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

12: Interview : Diego Indraccolo

Diego Indraccolo is a London based photographer. I stumbled upon his work as he had taken some portrait shots of my girlfriend some time before we met. I have been told he is a lovely, friendly man, who has taken the time to respond to my emails to him and now to these questions. I find his work fascinating, with a style I identify with, but most of all, he has style. You can see it in his images, although he is aiming for the fashion world, he's doing it his way...If you don't follow his work, I can't make you, but please take the time out to view his portfolio and blog.

Diego's Site & Blog Can Be Found Here :

Portfolio
Blog



His Name & His Images Says It All

Diego :

When did you 1st start taking photography seriously and what inspired you to take this path?
I started having an interest in photography when I was 18. I really like movies (who doesn't?) and photography became a way of creating my own scenes.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I guess in all of us there is a subconscious database of images we accumulate by simply seeing and feeling. Any movie, painting, photograph, book, travel, music or emotion will be stored or translated into an image and become part of my personal library. Then when I am challenged with a project or idea, all the appropriate imagery is recalled, which immediately provides me with a direction to work.




How much control over the images that you have taken have you had. Would you say most of it is personal, your vision and not dictated to you too much?I actually prefer it when there are more people contributing to the shoot. It takes it to a place where I wouldn't necessarily go on my own. Ultimately I am the one who creates the final image and I always have control of the outcome, but it is more fun to be challenged into doing things differently.

What interests you the most artistically speaking. I enjoy the dark / haunting style of your images. This seems to reflect in your fashion, landscapes, portrait work even the dentist surgery snaps. Are you the dark brooding and possible disturbed type :-) ?
I always think that if I didn't have to earn a living out of photography my portfolio would be a lot darker then that!

As for my personality, I am obviously of vampire descent. Just look at my surname...

Do you have a process, do you see a final image in your head before you begin to shoot or does it evolve & a side to that is how much photoshop do you use to achieve the final results?
Normally there is always the initial image and feel in my head. What comes out, is usually different to various degrees. As for Photoshop, I find it so boring, the less of it I can do the better. Sometimes I go for a look that requires a good amount of retouching, but I always know before hand. I never try to "fix" a picture in Photoshop. Subject direction, composition and lighting are the most important elements of a picture. No amount of digital editing can help with that.




What WAS your 5 year plan?
To make a living exclusively out of photography.


What IS your 5 year plan?
Now that I know how much I can make as a photographer I've decided I want to become a banker.


Did you achieve them in any shape or form?
The first one definitely. The second one is... Well, a joke.

I see your work has featured regularly in some magazines. Were you approached to do this kind of work or has it been all your hard work & efforts?
It's a bit of both, but my greater help in the published fashion I do comes from the stylist I work with, Kay Korsh. We've learned the game together and now it is much easier for us to get work printed.

What blogs/people are you following at the moment?
The usuals. A Photo Editor is quite a good reference as well as BJP and PDN.

Do you have, whether in photography or not, any philosophies that you follow?I have a few I'd like to follow, but I keep on changing my mind. So definitely no.

I am sure there are lots of ups and downs with this profession, can you describe some of the ups AND the downs you've experienced along the way & what keeps you going?
The ups of being a photographer are also somehow the cause of the downs. For instance, it is great to make your own schedule, meet a lot of different people, always work on different project, get to have your own studio (which doubles as your "playroom") and having your creative outlet be part of your job. But as a consequence of being your own boss, you need to motivate yourself and try hard to keep the business running. You have to deal with extremely boring parts of the profession, like invoicing, admin, taxes and promotion. You will never know how much you're going to earn and the expenses of renting a studio in London and keeping the equipment current are terribly high. You'll never have a paid holiday or sick day again. You will also never be able to separate work from private life. Photography and the business are your life.

The ups and downs of your business are the ups and downs of your life and viceversa.

What advice can you give for someone like me and others reading this and following your work?
Stop trying to learn and go take some cool photographs. There's nothing stopping you.

With Many Thanks To Diego. I look forward to seeing more work from him.

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.