Sometimes it can all be so simple. Amsterdam born Femke Groot was already in close contact with advertising from an early age – it all started with her father, an art director himself. From an early age he trained her eye for aesthetics coupled with functional concepts and campaigns. Her second big love - for travelling - followed soon after. It comes as no great surprise that from an early age Femke preferred to spend her summers in England and also visited high school in Canada for two years. Back in beautiful Amsterdam she rolled up her sleeves and got stuck in as a Traffic Manager/Art Buyer Assistant slowly but surely heading for Operations Management.
This was followed by a unique and what Femke describes as a 'once in a lifetime experience' taking 22 months time out to travel in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Recharged and inspired upon her return she got back to work with a new energy – welcome to the world of freelancing! No problem Femke tells GoSee with a smile - "The market for freelancing was good upon return." From that moment on she would work directly for agencies and direct clients such as Tommy Hilfiger, shooting their big photo productions in the Netherlands and all over the world. And even though she loves all productions and finds them equally as exciting she does have a preference: "Projects with children are my favourites." We are looking forward to seeing her in Berlin where she will be sharing her expertise on the GoSee Awards Jury. Here is our short interview with her to bide the time for now.
How did you come to working with photography at first? I first got introduced to working with photography as a Traffic Manager/Art Buyer at McCann Erickson. Years later, as a freelancer at Tommy Hilfiger I was given the chance to start off as one of their first 'in house' producers.
Can you tell us a little bit about your work? Being a freelancer I work for advertising agencies, direct clients as well as directly for photographers, which is great as I can use my Traffic/Project Managers experience on the project, and it enables me to manage the whole process before and after the shoot. Just recently I visited the National Geographic exhibition, once again, the photos shown are amazing. The stories are amazing, the drive these photographers have to capture reality is just as amazing.
What kind of photography inspires you? Photos which show genuine emotions inspire me. What goes on what we can't see? Working with children on the set gives the crew the opportunity to get as close as we can get to genuine emotions in the advertising world, I think.
Any other inspirations? Browsing through travel books in big or specialised book stores and looking at nature or ethnic photography with non retouched images is one of the things I love to do in my spare time. One of these days I would love to work on a job which does not need any extensive retouching - I'll be surprised if and how that works out.
We are delighted you will be joining us at our UPDATE salon in Berlin. What is your relationship to Berlin?
Unfortunately I've only been able to visit Berlin once, just recently for a couple of days. After that trip we decided to definitely return to Berlin sometime soon, explore some more and spend more time with a befriended producer who lives and works there.
So, what are you waiting for? Follow Femke’s example and come to Berlin. Click here for UPDATE14 tickets. See you in Berlin!