This happens when two Rotterdam photographers meet
On a beautiful autumn day, two creatives met. To share their gear and – moreover – to share their creativity. This is a story about how the mission of Gearbooker – connecting creators – becomes real when two Rotterdam-based photographers, Nynke and Patrick, who didn’t know each other before, met for a rental and had a great time doing so.
Beauty and misery coming together
Some of you may have heard of Patrick – also called Caveman010 – whose story is powerful and inspiring in itself. Let us tell you how his passion to photograph helped him get his life back on track.
Patrick was selected as one of the participants of the Dutch RTL TV-show “The Rotterdam Project“. The show helped homeless people to leave their lifes on the street, by giving a financial support of € 10,000 to be used to get their lives back on track along with support by debt counselling experts and the Salvation Army. It’s a great watch, if you have some spare time left!
With this support, Patrick decided to finally pursue his passion for photography and purchase his first camera equipment. Fast forward to today: after numerous photo assignments, a few well-visited photo exhibitions and 90K followers on Instagram, he has made some fame as a professional photographer, going by the alias Caveman010.
In one of the many interviews from that period, Patrick looks back realizing – after getting off the streets – what the reality of the city streets is really like:
“My eyes were opened: what I walked through every day, and what I saw. The terribly beautiful on the one hand, and misery on the other. Terrible things can also be beautiful.”
The above can really be seen in his street photography – raw and unedited imagery of Rotterdam, showing how the beautiful and the ugly sides of the city come together.
Looking through a different lens
As his experience as a photographer grew, Patrick realized that he always wanted to learn shooting with a professional flash set on location. However, before plunging big budgets in buying such an expensive set, he was curious whether he could just try it out first. So, he decided to look up the options for professional flash sets on peer-to-peer rental platform Gearbooker. This is how he got in contact with Nynke – a passionate, talented and dedicated pet photographer, offering her equipment for rent on Gearbooker on the times she doesn’t need it herself.
Despite Patrick and Nynke having slightly different photographic interests, they immediately got along very well and found common ground in no time! Obviously, in these social distancing times and all that jazz, meetings like this are a bit different but nevertheless great fun!
Learning on the spot
Oh, and by the way, did you know that when renting equipment via Gearbooker, it is possible to book the equipment including the instructions from the owner? Great option if you want some tips and tricks on how to best use the gear you’re renting! Or – as an owner – if you are passionate about helping others improve their skills!
Because (mobile) flash photography was pretty new to Patrick, these instructions by Nynke as part of the renting deal, came in really handy. We all know that sometimes handling new equipment that you are not used to can be annoying and time consuming. (want to know which flash set they were using? You can check it out here!)
Luckily for Nynke and Patrick, it was the perfect weather for shooting outside in the lovely historical Delfshaven in Rotterdam. Maybe just a tiny bit too windy because the softboxes kept on trying to fly away.
Exchanging ideas, sharing your creative passions and just meeting new like minded people – this is all that is necessary for creativity to flourish. And it is exactly what was happening during the meeting between Nynke and Patrick!
It was amazing to see the two creatives interacting, sharing their ideas and their personal experiences with photography. For instance, they had a really interesting conversation about the technique of posing and modelling and the differences in this respect of their ususal subjects (pets versus humans). Despite Patrick’s prefence for the latter – he enjoys capturing the raw emotion of the city and its people – by the end of their meeting, he was convinced to meet again with Nynke to try out photographing together again.
Want to meet with other like minded creatives and try out new gear as well? Gearbooker might just be the way to go for you!
