

01 November 2011

Bellucci Shoot
What can I say about the last month!! Well….it can only be this: I am truely blessed and fortunate as a freelance photographer to have had the busiest month on record!! I’ve at times been spinning in whirlpool of fashion shoots and editing and hardly coming up for air!! Since my last post when we did a test shoot for my clients at Bellucci (Dubai branch) we did a full blown 2 day shoot. The two day shoot consisted of a creative catalogue shoot in an exclusive, up market apartment on the Palm Jumeirah. From time to time I shoot interiors too and my friends at Zen Interiors (http://zeninteriors.net/) were ever so kind enough to provide us with this wonderful location!!! Day two was a continuation of creative catalogue, but in the studio.

I have to also mention that we ended up shooting with model legend and late 90′s early 2000′s super model from Italy, Lucio Lucciano! He was in his time hot property in the fashion industry and travelled the world as a model. Now 40, he runs the Cavalli Club here in Dubai. It was an honour and pleasure to work with someone with some much charm, charisma and experience!! Our other model, was fellow countryman and just as charming, Warren Eltringham.

DAY 1
Day one was an early start and the boys got themselves into hair and make up, whilst I set up on the balcony to take the first shots of the day. The rest of the day entailed moving around the apartment producing loads of great shots to show off the Bellucci fashion. Here are a couple images from Day 1.

DAY 2
Day 2 was shot in my studio. We decided we wanted a dark and moody feel to the catalogue, so went ahead and shot the images accordingly. We used a darkened studio with various lighting set ups to get what we wanted. I had a great creative director helping on this shoot called Omar Ponsot. I’ve mentioned him in one of my other posts entitled “EPIC Creatives” if you want to read more about him. Here are a couple images from our day 2 shoot.

A fantastic 2 days were over and so far the client is extremely happy with the images. I’m just starting the editing process now so that the client can use them for his brochure, look book and website. More to follow on future shoots with Bellucci!

23 September 2011

Bellucci Test Shoot
After a lovely long break this summer in Europe, I’ve returned back to Dubai with an itchy trigger finger! To be honest, I thought upon my return, directly after Ramadan, I’d be twiddling my thumbs waiting for work to come in, but it’s been quite the opposite. There are some cool projects coming up. I’ve hooked up with a designer who designs high-end mens suits and will be shooting for him in the first week of October 2011. The shoot will comprise of two days, one day studio catalogue and another day doing creative stuff on location. We did a quick test shoot this week…here’s a shot from that shoot.

I’ve also been commissioned by a company called “Spirit of Arabia”. A new company producing ready to wear chic fashion with a taste of Western and Arabic flare. They are opening a shop in the new “Sunset Beach Mall” on Jumeirah Beach Road early in October. I’ll be doing a creative shoot for them…..COMING SOON!!

Most of this year I’ve been shooting for an online fashion company called AAB.co.uk. They specialise in Abayas for the Islamic world based mostly in the West, including UK, USA, Australia, South Africa amongst others! We’ve done a series of creative and catalogue shoots in the the last 12 months or so. I’m particularly looking forward to our next shoot coming up mid October. We’re sourcing a range of ethnicities for our models, European, Black, Asian and Oriental to do a Benetton style shoot. Keep an eye out for that on this blog and my website www.michaelkrugerphotography.com

Pink Polo Shoot
Lastly, just last week, I was commissioned to shoot for a breast cancer awareness charity called Pink Polo. Pink Polo holds an event every year at the Ghantoot Polo Club just 20 minutes outside of Dubai heading towards Abu Dhabi. The next event is on the 29th October 2011. As for the shoot, what an amazing loction!!! We shot with gorgeous model Nilma, fantastic Abaya designs with a touch of pink being the main theme of the designs and a shoot at a polo club wouldn’t be complete with a horse or two. These images are due to be published in Emirates Woman Magazine soon, so keep an eye out for them. Images will be posted on my site once they’ve been released by Pink Polo. In the meantime here’s one image from the shoot to whet your apetites!
Pink Polo: http://www.pinkpolo.ae/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pink-Polo/141465192554458

There other shoots in the pipeline, but just waiting for confirmation!! Keep eye out for new and exciting shoots by me….Michael Kruger Photography!!

30 July 2011
Mi Amor by Aliya Shoot

So!! Today is a personal milestone for me!! It was 6 years today that I married my gorgeous Swedish wife just outside Gothenburg. We were married in her parents beautiful house situated right on the sea!! Since then she has given me a beautiful son, Joshua, born just a year ago! We have returned and I sit here typing this out on the veranda we said our vows on! I’m on a bit of a break, visiting friends and family in Norway, Sweden, London and Ireland! It’s given me a bit of time to catch up with this blog, which I’m afraid to say, has been neglected in the past couple months! Something I promised myself wouldn’t happen!!

