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Welcome to the Metal Maven Podcast

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where we explore and discover the process

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and passions of artists and the Metal

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music and art community.

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In episode eight of Metal Maven Podcast,

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I'm joined by Belgian international music

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and portrait photographer, Tim

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Tronckoe. Welcome Tim, how are you?

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Hello there. I'm very good and you?

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Oh, I'm excellent now that I'm chatting

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with you. The last time I saw you was

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2016 at Epic Metal Fest in

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Tilburg.

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Omg, that's a long time ago!

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It's been

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quite awhile, so I'm thrilled t o catch

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up with you.

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Likewise – absolutely.

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Always thrilled.

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So let's dive in

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and discuss your new book PORTRAITS,

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which has been very well received.

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All pre-orders are sold out, so

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congratulations.

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Yay, thank you!

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I know, right? That was quick. What was it – three

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to four weeks and you were set?

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Yeah, it was even a bit less than three weeks

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I think, which was incredible. I could never

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have anticipated that. I was like, "What

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just happened?" So it was just amazing.

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But all the other people involved, they will

1:09

also very supportive. They also shared

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the shit out of it, so that helped

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quite a bit, of course.

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Oh, of course it does. So for those of

1:17

you listening who don't know, PORTRAITS

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is Tim's first-ever, limited edition

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coffee table photography book.

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It's 180 pages of

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classical portraits featuring renowned Hard

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Rock and Metal musicians. Tim,

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conceptually, what was the idea

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and inspiration behind this project and

1:36

how did it manifest into this

1:39

brilliant thing?

1:40

Well, it all started actually

1:43

because of my love for classical

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art, mainly, and the Hard Rock

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and Metal scene. I love both those worlds.

1:50

People always consider

1:52

it to be a big contrast

1:54

, like classical art is old and

1:56

boring, and then you have this Hard Rock scene, which is very,

1:59

very mature and very, very

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hard, and very to the

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core, to the bone. But actually,

2:05

I love both worlds because I think both have

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their aspects that are very

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interesting and they all go back so

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many years, and ages,

2:16

and centuries. So, it all started about three years

2:18

ago when I was just walking through

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a local exhibition of classical portraits.

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And I was there with my boyfriend, Simon.

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We were just going through the exhibition

2:29

and when we almost reached the end, we

2:31

were both like, "Hey, why don't we

2:34

combine Tim, your work field

2:36

with this kind of work – like, all these classical

2:39

portraits – and turn your portraits

2:41

, the work you do with

2:44

the artists in the Hard Rock scene , why don't we

2:46

combine this and find a beautiful

2:48

symbiosis for this?" I was like, "Oh

2:51

yeah, this could actually work." So

2:53

I did my research of it and I was

2:55

very careful, of course, I didn't want to share anything

2:57

at that time and I really know what

2:59

to expect. But then I just wrote

3:01

to Myles Kennedy

3:04

of Alter Bridge and Michael Starr of

3:07

Steel Panther , just to give them

3:09

the idea, and to ask them what

3:11

they thought of it. And why did I choose them?

3:13

Because I knew they were going to be in the area in

3:16

a few weeks from then and they were

3:18

open to the idea, and they welcomed me

3:21

to their show in Belgium, in

3:23

Brussels. And they told me, "Tim, we

3:25

can give you 15 or 20

3:27

minutes just before the show to shoot the

3:29

portraits. And when we had taken those

3:31

images, and I sent them to

3:33

them, they were so enthusiastic

3:35

about them and they both said the same

3:38

thing: " Tim if you give yourself

3:40

enough time for this, and then if

3:43

you turn this into a book, this might be such

3:45

a unique thing – this might be such a huge

3:49

success." So that was exactly what I did.

3:51

And I didn't share this

3:53

with anyone who was not involved in the project.

3:56

Three years later it proved to be a huge success

3:58

and everyone wanted to be involved in it as well, so. Yeah, but

4:01

the basic idea came from

4:04

my love, my passion for

4:07

art, art in its purest form, like

4:09

the paintings, the music, combining everything.

