The story behind the story

As I mentioned before I would like to give you a short impression on how social networking definitely can work. 

I got to know Beate Finken a couple of years ago when I stumbled over her very inspiring and style-defining blog BeFifty where she talks about fashion, beauty and travels. This blog specially addresses to the 40+ women. Beate is a very heartwarming person and she really loves what she is doing. Check her portfolio on www.befifty.de and give her a big thumb.

I was talking about that agency from Hamburg that booked me for that Vapiano production in Cologne and the art director who coincidentally is a good friend of Beate. You will probably know what´s coming up now but it´s different. I got a phone call from the AD and he told me that Beate sent him a picture of a company manager I took a few years ago which she liked very much and that she had recommended me and my work to the agency.

The AD revealed that he actually kept the picture for 3 years on his desktop (and this is what makes the story really amazing) and always waited for a client request and a chance to work with me whenever a similar idea for a portrait would emerge. wow, what a praise!

Thanks again for that Beate and let´s keep networking.

For further information on Beate´s articles, click here:

Image on the left side, image on the right side.

All images courtesy of Quirin Siegert

Joachim Rehkämper for VAPIANO

I know the Vapiano story is not the very best to tell. Anyway, I would rather like to talk about this picture. I was asked by a Hamburg based advertising agency to do these images in Cologne. They asked me because I had been recommended to them by my dear friend and blogger Beate Finken. I will get back to that story in one of my upcoming posts. 

They checked my portfolio and fortunately seemed to like my way of doing portraits and then finally booked me. Yet I wasn´t sure what to expect in Cologne me and my assistant packed the car with almost every kind of equipment I could probably be using on location. When we arrived at the spot we had a short briefing with the artdirector and I asked him for his idea how the images should look like. He smiled and replied that he booked me for my ideas. Alright, I told my assistant to get the black background cloth out of the car. The rest of the stuff remained unpacked. I used the huge window in my back as a main light. That´s it. I love those jobs when really everyone is happy. I drove home with a grin on my face. My assistant fell asleep immediately from dealing with heavy equipment.

Joachim Rehkämper, Vice President Vapiano