Personal Background:
Laurens from Ontario, Canada. Laurens has a wife and 2 kids who he says if it weren't for them he probably wouldn't be taking pictures. He is a primary teacher and a musician. Recently he says he enjoys watching the Mandalorian with his son and building legos with his family. He said in his instagram bio that he considers himself a hobbyist and is a life long learner.
Style:
Laurens likes taking pictures of people and their surroundings, but he also dabbles in other forms of shooting, especially macro. He takes photos of his family doing relatable things like building legos, listening to music, playing games, etc. He also takes images of small toys as if they were doing activities. Some of my favorite work of his is of fruit sitting in liquid. He does an amazing job capturing the bubbles surrounding the fruit, the detail is great.
Philosophy:
By the way he captures his family you can tell he takes pride in them. He takes the majority of his images of his family doing things they enjoy. His images are personal and relatable. I believe he is trying to show his love and gratitude for little things like his kids reading, coffee, or even a jar of sourdough starter yeast.
Influences:
Laurens has influenced the way i will from now on look at nature, family, and the little things that we do. His work beautifully captures small details that make a big impact on the photos. I hope to be able to do that as well. He appreciates everything his family and the nature surrounding them which is something that is so important. He makes me want to always enjoy the little things in life and in his/others photos. I think his influence is himself and his family as well because he is a self taught photographer.
This was the most difficult image to recreate because his angle was a little different than mine and his spoon were a lot shinier than mine. Although not everything was the same i feel that the differences look nice especially the different ways we spaced things. Music is a big part of my life so this was a fun picture to take especially because i got to use my 8th grade choir sheet music.
I had so much fun editing this one and playing around with different ways to make it look similar to Kaldeways. I used scrabble pieces which he did not but i think the numbers add a nice touch to my image. I tried my hardest to find an area that resembled his background so i had to work on the floor of my garage. Overall I think this image is the most similar to his than the other images I recreated.
Kaldeway had many more pencils than I did but i think i was able to capture a similar essence. It was hard getting the pencils to stay together like kaldeways. I took a much more zoomed in picture compared to his. My favorite part of this image is how colorful it is.
Artist statement:
These photos were so much fun to recreate. I enjoyed being able to test out angles, lighting, and editing to make it resemble Kaldeways photos. The first image represents music to me and reflecting on that music. The second represents how Kaldeway was off until he drinks coffee and when he drinks it he is on, the handle represents a light switch. The last image represents creativity and art. This was a great experience because i had to look up to an amazing artist in order to take these.
Sources:
500px.com/p/lkaldeway?view=photos
https://www.instagram.com/laurens.kaldeway/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/laurenskaldeway?lang=en
500px.com/p/lkaldeway?view=photos
https://www.instagram.com/laurens.kaldeway/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/laurenskaldeway?lang=en