4:12

And of course, I wanted to do something

4:15

greater than myself – I wanted to exceed myself

4:16

– so that's when the good

4:19

cause came came along as well.

4:21

So you also with this project wanted

4:24

to emphasize the way we perceive

4:26

and view musicians and artists, you know, in

4:29

a way we – there's this admiration,

4:31

and worship, and also seeing

4:33

them as, you know, rock 'n' roll

4:36

royalty.

4:37

True. Well, yeah , indeed that's true, but

4:39

that idea only came after a

4:42

couple of months. I think during the first year of shooting

4:45

I realized that when I had done the photo

4:47

shoot with Tarja, I think, where we had

4:49

portrayed her as Anne Boleyn. I

4:52

saw the pictures, I was like, "Actually, we

4:55

are portraying these

4:57

artists as the way we

4:59

perceive them, as the way we look at them. We

5:01

put them on a stage in front of thousands of

5:03

people and we admire them just

5:05

like a King or Queen would, back in the

5:08

days, or even nowadays, show themselves

5:10

to the audience and everyone would be in awe looking

5:13

at them." And actually, it's a bit the same way

5:15

– the same distance between that

5:18

person, who is just a human being,

5:22

just like anyone else, we put them on a stage

5:24

and they become this public property

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almost that we admire, and we

5:29

find inspiration in these

5:31

people. And along the way while shooting these

5:34

portraits , it was a big contrast for me, because

5:36

actually by doing that, by portraying

5:39

them as royalty in a way, I

5:42

kind of wanted to get

5:44

away from the idea, maybe make people realize

5:46

that, "Hey, I am

5:49

portraying them as royalty, the people

5:51

we look up to, but actually, they're just human

5:53

beings of flesh and blood." And,

5:56

along the way, I realized that that was a cool

5:58

contrast that I was implementing

6:01

into the book because we also have some very

6:04

stripped down portraits like more the Caravaggio and Rembrandt

6:06

– they are a lot

6:08

more modest, and a lot more sincere,

6:11

and a lot more open and vulnerable.

6:13

So it was my challenge

6:15

to combine both these worlds a bit

6:17

and I think we succeeded quite

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well in this project.

6:20

I could not agree more. Everything I've seen,

6:23

so far, looks beautiful.

6:25

Thank you.

6:25

You're welcome. Let's transition to the physical,

6:28

the actual act of creating this.

6:30

As you said, it was a bit of a secret project,

6:32

about three years in the making, is that correct?

6:34

That is correct, it was quite a challenge.

6:37

And obviously involved a lot of planning and

6:39

close attention to detail. I mean, you had set

6:41

location, artist scheduling,

6:44

custom couture design,

6:46

and then on top of it, you had video

6:48

documenting and so much more. How

6:50

did you manage such a large scale project,

6:53

especially in regard to your own work schedule

6:55

outside of this with clients as well

6:57

as teaching?

6:59

Yeah, I am quite a bit of a control

7:01

freak myself. But what

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I love about the things I do, is

7:06

I always surround myself with a team that I can

7:08

totally trust. And I

7:10

rely on that team as much as I can,

7:13

and that helps a lot to just

7:15

get rid of all the stress that I have around it. But

7:17

still, I am a control freak and I want to have my

7:19

planning there, I want to schedule everything

7:22

myself, I want to choose my team, want

7:24

to choose who I work with. And keeping

7:26

it a secret, of course, it's very important there

7:28

because that's why I wanted to work with people

7:30

I have already worked with. So,

7:32

I was still working for my clients, of course,

7:34

the bands who wanted their band pictures for the new albums,

7:37

like Tarja, like all

7:40

the other bands. That was also

7:42

a very good thing because I got to work with

7:44

new people there and then I could also

7:46

test them a bit like, "Hey, would you be up

7:48

to work with me for this project?"

