Tag: dutch

My favourite photographers

Hola everyone.

And welcome back to my blog, a new Monday and a new week. I hope your weekend was good and that you’re all feeling well and happy. Can you believe February is already coming to an end? Because I can’t, at all. It’s gonna be March in just a few days, which means my birthday is already lurking around the corner. And then I’ll be 24. Oh wow. Time really flies by. And I know this sounds a bit sad or dramatic, but, I think, I’m happy about growing older, because, generally, it means growth and moving forward and that’s exactly what I want to do. To grow and to do more and to see more. Make the most of my life, basically. And to continue sharing all of that with you guys. Which I also want to do today, but, as you could see by the title of this post, we’re not going to focus on my life today, but on that of someone else. That of Louis van Baar, to be exact. Welcome to part four of the “my favourite photographers” series. Let’s go.

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Louis van Baar

Let me introduce you to Louis. If any of you are fans of Marty – Martin Garrix – and/or have ever taken a look at his Instagram, you will most definitely have seen some pictures that were taken by the wonderful Louis. You will surely have, because ever since 2014, Louis has been Marty’s official photographer and has thus spent the last five years and a bit traveling the world with him and taking pictures of him and the beauty that can be found on our amazing planet. And I’ll say it right upfront – Louis definitely is one of the best photographers I know and it happens more than just a few times that I look at one of his pictures and wonder how he managed to get such a perfect shot. In the end, he makes a living shooting EDM gigs, which are probably the most thrilling and rapid concerts ever. There are lasers and fire and the hyped-up crowd and, of course, the DJ, who’s jumping around like there’s no tomorrow. Getting a super clear, stunning shot in such circumstances sounds like the most difficult thing ever to me. But somehow Louis manages to get those perfect shots every single time and that’s only one of the reasons why I would call him a genius behind the camera.

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There is also the fact that Louis is super freaking young. I mean, just 26 years old young. That kind of young. And that’s his current age. Which means he started touring with Marty when he was just 21, which, looking at the pictures he took at that time, is mind-boggling to me. I know it might be a bit weird to base it all on age, but somehow, for me, talent definitely must be on another level when it develops that early and leads to such a career that early on.

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Obviously, him being that young, also Dutch and that talented in one, makes him the perfect photographer for Martijn. Because he isn’t just his photographer, but, more importantly, he’s also a really good friend. Actually, their story is super cute – in 2014, Martijn and his team were looking for a photographer for his summer tour and found Louis. They toured for a few weeks and it all went so smoothly, they decided to keep on working together. And now we’re in 2020 and they’re still together. How cute is that? And on top of that, a bit more than a year ago, they published a photography book, made up of Louis’ best shots and some background stories from Martijn. And yes, I have that book. Twice. It’s freaking stunning.

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When you take a look at Louis’ pictures, you can clearly tell that he has a special style. Big shots with lots of colours and a feel of dimension that makes it seem as if you’re in the picture. He quite frequently takes pictures of landscapes, architecture, and cities they visit, most of the time during helicopter flights. In short, the photos are breathtaking. In my opinion, they are so grand and aesthetically pleasing, that I could easily see them hanging in someone’s villa or be part of some special photography installation at a gallery. That also goes for all the shots he takes during Marty’s gigs, which never fail to perfectly capture the feeling of his shows. The lasers, the fire, the energy, and excitement – you can feel it all through the pictures. That’s why Louis is such a genius photographer. He doesn’t only capture the colours, the view, but also the feeling, the moment. What an artist.

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I highly recommend checking out his and Marty’s Instagrams as well as Louis’ website to take a closer look at his art. I’ve also gone and picked out a few of my favourite shots of him, which you can see down below. I hope you like them. Obviously, none of them belong to me, all the rights go to Louis. Additionally, here’s the link to their photography book, which I can also highly recommend. It’s one of those books you can have lying on your table as a piece of art or decoration. It is that pretty.  And yeah, besides that, I hope you enjoyed this post and getting to hear Louis’ story and to see his amazing pictures. As always, please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. And, of course, I wish you all a nice week and thanks for reading. x

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Welcome to STMPD

Hola everyone.

