Lines of the City
Dirk Bakker captures Amsterdam in lines and patterns as if the city is a visual odyssey for graphic enthusiasts and architecture lovers. Composition can be a difficult beast to tame but Dirk aka @Macenzo has an eye for making it look flawless. With over 230K followers worldwide we have our own Amsterdam IG magnate...
We met the surprisingly friendly Dirk Bakker - @Macenzo - during the Worldwide Instameet Amsterdam last May. He's a 48-year old rooted Amsterdammer with a passion for architecture and graphic design. He discovered the wonderful world of Instagram back in 2011 and has since then grown out from being a hobby photographer into a being real IG master. We asked him 5 insightful questions about his life as an Instagram'er. You might want to take notes...
How would you describe your style and why do you think people follow you? I would describe it as 'PhotoGraphic'. I studied graphic design and worked in that domain for many years; my love for lines, shapes, form, layouts and patterns was born back then. When I go out to shoot I'm always on the lookout for those 'graphical shots', it's my way to express my love for it. I find a lot of inspirations in architecture, I see a big connection between architecture and graphic design. It's all about the love for lines, shapes, layouts, as well as constructing things, putting it together. I try to create a balanced composition in every shot. I think people who love architecture and design like to follow me.
LoadingVery excited that this pic will be part of the 'You've Been Instantly Framed' Exhibition!! . The exhibition will be from march 21 till may 1st 2014 in the Alpine Art Gallery in Salt Lake City USA and aims to highlight the transformation of photography with the accessibility of the phone as a medium. . To celebrate the opening and official app launch there is a great give away!! You can join by downloading the app and subscribe to the newsletter. . For more info about the expo, app and give away see @InstantlyFramed!!
What camera do you use for IG and what are your favourite photo enhancing apps? I started out with iPhone only, so in the beginning my IG shots were iPhone 3GS/4S. Last year I was approached to join the 'Life's a photo' campaign by SamsungGalaxy, so these days I also shoot with a Samsung Galaxy camera beside my iPhone 5S. What I love about the Samsung Galaxy is the 21x optical zoom, which creates a lot of new opportunities. Some months ago I was also approached by Sony and given the opportunity to try out their latest QX10 and QX100 lens-cameras. The camera connects with your smartphone through Wifi. Especially the QX100 gives you awesome results. Your smartphone camera basically turns into a professional lens. Recently I'm looking into FullFrame cameras, I would love to shoot and experiment with that. Sometimes I go out with just my iPhone on me and other days I bring along my camera bag, it all depends on my mood. In the end it's the eye of the photographer that makes the pic, not the camera. My favourite and most used apps are Snapseed, Photgene4 and Skrwt.
How has IG changed your life? Can you make a living from IG? I discovered IG on the right moment in my life and it entirely changed it for the better. Due to illness I lost my job, struggled with my health and had a lot of free time on my hands, in IG I found a creative outlet and it gave me the physical push to go out and go photo-cycling. I discovered a big big passion in photography, unfortunately I can not make a living out of IG yet, but I'm on the path leading there. I have been given a lot of awesome opportunities already and enjoy it so much that you won't hear me complaining!
You're one of the founders of SeeMyCity. Tell us more about it.. SeeMyCity is a city marketing project, based on creative mobile photography and social media. Our goal is to show cities through unique and contemporary mobile photography. We want to inspire the residents and visitors to see, explore, appreciate and share their city through the use of photography and social media like Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook. We started in Almere and soon expanded to Rotterdam, Oslo and Leuven. Last year we did a fifth project ’SeeMyDoha’ in Qatar which was a great success and will be turned into an annual project. I'm really happy and proud to be part of SeeMyCity, it's such a great team. For more information you can visit www.seemycity.com or follow us on IG @SeeMyCity
Any other tips (do's & dont's) on how to grow an IG fan base? Only post your best shots, and don't post too many pictures in a day, certainly not in a row. You don't want to be spammy. Choose a focus or an angle, preferably what you are passionate about and try to keep it consistent. It also help to join challenges and interact with followers as much as possible, they appreciate it. And always be nice!
LoadingLiving Happily.. . #WoZoCo (woon-zorgcombinatie). Apartments for the elderly in Amsterdam by #Mvrdv architects.
Thank you Dirk for these insightful answers and personal story. Please also don't forget to follow us via @citinerary_amsterdam. - Mio -