7:50

And sometimes they accepted and sometimes I was like,

7:53

"Hmm, maybe I shouldn't ask this person because

7:55

maybe they won't be able to keep their

7:57

mouth shut about the project." So I

8:02

had to take care of a lot of things and make sure that

8:04

I surrounded myself with a good team

8:06

of people I could trust. And that was my

8:09

starting point. And then, of course, like you

8:11

said, it just came down

8:13

to arranging everything from the

8:16

smallest detail because people don't realize,

8:19

it's not just pushing a button, it's arranging

8:21

everything from location – "Do I have a

8:23

location? If I don't have a location, I

8:26

need to make myself a location. Do we

8:28

need to find that perfect makeup artist for

8:30

this, the perfect hairstylist

8:33

for this , the perfect person who can

8:35

arrange styling and wardrobe

8:38

for this project?" Because for the big photo

8:41

shoots with Agnete from Djerv

8:44

, with Simone from Epica, Sharon

8:46

from Within Temptation, and so on, we wanted

8:49

to make everything from scratch ourselves.

8:51

So what

8:53

did I do? I just, the first thing I did was months

8:55

in advance, sometimes even a year in advance,

8:58

I already went to a show of them or I

9:00

asked them, "Could you please take

9:02

your measurements?" Or we sent someone to a show to

9:04

take their measurements so we can design their

9:06

outfits from scratch. So it was actually

9:09

a bit of couture that we were doing.

9:11

They're not really couture couture, like every detail

9:13

hand-made, but as much as

9:16

possible, self-made and made custom,

9:18

made for that one vocalist , for that

9:20

one singer, because I didn't

9:22

just want to go to a dress

9:25

up store or a carnival

9:27

store and I just go like, "Hey, we'll just rent a bunch

9:30

of outfits that 100 people

9:32

have already been wearing and just try

9:34

the best one on these people.

9:38

I wanted to do this

9:40

the best way possible, and the most authentic

9:42

way possible, and I wanted this to be

9:44

unique, and I didn't want

9:47

to cut down on anything. Some

9:50

people were telling me, "Tim is this is getting so

9:52

expensive, you must be spending

9:54

so much money on this ." I was like, "I don't care.

9:56

If I do something, I

9:58

want to give it the absolute best

10:01

that I can and I don't want to look at the cost

10:03

of it."

10:04

Well, it obviously worked out fantastic

10:06

because everything looks amazing and

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your pre-orders sold

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out, so...

10:11

Yeah, that's the proof of all

10:13

the hard work. Yay!

10:15

Exactly, I know, right? I want to transition

10:18

into talking about who you are outside

10:20

of the music industry and I did

10:23

want to talk about your work as a teacher.

10:25

Most people view you as

10:27

only a rock photographer, that's all they know you

10:29

as, but you also work as

10:32

a – I'm assuming it's the photography

10:34

department, right?

10:35

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's it exactly.

10:38

It's a secondary education arts school

10:40

in Ghent.

10:42

Yeah. It's actually VISO, actually, that's

10:44

the way we say it.

10:45

Okay. Reading VISO's mission

10:47

statement, the goal of the

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school is to create confident individuals

10:52

who can cope with the constant flow of

10:54

information in our rapidly evolving

10:56

world. You mentioned in your explanation

10:59

of PORTRAITS that you're seeing more

11:01

and more students struggling

11:03

with mental health, and because

11:05

of this, benefits from this project

11:08

will support PsychoseNet.be .

11:11

Yep, Correct.

11:12

My next question would be why this

11:14

charity specifically, and also,

11:17

why this cause for you personally?

11:20

Well, I chose this cause – from

11:22

the start, when I started the project, I had no

11:24

idea what kind of good cause I wanted to support.

11:28

I was still thinking about, "What is my main interest?

11:30

Where do I find myself the

11:32

best?" And along the process,

11:34

I realized that me as a teacher actually,

11:36

because I, like you said, as a teacher,

11:38

I see so many of my students, or my

11:41

pupils, struggling finding

11:43

who they are because they are 12, 13, 14, 15-years-old and

11:47

they're in that process of finding

11:49

themselves, discovering themselves . "Who am

11:52

I? What do I want to become?

