Interview : Patrick Hoelck

Images Are Copyright Of Patrick Hoelck

Patrick Hoelck is a Los Angeles & New York based photographer. He has photographed multiple celebrities in his own unique style. His fashion work is sumptuous, his black and white very bold and his colour and lighting technique is so good it makes me want to put my camera down and give up. He was very gracious in his busy lifestyle to take some time out and answer some questions for me. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have.

Patrick :

1st Thing’s 1st. How do you pronounce your surname? I’m not counting this as a question :-)
Like the painter Jackson Pollock, or think of a drunk alcoholic.





Where did you learn your skill? Are you a self taught photographer?
I picked it up self taught.


You have photographed many stars over the years. I am a sucker for a rags to riches story and it's always nice to know the journey someone has taken, as a photographer starting out. Please tell us when you 1st started you had no money and lived off baked beans & toast, shot weddings and babies and as me and my partner joke about, boudoir images. Here's a link so you know what I’m talking about...



I was a successful music video director in NYC before I went on a long drug vacation. When I came out of rehab I had no money, but there was a photo lab in los angles called Fleshtone that processed my learning experience on shear love and commitment. The owner’s name is Paul and without him I might not have become a shooter.


You have a very interesting style. To me it's the mix of vintage fashion, contemporary fashion with an edgy dark undertone. Would you say you fell into your image style or is this something you always set out to achieve & where do you get your influences?
I would say I am just trying to express my point of view.
I was born in 68 and always loved the 60s and 70s fashion film and design elements, I look to painters for inspiration.


I stumbled across a portfolio by Erik Almas before and after he assisted a commercial photographer. What we fail to see these days are as I mentioned above, is where a photographer came from and his progression. Websites depict the best images over a period of years. When you 1st picked up a camera, how good were your images and would you like to share one of your earlier ones with us, if you have one at hand.
Attached is an early image. Also, I started with tri x covering street gangs in LA.





If you had (maybe you do) completely free reign with your commercial work what type of images do you think you would be producing?
I have been lucky with photography to do work I want to do. If I don’t like the job I simply pass on it. I always shoot personal work as well. I’ve been working on a new book project for 5 years and am excited that it’s almost done.





As a successful photographer, how do you challenge yourself within that field? Surely the challenges come from trying to be successful?
I think the challenge is to always change the work, ever so subtle or sometimes making more dramatic shifts with images. I really enjoy photography so every shoot excites me in one-way or another. Trying to be successful would be a bad journey. You’d just wake up in a big body of work shrug and go back to work.


Now. Patrick, Baby... It's me, Darius. How much post PS work do you really use and do you do this yourself?
I work with about 5 different retouchers for post. When I started out I didn’t use post for the first half of my career so I would say I do my best not to lean on heavy post for final images. I think we use what we have to in the commercial celebrity world to work another day.





If I wanted to be the next Patrick Hoelck, What is the best piece of advice you could give to attaining that goal?
Sleep very little, work very late, wake very early, and love and respect everyone and everything. Do great things for strangers, give more than you receive, be true to yourself and never want to be anyone else, always find the positive in life, and learn meditation it really helps you find your true voice.


A final quick question. Which contemporary photographer(s) work do you enjoy?
I really look at painters more than photographers for inspiration maybe I should pay more attention to the contemporary shooters.


A BIG thank you once again to Patrick for taking the time out..
Patrick Hoelck Portfolio Can Be Found Here Patrick Hoelck

Darius

8: Studio Lighting Help

Look at me trying to give advice on studio lighting. Time will tell if I have a clue what I'm doing, but I am just going to share a few things that I know and some links.

What I do know is this. I don't feel I need to take any lessons, I think it can all be self taught, what you will need is equiment though, whether studio stuff or off camera speedlight setup. There is a wealth of information out there but the main thing you need to do is practice. I am against any courses because once you've done a course what are you going to do after that if you don't have equipment, nada. Different stokes for different folks though.

Here are some sites that will definetly get you going and will start that fire burning.

Strobist 101
Strobist Fickr
Studio Lighting Diargrams

There was another one I wanted to share but not at my main PC so will share it another time.

This will get you started, but like me it's just a case of practicing and practicing and trying things out. Imatate the masters until you become one yourself is my philosphy. Which is what I am attempting to do. So the months have been filled with deconstructing images, then trying them, then realising it's harder than I thought. Great. Why can't things be easy.

So. I hope this is enough to wet your appetite.

I've not gone through the strobist yet, but this is an amazing place for information.

7: Where Are We All Going

So. Where am I going I ask. Where will I be in the next year or two. Well. I'd like to hope I have an agent or at least I'd like to think I will be earning enough money so survive, not be a slave to the 9 until 5 and having the ability to do the projects or take the images I want to take, otherwise it's all pointless. Time will tell.

I'll update with the highs and the lows and the what the hell am I doings.

I forgot to mention, my partner is 7 months pregnant and I have no money, so the question I ask myself after just a few months of doing this is, what the hell am I doing.

Luckily my partner is an amazing woman. Behind (hopefully) every great man, is a great woman, and she is certainly that. She listens to me whine and complain but I keep the self doubt and fear to myself and just carry on. Whether I believe in myself of not, which I must, I carry on and she is behind me every step of the way with 100% support. So I thank her for that.

Right now I tell you this. Every moment is a quest for the next shot, a step in the right direction, something that has to be done and hopefully if you want something bad enough you will work hard enough to get it and I'm working pretty hard right now to get it. I don't want fame, I don't want fortune, well, maybe just a little. I want my images and work to speak for themselves.

Without a strong portfolio, you have nothing. So that is the 1st step before any others can be taken.

I'd like to keep this blog informative. More about the process than another self induldent set of words. So I'll try and include a behind the scenes look at how things happened, in hope that it reaches at least one person. I'll also be posting inspiring artists, helpful links and whatever pops into my head at the time.

So. I will leave you for now with one last piece of information before my next update /shoot.

Zack Arias His story is also an ispiring one. He failed at his 1st attempt at becoming pro and went back to work in an office store. Now. Well. Check him out for yourself.

3: The 1st Shoot

I've had my equipment for some time now. I've been doing some headshots over the few months whilst I had been working, this was my only practice. I say practice, I never got the chance as these were paying customers and I had no time. No Time, No Time...

The 1st test shoot took place in my living room. about 8ftx8ft the results were okay. See 'Funky' on the website : State Of Mind Photography

My next shoot was with a local fashion designer. I wanted to try more setups, but as usual I was trying to do too much. It ended with some images I am pleased with, considering this was only my 2nd time using the equipment in a proper environment and not in my living room, it was a lot of work but it paid off, yet I still want more, never satisfied, I don't think I ever will be & this is the driving force.

So the image shown is 1 of the results of the shoot. Great models, great MUA's and hair stylists really make the job easier, but organising all of these components is a real pain in the ass for me, maybe it will get easier, maybe people will be clambering all over to work with me.

We can but dream....

I had never heard of Model Mayhem so this is me introducing it to you, just in case you didn't know, without it I would never have got started and I'm pleased some people wanted to work with me. Be warned, they can be a flaky bunch.

My next shoot will hopefully be a beauty shoot. Im aiming to get various images to fill the portfolio, so have ideas ready and waiting and nodels and MUA's at the ready. I'm trying to build a reliable team, because this is important and I am finding people as flaky as I thought they would be.