senckađ
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
People in association withLBB Pro User
Group745

Meet Erik de Koning: Liquids Specialist at Chuck Studios Amsterdam

07/11/2022
Marketing & PR
Amsterdam, Netherlands
272
Share
“I look at everyday things and wonder how they would behave as a liquid.”

Erik de Koning is the liquids specialist at Chuck Studios in Amsterdam. He started his career at an Amsterdam-based photographic academy in 1998 but left after he disagreed with his lecturer about the use of light in the discipline. So to get real-world experience, his cousin, also a photographer, offered to mentor him to hone his craft and make a living in the process.

This was the heyday of big print campaigns where Erik worked for a number of prominent advertising freelance photographers until 2006 when he decided he needed to focus on his own style. During this period, he discovered his love for photographing still life.

“People think that still life photography is just about shooting something like a bowl of fruit, but life is in the name,” says de Koning. “It’s literally capturing everything in a fleeting moment and preserving it for everyone to see. Perhaps in a way they’ve never seen it before. That’s what attracted me to focus on it.”

After several years freelancing, Erik got the call that would alter his career trajectory: the newly formed Chuck Studios was looking for a photographer, and Erik took the job wanting to make an impact at the global food-specialist creative production company.

Because his main creative passion was photographing still life, he was immediately attracted to the idea of food and tabletop photography at Chuck Studios. As he puts it, “Food in advertising always has to look delicious and lighting wise it isn’t too far from still life. Everything you put in the photo works with light.” 

Erik’s intuition paid off, but what surprised him was despite his connection to getting the perfect food shot, it was shooting liquids that piqued his interest to the point where he dove into liquids and is now “the liquids guy” at Chuck Studios.

“The thing about liquids,” says de Koning, “is that it’s different all the time, especially on a micro-level. What I still find so exciting is I can shoot from inside and from outside. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a glass of beer, a cup of coffee or even a bubble. It’s all so different and gives us a multitude of options of how we present a brand. Even when we do a test for a shoot, it changes all the time, which makes it difficult, but also spectacular and rewarding when you see the final result.”

When asked about the most challenging liquid to shoot, de Koning admits it has to be water. “Water has no colour, and it has no beginning and no end. The same can be said for milk. Beer is probably the easiest, because you have the combination of carbonation and foam, while a product like Coke is dark, meaning no light will go through it. In that instance, you need to add sparkling water so it looks like how you expect the product to look and pull out that beautiful caramel colour.”

As far as inspiration goes, de Koning says “everything outside” inspires him, so he spends a lot of time mountain biking. “I look at everyday things and wonder how they would behave as a liquid. When my head is clear and I’m on my bike, that’s when my imagination runs wild.”

De Koning also takes inspiration from film directors like Christopher Nolan. Referencing the iconic hotel scene in “Inception” that defied gravity without special effects, de Koning admits he looks at shots in films and then thinks about how he can transfer that kind of effect into a shot of pouring beer, soda, or coffee. 


“It’s also what I do in my personal work,” he continues. “I once rebuilt a shot from Star Wars replacing the fighter jets with raspberries and the landscape became a food-scape made from red velvet cake which turned out pretty awesome. I’m now working on something based on the fight scene in the movie “Tenet” where they show everything backwards. So I’m looking forward to seeing how that turns out.”


This insatiable curiosity about the world around him, from nature to the arts (and Star Wars!), combined with the mastery of his craft, fuels Erik’s passion for what he does. “It’s more than just playing with light and liquid,” concludes de Koning. “It’s super technical, super fun and super-challenging and a great way to play to my strengths and passions. Working at Chuck Studios has allowed me to try some crazy things and in the process produce some really awesome work!”

Credits
Credits
Production
Work from futurefactor
ALL THEIR WORK