Last Saturday I had the privilege to photograph the RSM gala for students of the International MBA program at Erasmus university — and I do mean ‘privilege’. I also photographed this gala last year and was ever so pleased with the result. Well, it turned out, so were they. Several of the guests commented to me how they loved last year’s collection.

This year the set up was a little different. There were almost twice as many guests, meaning there were two floors for the gala. Also, this year the guests had been forewarned that ‘the same photographer as last year would be present again’ and ‘he is available to take your photo.’ Well, that made quite a difference! Last year it really took a whole before people wanted to be photographed. This year I was barely in the door and I was swamped with requests already. I barely had a moment to myself — just a brief one when I sampled the wonderful deserts :-).

Again, people loved the quality of the images they saw on the back of the camera. They kept coming back for more. People took the opportunity to have me shoot a special portrait of them. As much as possible, I tried to take headshots and full-body shots. After all, everybody looked just amazing in their evening wear. As I always tell people when they like my picture: “it’s really difficult to take a bad picture of good-looking people…!”

I photographed with two different set-ups: I brought my Elinchrom Ranger RX and shot with umbrella. I also used my Nikon SB-900 on a stand with Nikon’s CLS system, aiming it at the ceiling and using it as a reflector, while dragging the shutter. Truth is I liked the second set-up better. I think the black marble floor makes for wonderful reflectiions.

The whole set of images is on OYPO so everyone can order their own favorites in what ever size and type of print — including wall paper and printed T-shirts.

Lots more pictures after the jump! Remember to click on the photo’s to see them larger and sharper!

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