Photos: Aaron Zwaal

Photo: Tom Lammerse

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing Aaron Zwaal’s name pop up here and there for some videos and other things. One day he shot me an email with a link to one of his videos and I spotted a link to his Flickr page. Needless to say, I was impressed with his work. I shot him back a message to see if he would be down to be the next guy in our Photos: interview series (that has been on the back burner for a little while). Luckily, Aaron was down to answer some questions and he came through with 23 damn good photos that you can check out in the PHOTOGALLERY. But, before you do that, make the jump and check out an interview to find out more about the man behind the lens…

Name: Aaron Zwaal

Location: Nijmegen. A town in the east of the Netherlands

Years riding: December 2005 I got my GT Compe ’03, really started riding about mid ’06

Years shooting photos:
About 4 now I guess, got my first DSLR when I could choose for my 18th birthday between a drivers license or DSLR, chose the DSLR, also because I went to NY in April that year and it would come in handy shooting pictures there. Before that I just occasionally took a point and shoot to the park to shoot pictures with friends at the local skatepark, after NY I really got into it more and more.

What was it that first got you into BMX? Any early memories come to mind?
Woah, long way back, must be because I used to skate and tried other locals bikes. I really liked the feeling of pedaling and being able to ride everything no matter how rough the spot is. Also chilling with friends or just cruising down the street or heading somewhere with BMX is awesome.

What was it that first got you into photography? Was it due to BMX? Do you think you would ever have been into shooting photos if it wasn’t for BMX?
Well, it was definitely because of BMX that I got into photography, looking at pictures online also really motivated me to do more with it. Being able to look at pictures of sessions later is awesome, good way to memorize stuff. For not shooting pictures if I didn’t ride BMX, I guess not. I wouldn’t be able to tell for sure, but I know one thing is that the cliché “eye of bmx”
has changed the way of looking at things, so if I didnt ride BMX I probably would walk past things like a normal person would, haha.

What’s your current setup?
Currently shooting with a Canon 60D, had a 400D and 550D in the past but was looking for something more durable and reliable to have for a while.
My Setup for now is:
Canon 60D with camera grip ( I really love shooting with a grip now, feels more manly)
Lenses:
Canon 50mm f1.4
Tamron 17-50 f2.8 (which recently shows an error on my camera after taking a picture, weird)
Tokina 10-17 Fisheye (love this thing, got it before the prices went up way better than samyang or anything related to that)
Lensbaby composer

Flashes:
Yongnuo YN-460 with broken battery cover after it fell, tie rip does wonder.
Yongnuo YN-560
Triggered by Cactus V5’s, also recently got an umbrella haven’t tried it out yet sadly.

Also have a Mamiya msx-500 35mm camera, 5 photo’s left for my first roll even though the lightmeter is broken I can’t wait to see the results. I should use it more since I’ve had it since November so loads of pictures from different sessions on that!
The lenses are a Pentacon 50mm 1.8 and 135mm 2.8 are also usable on the 60D with a converter.

For editting I always use Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5 on a normal non-mac laptop.

Do you have a dream setup or are you pretty content with what you are working with right now?
For now I am pretty happy with what I have got.
Canon 85mm 1.8 or Canon 70-200 f/4 or Sigma 70-200 f2.8 are on the planning.

I have been looking at some Canon 5D Mark 1’s lately but I’ll wait a bit because prices will probably go down a bit because of 5DM3. I’m definitely look forward to having a fullframe camera and also as a backup! A medium format like a Mamiya or Bronica would be pretty bossy to have as well. Also looking at a third flash, but that’s not much of a hassle to do, priorities.

Who are some of the riders you have had the opportunity to shoot with?
Phew probably almost the whole Dutch scene but the ones that pop into my head right now are:
Maarten Mulders my homie and local, always down to shoot and patient while I try out stuff.
Roy van Kempen, Good friend and one of the weareorangejuice.com owners, soo motivated to do stuff.
Recently shot a bike check with action photo’s of Desmond Tessemaker for Kink Bikes.
Nicky van der Veen for his Vans teampage.
And I was there at Rebeljam, Eindhoven in December to shoot pictures for FatBMX and Weareorangejuice.
Other mentions are: Boy Janssen, Stijn Staal, Jonathan Jansen, Mark vos, Barry Kohne, Emile Bouwman, Steijn Leijzer, Thomas Ruissen, Daniel Wedemeijer, Vicente Candel, Timo van Lierop and the whole bBrabant crew.

