Nick & Simon is a Dutch singer-songwriter duo composed of Simon Keizer and Nick Schilder. They gained lots of success in their home country the Netherlands in 2006. Photographer, Ruud Baan was asked to shoot them for an interview.

About the project - Nick & Simon are two dutch singers, a duo, singer and songwriters. They're very popular in the Netherlands. It’s not my kind of music, but I respect them who they are and how they are doing it on the market. They're real smart guys and real musicians!
-Ruud Baan

JFk Magazine asked me to take some pictures by an interview. I've shot them two years ago also for the JFK and that was quite far from their comfort zone but they went for it. Now, I want to do something else but it was still a little bit awkward and at the same a bit funny. When I saw the duo like Nick & Simon, I thought about Gilbert and George for example, funny characters - I don’t know who is who but I see them as a tandem as a couple. That was also an inspiration for this shoot - Gilbert and George. A lot of colour, guitars as the symbol for the musicians and the guitarist.
-Ruud Baan

My advice for upcoming artist - You learn photography by taking pictures. You learn by making mistakes and you learn while you are taking pictures. So don’t hesitate too much.
Also don’t look too much at other photographers, don’t be a copycat but get inspiration from other photographers/artist. Look at yourself, where are you, where do you want to go.
-Ruud Baan

I used a Hasselblad Phase One, Canon 5DS, Canon Mark 3 and a Profoto flash equipment for this project.
-Ruud Baan

About Ruud Baan

Ruud Baan is a photographer who lives in the Netherlands. His work is a combination of portraits photography, fashion and sports photography with a life kind of feel, colorful and energetic.
He specializes in "capturing the moment". Besides photography, Ruud Baan has been working as a director for several video clips and commercials. He has worked for clients such as: 180 Amsterdam, Adidas, AKQA, Asics, Bacardi, CDM New York, Channel 4, Coca-Cola, DDB, Discovery Channel, DRAFTfcb, Footlocker, Heineken, Johnny Walker, JWT, Karl Kani, Levi’s, Mc.Donald’s, Nike, Nitro, Nivea, Marriot Hotel, O’Neill, Onitsuka Tiger, Puma, Reebok, Renault, Royal Dutch Ballet, Sony, TBWA, Vodafone, Umbro, Under Armour, BSUR, Wieden+Kennedy, JFK, Esquire, The Source, RedBulletin , Red Bull, Opel, BMW, & Mizuno. See more of his work on Behance or his website.