Guys, you know that I love talking about music more than anything. But as I guess that all these music lists are getting a little bit boring, I thought I’d change it up a bit. So, today I have the honor of introducing you to one of the coolest music labels on this planet.

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But before I begin I wanted to give you guys a little update on my last post and party a little bit, because it seems like Trump stopped working against the ban for elephant trophies. He stated that he stopped it because he wants to investigate further on how the conservation works, but I’m pretty sure that he stopped because the whole world was literally screaming at him and his administration. So yey and congratulations to all of us. Seems like we just helped to save this planet – at least for some time. Well done guys and whoever got active – thank you so much. You’re awesome.

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Okay, there’s that. Now let’s get back to this very special music label. The EDM fans among you will probably already know this supercool label called STMPD RCRDS. It was founded in May last year by the one and only Martijn Garristen – also known as Martin Garrix. And before any of you guys question my opinion about this label, no I’m not just interested in it because it’s his label. I mean, I was at first, but now that I’ve actually taken time to get to know it, it’s like Martijn introduced me to this amazing thing that I am now exploring on my own while being so damn thankful for the introduction.

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So yeah, it all started in May 2016, so you could say that the label is still pretty young. Martijn founded it after having some severe arguments and a disagreement about the ownership rights of his music with his older label Spinnin’ Records. And as the genius he is, instead of signing to another label, he just created his own, which now gives him complete freedom when it comes to his music and pretty much everything else. If I’m right the label now “belongs” to Sony Music and it seems like Martijn himself couldn’t be happier. Until today there are about 15 or so artists signed to the label, including Martijn himself (unfortunately I couldn’t find a complete list) and I have to say, all of them are freaking amazing.

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What I think is especially cool is that the label mostly consists of pretty much still unknown DJs and artists – I mean, at least I didn’t know them before. And also, like I said, Martijn is totally free when it comes to his own music and productions and so on, but of course he has his portfolio and type of music that people expect him to release and stick to, so he can’t just release anything. That’s why – another genius move – he just created side projects like GRX or Area 21, so he can release other music he enjoys to produce too. And I think that’s so damn amazing, because that way he’s able to show the world even more of his talent.

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STMPD is based in Amsterdam (like Martijn, of course) and just about a few months ago he and his team took over one of Amsterdams coolest recording studios called FC Walvisch, a spot used by international superstars like Pharrell Williams, Lady Gaga and of course Martijn. Actually, in the last of his videos YouTube series “The Martin Garrix Show”, you could see him and his team celebrating the official opening of their new headquarters. You can now find the studio under the new name STMPD Recording Studios – here’s a link to their website.

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I have to say that I am incredibly proud of Martijn for bringing this whole thing to life and making his dream come true. It makes me kind of speechless too. And let’s not forget the fact that all the signed artists are seriously so damn good. I mean, how perfect can a label get? Cool headquarters, fresh young vibes, the most amazing boss ever and freaking good artists and breathtakingly good music. That’s all anyone in the music business could wish for. Oh, and if you’re wondering why the label is called STMPD – the name was actually inspired by Martijns father’s stamp auctioning company. So it’s basically just another cute tribute and link to his family.

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Okay, so, that’s pretty much all the most important information about this amazing label that I can provide you with. And now let’s get to the most fun part, which is getting to know some of the artists. I actually highly recommend following the label on Spotify (if you do have Spotify), their playlists are amazing and also quite addictive. I’ve been listening to them on repeat the past weeks. So, without further ado, let me present you some of my favorite song releases:

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As you can see it’s pretty hard for me to not just add every single song the label ever released. I of course had to put Area 21 on the list, because I just love this side of Martijn so freaking much, and also CMC$ as his song features the one and only Conor Maynard. Like, can you believe it? Two of my favorite guys are working with and for the same label. That’s so damn crazy.