11:55

What do I want to achieve in life?" And for

11:57

some of them it's easier than for others and, those

11:59

who are struggling, I see it as my

12:01

responsibility. For my

12:03

colleagues, I see it as our responsibility to

12:05

– not to choose it for them but just to

12:08

guide them the best way possible

12:10

and to help them overcome

12:11

maybe their anxieties and their

12:16

struggles, and not maybe have them

12:19

solve that, but support them in that,

12:21

and guide them along that way, because it's

12:23

a long way when you're at school. Most of

12:25

them are at school more than they

12:27

are at home. So it's a very big

12:29

responsibility and it's sometimes

12:31

overlooked a bit, but the responsibility that

12:33

teachers have nowadays with all

12:36

these different media and all these different impulses

12:40

that all these young kids get, it's

12:42

not easy to be a kid nowadays.

12:44

So, I see it as a very

12:46

important role that we are playing in

12:49

our modern society, not only to

12:51

stuff them with knowledge, but also to

12:53

get them to where they should

12:54

be, as a

12:57

stable person in a not-so-stable

13:00

society, which is such a big challenge.

13:03

So when I was thinking about

13:05

that, me as a teacher and as a

13:07

photographer, because I have a very big

13:09

role in there as well, maybe not as big

13:11

as in being a teacher, but I really

13:13

wanted to support what was very

13:15

close to heart and it was something in

13:19

mental illnesses, and mental stability,

13:20

and in mental healthcare . And

13:24

then along the way I was looking for the best organization

13:26

to support because I didn't want to support an organization

13:29

that's already getting a lot of governmental

13:31

support and money, and finances from

13:33

the government. I didn't want to go for that. So

13:36

PsychosisNet – "PsychoseNet" as

13:39

we say in Dutch, was, to me,

13:41

the best organization because they are totally

13:43

independent. They don't rely on the

13:45

government – they are just a

13:47

team of people who are directly

13:49

from the field, who are experts in what they

13:51

do. There are family members

13:53

of people who have been

13:55

through that process. So, to me,

13:57

that was the best organization possible to

14:00

support. I felt so much at home there

14:03

because to me , I'm

14:05

sometimes also struggling mentally, maybe not as heavily

14:08

as some of the people that are

14:11

at my school, but I find

14:13

myself so familiar in this

14:15

work field that there

14:17

was no hesitation whatsoever

14:20

to start supporting this.

14:22

Well, I understand too, and maybe

14:24

what prompted you to look more into this

14:26

as well, is that while working on this project,

14:28

you lost a very close friend, Jill Janus of

14:31

the band Huntress.

14:33

Yeah, true, unfortunately.

14:33

She suffered

14:35

from mental health issues and took her own life

14:37

and that must have been an awful day .

14:40

Yeah. I still remember that day so well. I

14:42

was sitting behind my computer, I was just working

14:44

on some photos and all of a sudden that

14:46

news reached me. It hadn't been online

14:49

I think yet, but I don't really remember how it

14:51

reached me. And the first thing I did,

14:53

in true disbelief, I sent

14:56

a WhatsApp message to Jill. I was like,

14:58

"Jill, this cannot

15:00

be true. Come on, respond to me now."

15:02

And the response never came. About a

15:05

half an hour later , the news was spread on the Internet,

15:07

it was everywhere, that Jill Janice was

15:10

no longer amongst us, that

15:12

she had taken her own life. And that was while

15:14

I was finding the right cause to support

15:17

with this book, with this project. It

15:19

made me realize even more that that was the decisive

15:21

moment for me to go for this

15:24

field to support. And

15:26

it was such a horrible day for me. Emotionally, I

15:32

was devastated, but it

15:35

had a double feeling. I was devastated on one hand, but on

15:37

the other hand I was like, I

15:40

had made up my mind, this is what I want to support

15:42

and nothing else.

