The blog

In Voka’s Ondernemers…

In this month’s “Ondernemers” (Voka’s monthly magazine, region Antwerpen Waasland), you’ll find a serie of portraits I took for the “Beloftevolle Starter 2015”. Votes are being gathered and the winner will be revealed on the 29th of October. In the meantime, you can have a look at the pictures here and of course, cast your vote on beloftevollestarter.be

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Aveda

Here are a few images I’ve taken for the latest Aveda competition, in collaboration with the amazing hairdressers from Mo’na (Mechelen). I’m usually not a big fan of the white background – it’s very neutral, but also gives off the “school picture” vibe everybody dreads as a child… In this case, the white background being mandatory, there were not a lot of options to work around it. But I’m very pleased with the result, the girls are glowing and their hair and make-up looks gorgeous. Should you be in need of a haircut in Mechelen, pay them a visit, you’re gonna love it! (Mo’na – Korenmarkt 49 in Mechelen)

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Straffe Hendrik 2014

I’m very proud and happy to announce that my entry for the Straffe Artists contest from the Halve Maan brewery won 1st prize!

The 2nd labor of Hendrik: Hendrik and the Fey
In return for the power to brew the perfect beer, Hendrik, like fabled Hercules, must first perform 12 legendary labors. For his 2nd challenge he must seek out and defeat the mysterious Morgane, rumored to be a magical woodland Fey, who holds the secret to growing the perfect hop and barley.

The artwork will be printed on canvas and exhibited around the world! Keep an eye out for it and don’t hesitate to send me pictures. Who knows, in some places it might even hang next to my entry of last year (which got the 2nd prize).

Stephanie Fraikin – the 1st labor of Hendrik

Huge thanks to Jimmy (Hendrik), Annelies (Morgane) and Audrey (MUA) for being awesome.

Enjoy!

Foodprint 1314

Foodprint 1314 is out, and you’ll find my contribution on page 178 with a very sweet self portrait!
This is my fifth contribution to Foodprint (a Belgian publication about cooking trends, chef celebrities, gastronomic discoveries, wine reviews and many more food related topics) and you can see a selection of my previous entries here, enjoy!

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Supergoods SS14

I shot this SS14 collection of Supergoods ecodesign store in awesome Belgian weather – read: cold and windy, not the one we’re having right now 😉 This meant models wrapped in blankets/bathrobes/blanket/clothes, freezing hairdressers doubling as weights for the lights – I said it was windy – warm coffee and lots of jumping around. Eco-friendly also means no jet-setting around the world to a warm island for a summer shoot…

It was a great shoot despite the weather, thanks to the great team that made it work: Salon Mo’na (for the model’s hair and make-up), Charlotte Claesen (for the styling) and of course Supergoods store for all the clothes and accessories.

Here are a few behind the screen shots, you can find a selection of the editorial here.

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On Display (1)

I’ve started this new project and decided to call it “On Display”.
In Belgium (I guess in other parts of the world, it’s a common thing too), when shops have been abandoned, their front window is often covered up with paper, or other things… It’s messy, it’s ugly and serves no purpose. Nowadays, some owners (and people who now live in those shops), have decided to decorate the shop, sometimes, as if it was their living room, sometimes just a mix of insane objects. So I’ve decided to add an extra layer to that.

Starting this series is a window in Kontich (Belgium), where the Royal Auto Moto Club Contich (website here) has taken over the window with their ancient motorcycles! I drove by and couldn’t resist their mix and match of bikes and living room elements.

I chose for the shoot Lai-Jin, an extremely enthousiastic model with THE face for the shoot, make-up was provided last minute by Nora Noah Wuytack and was spot on!

The dress & boots were provided by The Public Image, a very fun clothes shop in Antwerp with lots of young and unknown designers and very pretty flashy colors, pay them a visit!

Thank you all for your contribution and onwards to the next one!

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Round trip

Oh, what a journey! About to discover the world, camera in hand, she sits in a bus, going somewhere. It doesn’t matter where. The wonders she saw and experienced, we will not see, and not experience: we can only witness how different she is as she returns.

This editorial wouldn’t have been possible without the perfect American Girl Naomi, the perfect visagiste Sheyla, the location (American bus) provided by Het Bruidsparadijs in Merksem (www.bruidsparadijs.be) and Lily in Mechelen (shoplily.be) for outfitting Naomi with the perfectly matching dresses. Thank you all for a great shoot! (full editorial here)

Stephanie Fraikin Round Trip 1 Stephanie Fraikin Round Trip 2 Stephanie Fraikin Round Trip 3 Stephanie Fraikin Round Trip 4

Hendrik

EDIT: I’m very happy to announce that my ‘Hendrik’ came in second place in the Straffe Artists contest! The winning works will be reproduced and exhibited in exclusive bars all around the world.

I love contests.
Love the brainstorm about the topic, the search for models, location and clothes, seeing the image take shape in my mind and working towards translating it in pixels: it’s exciting and scary at the same time, will it ‘work’?

In the case of the Straffe Artists contest of the Halve Maan (a beer brewery in Bruges) it was made even harder by my stubbornness in finding ‘Hendrik’, the man the Straffe Hendrik beer was named after. Luckily, with the help of social networks and my fitness club, I found the perfect man for the job! Thanks to his collaboration and Studio Swelvet (Design studio in Mechelen: www.swelvet.com) who provided the 4 friends and the great location I made this ‘tableau’ of Hendrik, the Strong 🙂

Out of 300 artworks, my ‘Hendrik’ got selected for the finals, together with 14 other works! On the 24th of May, during the exhibition in Bruges, 3 prices will be awarded! Can’t wait, can’t waaaaaait!