Let me tell you about an exciting shoot I did just before coming out on holiday! It actually all began in February this year, when I hooked up a with a make up artist whilst teaching one of my fashion photography workshops. The more work we did together, the more I realised what a creative talent she is! Not only was she a damn good make up artist, but was also studying fashion design and amazingly creating outstanding pieces of jewellery!! To top it all she is a friendly, warm and very giving person!! Who!!!?? Who the hell is she then….I hear you all ask!!?? Let me introduce you to my friend and professional colleague, Russian talent, Aliya Rizvanova.

Working closely with Aliya on a regular basis, we started to discuss doing a shoot for her jewellery. So as soon as we had some spare time, we set a date and went for it! Before we could do the shoot though, it was really important for me to find the right model for the job! From experience the model you’re using can make or break it for you! Aliya was slightly hesitant in my choice, but none the less she trusted me!! I met Song, a new and up coming model originally from China, at a L’Oreal event. She was one of the hair models and I instantly saw the potential in her. “Great cheek bones!” I thought at the time!! We exchanged contacts and the rest as we say is history!! I booked her for Aliya’s shoot.

On the day of the shoot, Aliya brought her good friend Sahar Torkan, a top make up artist in her own right, over from her native Iran to do Song’s make over. This was so Aliya could do two things, concentrate on the jewellery and to also model some of her pieces. While Sahar started hair and make I set up a black background and light. Yes!! You heard right, just ONE light. Looking at the shots you may think there is some kind of complex lighting set up here, however for the budding photographer out there, you couldn’t be more wrong!! Its amazing what you can achieve with just one light and a reflector! I placed the light with softbox to the right of me with a lot of elevation. I wanted the light to strike the top of the head, face and shoulders, as this was the primary area of concern for this shoot. This lighting set up created some great shadows and highlights. To bounce a little light back on Song’s unlit side of her face I used a large silver reflector attached to a stand. I used my super sharp Nikor 2.8, 24-70mm lens which made all the difference too!

We had Song seated for the entire shoot. I shot in colour and desaturated in PS5. The shoot went extremely well and the end results were actually more than I could have wished for!! The lighting, model, hair and make up all just gelled together so well! To add even more polish and pizzaz I decided to leave the jewellery in colour, so that the pieces would stand out and be the focal point, which in essence was the entire reason we did the shoot.

I hope the future will bring more collaborations with Aliya, not just for her jewellery design, but plenty more creative stuff!! Thanks must again go the whole team for a great job done!! Here are some images for the jewellery brand known as “mi amor by Aliya”

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07 June 2011
House of Van der Haer Shoot
Just a couple days ago I was commissioned to shoot for international designer Charlotte VanderHaer Richardson or “House Van der Haer”. Van der Haer has worked with the likes of Stella McCartney and the legendary Alexander McQueen.

With a new collection of her own we arranged a shoot. The shoot had a classic feel, but with edgy undertones. Van der Haer has a fascination with duality or doppelgänger. Our two models, Francesca Hart and Gabrielle Kate Thorn were given identical make up and hair styles by stylist Aliya Rizvanova to achieve the duality look.

Shot on location at the Van der Haer headquarters, which had classic interiors made for an excellent backdrop to the beautiful gowns and dresses designed by Van der Haer. Although fully furnised, we did actually take the time to “build” a set for the shoot. Placing furniture, props and flowers on the floor to create the right feeling for the end product.

For me this was a very relaxed and fun shoot to do. Myself and Van der Haer seem to be on the same page with most things and spoke the same language figuratively speaking. There were a lot of laughs and no real pressure on me, which produced some fantastic shots. Thanks to all the team on the day for their hard work and unwavering professionalism…even though there wasn’t even time to break for lunch. By the end of the day there were a few tummies rumbling, but everyone was happy!!

Hi everyone! This is my first blog and first post. So I’m new to this blogging thing, but I’m sure the more you read my posts over the coming weeks and months, there will be vast improvements, so please bare with me!

My name is Michael Kruger, originally from South Africa, born in a time when Ford Capri’s where roaming the streets and Creedence Clearwater Revival was blaring from the radio in my mom’s kitchen! I’m really showing my age now!! At the age of 26, I moved and ended up living in London for 12 years, I now find my self living in this crazy land of contradictions, called Dubai in the UAE. I wish to use this blog to share my work and photography experiences on a more personal level…using it almost as a report of what it is I’m shooting and where. I’ll do my best to keep it up to date, easy to read and entertaining!

Thanks and happy blogging!

Michael