15:44

What I would like to know is, if you

15:46

are able to have another day with

15:48

Jill and photograph her for PORTRAITS,

15:51

how would you have portrayed her?

15:53

Well, it was all actually already in my

15:55

mind for like two years that I would like

15:57

Jill in this book. And so

16:00

that made it even worse to me when when I got

16:02

the news, because now I knew, "God, she's

16:05

never go even going to make it to the book," which, it's

16:09

not that important that she's not in the book, but to me

16:11

it was like, "Damn." I

16:14

mean, she could have maybe

16:17

had her moment one more time in

16:19

this book and that might've been – what we

16:21

could have done. It's all still a big question mark

16:23

to me. How could we have

16:26

portrayed her in the

16:28

most beautiful way possible? And I

16:30

think for her, I probably would have

16:32

portrayed her as, not really

16:34

as a Queen, but maybe as still a strong

16:36

woman, but as a nowadays woman,

16:39

maybe stripped down just a little bit more,

16:41

and more to the core. Maybe a very dark

16:43

portrait of her, like I made the portrait of

16:45

the guys in Slayer, of some other

16:47

people in this book, and

16:50

just maybe make a very stripped down, dark

16:52

portrait of her where she would be recognizable

16:54

still, but with some mystery around

16:56

it. And I think that would have been the best way to

16:58

portray her because she was full of mystery. When

17:01

she was still so open, when

17:03

we met, she was still such a good friend, so I

17:05

would try to find that balance somewhere and

17:07

just make a portrait, like that represented

17:09

Caravaggio a bit where he showed

17:11

people for what they are: very dark,

17:14

very dramatic, but still this mystery

17:16

and still this personal connection with

17:19

the portrait that he made. So

17:21

I would probably have had her portrayed

17:23

that way.

17:24

I'm sure she would have loved it. And

17:26

I'm glad that you've been open to

17:28

discussing this because I know it's not something that's easy

17:31

to talk about, especially when it hits so close

17:33

to home, so thank you.

17:34

No , you're welcome.

17:35

You've had the privilege and opportunity

17:37

to work with amazing artists

17:40

and create wonderful memories with them,

17:42

not only for yourself, but for fans

17:44

as well. How did you get to this

17:46

point, Tim? Why photography

17:48

as your medium to perceive the world around

17:50

you?

17:50

Well, as a kid

17:53

I've always been fascinated

17:56

by imagery. First of all, by videos.

17:58

As a kid I used to love to make videos.