Are there any pros you really want to shoot with?
Seriously no clue, would love to shoot with anyone. I would really like to go more on trips and stuff! As long as the vibe is right and the opportunity is there, I’m down to shoot!

Do you travel much? Where are some of the places you have had the chance to take photos at?
Been to the states a couple times, Berlin 2 years ago but no bike.
My bike so far has taken me to:
BMX Masters in Cologne( 3 times so far, going every year from now on I guess)
Rebel Jam in Eindhoven.
Barcelona last summer with friends was awesome: EDIT

Do you have any locations you want to go at some point?
Hell yeah! I’ll be going to Prague next month with Nicky van der Veen for bikehallcontest. It will be a Wednesday till Sunday, going to be awesome to shoot there and have fun! Then in August maybe Barcelona again and at the end of August Baltic games in Poland. I’d love to the states, see more in Spain, go to the U.K and up north in Europe like Denmark or Norway.

Who are some of the photographers that inspire your work the most?
I really enjoy seeing stuff from guys like Nathan Beddows, Vince Perraud, George Marshall, Brandon Means and few more.
Also the Jeremy Pavia feature on the site is awesome, keep it up!

If you had to say you had a certain shooting style, what would it be? Any reason why?
Sheez that’s an hard question, can’t really answer that for myself. But I’d say digital and sometimes with external flashes, sometimes film.

Did you go to school for photography at all?
Currently I am going to school for “Mediadesign” and there is photography class. Yet I feel like that class is making me dumber, having to shoot 40pictures of a building and 40pictures of food and having to select 10 good ones isn’t going to do it for me. I feel college isn’t necessary for photography, there is soo much stuff online to benefit from and also “practice makes perfect” from just shooting and learning from mistakes you can learn so much more than just classes.

Do you shoot photos for a living or is it just more of a hobby?
So far it’s been just a hobby, been getting more and more stuff though, stoked on that! Shot a lookbook for Etnies Europe a month ago with Roy where I got a crazy amount of clothes and for the Nicky pictures are supposed to be some Vans on the way. Definitely want to do more of it!

BMX tends to attract crazy situations. Do you have any crazy stories from a time you were shooting photos?
First thing to come to mind is while shooting the Etnies lookbook with Roy. It was in Amsterdam on the frozen channels, we chose a quiet channel for the pose stuff but we also want to do a barspin and hang five on the Ice, one time the ice started to make cracking sounds on the quiet channel so I was already paranoid about having the ice break on my with camera gear and all.
While shooting the barspin I set up 2flashes which already attracted like six students, then me laying down on the ice was also very comfortable.
After the right picture was taken one guy asked how it came out and he said something to a friend and before I realised it there were like eight people around me trying to see the picture, I was scared as fuck haha.

Do you ever take photos of stuff outside or BMX? What are some of the things you like to shoot?
Yeah, I try to! Lately I really like shooting long exposures, cruising to places by BMX at night with the camera while playing Nujabes on the I-pod at night is lovely. Other than that architecture or portraits are nice to do as well. But BMX being such a big thing in my life its hard to shoot something else, haha. It’s easy going to a session and just take a couple of pictures.

What kind of advice do you have for people just getting started with photography?
Just do your own thing and do what you like, don’t be afraid to ask for advice and be open to critique. I am always open to critique.

Where would you like to take things in the next few years?
Mediadesign at school is going to take 1 1/2year left. I am really hoping to shoot more and more stuff for company’s and people. Would be awesome to be able to do something for a living that you really enjoy. I really enjoy photography so hell yeah going to try and make it work in the next few years I guess!

Where can people check out more of your work? Do you have a photo site or anything?
Yeah I do!
I post all my pictures on Flickr, if you want to get updates for that I would you suggest adding me on that or just like this:
Facebook.com/AaronZwaalPhoto
Flickr.com/photos/AaronZwaal

Let’s say a brand wants to get you to shoot some photos for them. Are you up for it? How should they go about getting ahold of you?
Yess I am up for it! You could contact me at aaronzwaal1ATgmail.com or on Facebook or something!

Do you have any shout outs or thanks?
Kurt for hooking it up with loads of Q’s, Roy and everyone at Weaorangejuice.com and Bart at Fat BMX for fixing the best press card at Rebel Jam. Other than that everyone I shot pictures of and everyone who had the patience of me trying to get best of the picture.

Anything else you want to say?
Everyone that is motivated in BMX, keep it up! You are awesome and if you are down to party, ayeee!

Now, head over to the PHOTOGALLERY to check out 23 damn good photos!