October 27, 2015 Annie Schmitt

Alex Vreeman is an experienced commercial photographer that made the change to portrait photography…

At aged 47 years Alex has spent most of his working life in photography. After graduating in Business Studies he continued his education in photography and established himself as a wedding photographer sharing a studio with his parents.

After 5 years of working in a social environment, he switched codes to offer commercial photography to large corporate businesses and converted his parents business into an advertising studio. After 10 years of working in a high pressure environment Alex became ill and decided to change his career to fit with his life style.

Charles: How did you decide that portrait photography was you passion?

Alex: I love people and their faces, but more so the inner of the person, and its really a gift that they will reveal to me a little of his or her inner self. This gives me the opportunity to take the picture upon that reveal. Its quite a personal picture and sometimes that can show life’s pain.

Charles: What made you decide to choose the Cambo Actus as your camera…?

Alex: In the past I took portraits with a technical camera and I’m familiar with all the movements to create the focus area in the image. I am an ambassador for FUJIFILM in The Netherlands, using the FUJIFILM-X series and I was really intrigued to see that there is the possibility of using these cameras with the Actus platform. I contacted Cambo to discuss my move into portraiture and to ask questions about how the system would work for me.

Charles: As you know the Actus can be used with a wide range of lenses, from Canon & Nikon, Schneider & Rodenstock digital and many of the legacy medium format lenses. Which one’s do you use?

Alex: I inherited a Hasselblad system from my Father which is now 40 years old. The standard lens on the Hasselblad is a Planar 80mm f2.8, which has a large image circle, so will easily cover the sensor if I want to use extreme movement with the Actus. Cambo also sourced a Rodagon-WA 60mm f4.0 for me which I use a lot. Despite the age of these lenses the quality of the results are fantastic and the build quality is second to none. Cambo also make a Nikon lens plate which enables me to use a Nikon 50mm f1.4 that I already have, again producing some very good results.

Charles: The Actus is a technical camera, you mention to me that you capture the images as you are talking to your sitter. How do you judge the focus to get the images sharp? Alex: From my experience and working with the Actus everyday, I know where to set the camera’s area of focus. However, the sitter is always moving. So I adjust the movements with my right hand and Cambo have a customised knob so that I can focus the camera with my left hand. This knob accepts a focus whip which is normally used with the Cambo Follow Focus for professional video. The focus whip is 500mm long which is long enough to operate from the left side.

Charles: Yes, the customised focus knob is very useful not just for portrait but also for close-up and Macro photography. Where can we see you work?

Alex: I’ve just exhibited for 2 months at Stadsgehoorzaal in Kampen, where I also presented and explained my work to other photographers. It was a very pleasant experience, I received a lot of compliments and it was a great feeling to inspire other photographers.

For me, a portrait is not just a portrait. I focus on creating a unique and powerful image of my clients, particularly for those not wishing to be in front of the camera. Many of my clients feel they have not previously had a good photograph of themselves, they fit into my philosophy that “Beauty is in the character for those who look”.

Many thanks to Alex, more of his work can be seen here; http://www.alexvreeman.nl