18:01

I loved to draw. I was always

18:03

– because I didn't really

18:05

get it from my parents, because they are not that arts

18:07

- oriented, but I

18:09

don't know where I got it from, but I just loved looking

18:12

at things, and just making and turning

18:14

them into my own, and showing

18:16

people what I was thinking about, and

18:18

what my inspiration

18:20

was, or what I saw through my

18:22

eyes. And because, sometimes it

18:24

was very realistic, sometimes it

18:27

was not realistic at all and I

18:29

just love to combine these things. So it

18:31

started with, and then all of a sudden it started evolving

18:33

into music. I got into music,

18:36

I started listening to Rock, to Pop music,

18:38

to Metal. And then all

18:40

of a sudden, when I was 16, I started combining

18:43

photography because when I attended my first

18:45

concert, I took some crappy pictures,

18:47

but still, I loved it . And I didn't really like the

18:49

pictures at the time, but I just loved the

18:51

process of looking back on to

18:53

something that had just happened the

18:56

night before. And then looking at it again,

18:58

and reliving that moment. So as

19:00

of that moment, I just started going to concerts,

19:03

taking live pictures. But then I was intrigued

19:06

by what was going on behind the scenes because

19:08

everyone can see obviously what's happening on

19:10

the stage. All the photographers are taking

19:12

the same pictures. So I was more intrigued

19:14

by, "Hey, what's happening behind the stage? Who

19:17

are these people? Can I

19:19

get to know them? How are

19:21

they, and who are they? How are they

19:23

personally one-to-one?" So that's when I

19:25

decided to dive into the field

19:28

of taking that portrait

19:30

right before stage time, and having

19:32

this short connection with

19:34

that artist. And that opened

19:37

my eyes and, because of my work, that opened

19:39

so many doors. Labels and managers

19:42

opened doors to me and they welcomed me amongst

19:44

their band to spend some more time

19:46

with them to choose their pictures. And

19:48

yeah, I was able to sometimes

19:51

just get carte blanche and they came

19:53

to me like, "Tim, we need new pictures. How

19:56

would you see our new imagery? How would you

19:58

see our new pictures?" And it's so cool to be

20:00

part of that. And the biggest example of

20:02

that is the new pictures that I was

20:04

able to do with Tarja. Tarja

20:07

is such a great inspiration to

20:09

me, but last time we saw each other, she mentioned

20:12

as well that I am a great inspiration to her as

20:14

well. And that moment that made a little click

20:16

in my

20:18

mind like, "Hey, I am an inspiration to someone

20:21

I've been looking up to for so

20:23

many years." And that was so cool because she was

20:25

actually listening to me and to the ideas

20:27

that I had. And it

20:29

made it such a great turning point

20:31

in my career. Like the new pictures we did for

20:34

her new album, In the Raw, we

20:38

had been talking about this idea for such a long time

20:40

and I was so proud that we, as

20:42

a team, were able to pull this off actually because

20:45

if we discussed the idea where we're like, "Hey,

20:47

we're going to shoot in a cave." The main

20:49

thing I was thinking about, "Okay, how do I need to put the

20:51

lights in ?" I mean it's a cave. "How

20:54

do I want to portray her in

20:56

this cave?" Because it's such a stripped down

21:00

situation, such a stripped down

21:02

scenery, and I want to portray her the most

21:04

beautiful way I've ever portrayed

21:06

her. And in the end, we were able to succeed

21:08

in doing that and it all came together.

21:11

And when doing that, I

21:13

realized that, "Hey, as

21:15

a kid of 10, 11- years-old, how

21:17

would that kid

21:19

have reacted to that idea? Like, "Hey Tim, when you

21:22

are going to be 28, 29 you're

21:24

going to be doing that kind of project." I

21:26

would probably have lost my mind back then because

21:28

I could not have imagined it. But

21:31

because of the process that I've had

21:33

throughout all these years, that had led up to that

21:35

moment, I realized I needed

21:38

those years to evaluate my own

21:40

process and evaluate my own

21:42

way of thinking about things and seeing

21:45

things. And I think when I see the results, I'm

21:47

just so proud of it.

21:49

Well, see how far curiosity can take

21:51

you just experimenting with things,

21:53

and evolving, and trying to

21:56

understand how other people live and how

21:58

other people, in your case with musicians,

22:00

perform and who they are back stage

22:02

? It's really, really interesting to see where

22:04

you began and where you are at this point. Now

22:07

that we've discussed the past, let's

22:09

talk about the future. There will be

22:11

a public exhibition of your work for PORTRAITS

22:13

as well, beginning the day after

22:15

this podcast is released on Saturday,

22:17

September 28th. Now, I

22:20

don't want to botch the pronunciation of

22:22

this, so I'm going to let you say it. It's

22:24

in your hometown of Ghent .

22:26

So it is in Ghent, it's in my hometown,

22:28

where I live, because

22:30

I wanted to do it here in my hometown of Ghent. The

22:33

location is called the Drongenhofkapel, which

22:35

is just a chapel, which is called the Drongenhof

22:37

because it's a medieval chapel,

22:40

totally stripped down. There's nothing, there are no

22:42

facilities. So that was very cool to me because

22:44

so many of the big photo shoots

22:46

for this book were all done in my hometown

22:49

because again, it's a medieval city.

