A cinematic approach of the streets of Tokyo in which I tried to capture the people in their surroundings. Always looking for the right light and framing and preferably with just one subject. It's part of a series that I started in Amsterdam and will continue in other city's this year.

Recently I went to Tokyo where I was shooting a documentary film about Azuma Makoto (Flower artist). Whenever I work in another country I try to book some extra nights to do the thing I like most; photographing the city in my own way. I developed the style of this photography back in Amsterdam where I started some blog content on my website and later on I posted images on Instagram and Behance.

I always try to take a cinematic approach in my photography, every picture is shot with a wide angle lens and I'm always looking for different perspectives and cinematic colour grading.
If I see a nice corner, or the sunlight creates a perfect moment I wait until there is the perfect subject to get in my frame. The only way I'm able to get what I want is to have a lot of patience and of course some luck. My photographs normally work best when there is a bright sun and hard shadows but the few days I got to spend in Tokyo where cloudy and I only encountered a few moments with that bright sun. Overall I was still happy with the result, and it gave me enough confidence to go out and shoot even on a clouded day.

The color grading is a very important stage for me, it will give to photo's the mood it deserves. It took a lot of time to develop a certain style, and its still developing.

I post my pictures on Instagram and Behance, which is a great portfolio website to get some exposure and I also got featured on the Photography page, where I got really nice comments on my work and it gave me a boost in continuing with the cinematic series.

https://www.behance.net/StijnHoekstra

I will travel to Cuba and New York in April for some new work which I would be happy to share with you

Stijn Hoekstra

Stijn Hoekstra graduated from the HK in Utrecht, the Netherlands in 2008 as a cinematographer.

Over the years Stijn has built his career on translating his vision into meaningful imagery. He is known for his enthusiastic approach to work and life.

In addition to cinematography he began shooting as a commercial photographer for a wide range of brands. His stills have a rich narrative quality and express his love of storytelling. Besides his commissioned work he loves to travel the world for his personal work where he wanders and explores the streets in search of that one photo.

In his photography he uses a cinematic signature he has developed over the years to capture his images. His framing is always a combination of beautiful light, shadows and strong lines.

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