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And yeah, that’s pretty much it. There you go guys. Welcome to STMPD RCRDS. I have to say that I’m truly so thankful to Martijn for founding and introducing me to this amazing label and awesome kind of music and awesome artists. And it would actually make me so happy if some of you enjoy it too. So please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below, I’m really curious. And yeah, I really hope you enjoyed this post and I wish you all an amazing week. And, as always, thanks for reading. x

Amsterdam

Hola everyone.

So, as recently mentioned in my last post about Martijns amazing show at ADE I was luckily able to visit myself (here’s the link), I was in Amsterdam a week ago for a short trip with my friend. And I can just tell you guys, it was freaking amazing. What a lovely city.

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Okay, so first things first. We stayed in Amsterdam for four days, from Thursday until Sunday. Martijns show was on Friday so we thought it would be better to fly home on Sunday, as Saturday was our literal hangover day. God, was I tired. I think we got home at about 5 o’clock in the morning and as excited and hyped I was, I just couldn’t sleep and basically slept for about three hours that night. But oh well. Sleep is underrated, right?

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Apart from Martijns show, which of course was the highlight of those four days, the trip was really really really amazing. I loved it so much. I mean, the city is so cute and you just feel so welcomed there. All the people are so nice – as you can see down below in one of the pics, as some guys came up to me all of a sudden while my friend was taking a picture of me and placed themselves around me for the picture. First I thought that they wanted to make fun of us or anything, but they actually were so nice and funny. Like, just look at the picture. How funny is that? And it came out looking so perfect, I just love it.

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And the city overall has such a cool vibe to it. I mean, I’ve never seen so many good-looking people in a matter of four days. No wonder I want to move somewhere up North.  And all the stores and restaurants and cafés are so cool too. They all look so modern and new and stylish, it’s nearly overwhelming. I couldn’t stop looking around in total awe. It was actually my first ever time visiting The Netherlands, but after those four days I fully understand why it’s one of the happiest countries on the planet. It was really hard for me to not smile during those days. Seriously.

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What made the weekend even more special for me was of course ADE. It’s so crazy to be in a city that is filled with people who share the same love for music. And let’s not forget all the DJs that were there too. I got a teeny tiny heart attack every time I saw the yellow flags around a corner. God, I can’t wait to visit the city and ADE again and make the most of it – go to all the different shows, of course visit Martijns shows on Friday and Saturday and go to different talks and masterclasses. The festival is literally such a cool opportunity to see different artists and meet so many different people from all over the world.

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And I think apart from ADE, we also made the most of our trip. We went to different museums – the museum for modern art and the Van Gogh museum -, walked around the city pretty much the whole day, went to supercool restaurants and cafés and visited basically all the important places you should see when you get to Amsterdam for the first time. I really really really loved it.

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Also, I just have to mention that Dutch is such a cute language, oh my god. No is Nee there. Nee. How cute is that? And the architecture, it’s so charming. All the crooked windows, walls and houses, the cute bridges and holy moly, so many bikes. I’ve never seen so many bikes in one place. And I think that also shows the amazing mentality of the people there, because most of them use bikes or if they use cars, they are mostly e-cars. What a green city. Really.

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So yeah guys, there you go. Those were the four days in Amsterdam in a nutshell. I really enjoyed my stay there and I can’t wait to come back, preferably during ADE. I can quite understand Martijn for living there and not moving to LA or something, like all the big names in the music business. Good choice.

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But guys, have any of you ever had the chance to visit Amsterdam or ADE? Did you enjoy it as much as I did? And do you maybe have some tips for me what to do the next time I get there or which city I should visit next? Please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below. And until then I hope you enjoyed this post and the pictures down below. I’m pretty sure that Amsterdam is one of the most photogenic cities I’ve ever been to, so please enjoy. And, as always, I wish you all an amazing week. Oh, and Happy Halloween. x

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