Photographer Spotlight: Olaf Veltman
Ah, Mr. Veltman. I wrote an essay in college on Olaf Veltman’s award winning “Deal With the Devil/Reassuringly Expensive” campaign for Stella Artois (the idea being that Stella is worth it’s higher price of admission, even if that price is your soul). I guess that was back during the summer of 2005. He’s a very curious and rather reclusive photographer, having isolated himself on a remote farm near the small Netherlands town of Lieveren. He is primarily a commercial photographer working in advertising.
One of Veltman’s greatest attributes is that he possesses an almost uncanny appreciation for the minutest of details; during his work on the Stella campaign, Veltman shot from a third story office (image above), and realized that he needed to replace the background in the office windows with something more appropriate. Veltman’s solution was to take a helicopter to an oil refinery and shoot three stories in the air so the perspectives would be correct when he fused the two images together later in post production. Another such example of Veltman’s attention to detail is a story of him waiting hours on end to catch a storm as it was rolling in and waiting for the clouds to be just right be before he took a single image.
His works are often described as painterly in nature, both in his use of color and composition.
“Perspective-wise, wide angle works better for me. I like the lines disappearing into the background. The Golden Century paintings of the Dutch masters are painted in wide angle, and my grandfather used to take me to the Rijksmuseum to see the Master’s paintings each year.”
He’s a master at what he does and I hope you will enjoy his work as much as I do. Large gallery after the jump.
3 Responses
1.18.2009
Reminds me of my friend Josh’s work in some ways.
http://joshuamauldin.com/