22:51

It's one of

22:53

the oldest cities of Belgium, if

22:55

not Europe, which still has a

22:57

big medieval castle right in the city

22:59

center. It's actually very close to the castle. I did

23:04

the photo shoot with Charlotte of Delain, I did in Ghent. I

23:07

shot Agnete from

23:09

Djerv in Ghent, in the photo studio then. I shot

23:12

Alissa from Archenemy in Ghent. So, it

23:15

was so meaningful for me to do it in my own

23:17

hometown. And I found this location which was so stripped

23:21

down, so, naked actually

23:23

– it's like a blank canvas,

23:25

which I was able to just

23:28

put everything in there the way I wanted

23:30

and I could just decorate

23:33

it the way I wanted it. So I wanted this old

23:35

environment, this old location,

23:37

with this very modern exhibition

23:42

in there. So, a very big white wall with

23:44

all the works, and that

23:46

contrast to me was so striking

23:48

that I was like, "I need to go for that one. That's

23:50

going to be the location and nothing else, so I can

23:52

just make it my own." So it's starting

23:54

the 28th of September, and

23:57

we start on the 27th with a big launch

23:59

of course with the press, and the people

24:01

who I've invited who have been part

24:03

of this project. And then the 28th

24:06

we're starting and it lasts up until the 12th

24:08

of October, so it's not that long because I wanted

24:11

to make it short and fierce,

24:13

but it's going to be really beautiful. So people

24:16

who come to the exhibition can actually make

24:18

a full day trip out of it because Ghent

24:20

is such a beautiful historical city which

24:22

has so much to offer.

24:24

I understand that there's going to be

24:27

life -size versions of your

24:29

photographs and it seems like

24:32

you found the perfect canvas to display

24:34

them on. Now that I know more

24:36

about the location, you know, it's

24:39

very personal for you obviously because it's in your

24:41

hometown, it has this medieval setting

24:43

which pairs well with the

24:45

theme of the work. What should people

24:47

expect to see when they visit?

24:49

When they enter, I

24:52

think they will be blown away basically by

24:55

how big the location is and what I've

24:57

done with it because I don't want to make

24:59

it like this very theatrical exhibition,

25:01

I just want to bring it down to the core and

25:04

here are the pictures – just look

25:06

at them, look at the life-size pictures

25:08

and just absorb what

25:10

they tell you, what these images

25:12

are telling you. And I didn't want

25:14

to add too much text to it, I just wanted to

25:17

let the images speak for themselves and

25:19

I think when people will see the

25:21

actual exhibition, they should all be,

25:24

I think they will all be, a bit in awe.

25:26

But I just wanted it be a very personal

25:28

experience, and I want everyone just

25:30

to experience it in their own way. And

25:32

I think if somebody exits

25:35

the exhibition and tells me, "Tim, I've been

25:38

able to see something which I've seen in the book,

25:40

but also something which was not in the book." If

25:42

they recognize that, because that's going to be the

25:44

case – there are going to be things, elements, pictures

25:46

that are not going to be in the book and then when

25:48

they get the full package, I think that's going to be my

25:50

biggest success.

25:51

That's, that's interesting to know. I didn't realize

25:53

that it was going to be other photos that weren't

25:56

included in your book. So,

25:58

all right guys, you got to get there if you're in

26:01

Ghent – it's a must visit.

26:04

I hope so!

26:04

Another question I have for you is, and

26:06

I know it can be a difficult one because

26:08

I know you love everybody that you work with, but, do you

26:10

have a favorite portrait?

26:12

Well, I'm just moving through my own

26:14

hallway here of my home because we have

26:16

everything displayed over here like in small

26:18

size, how the exhibition is

26:20

going and what the exhibition is going to look like. We

26:23

have it all over here. I just put everything on the wall

26:25

here, like smaller. So I'm just looking

26:27

at the images right now and

26:29

I'm just looking at them, I'm wondering which

26:32

of the photos shoots, like the light , which photo

26:34

shoot did it all come together that I have the

26:36

feeling like, "This is it. Here,

26:38

we have exactly what we need." And I

26:40

have a couple of examples, I think. I think

26:42

Mina from Life of Agony, when

26:45

we shot her pictures it was like in 10 minutes

26:47

at a festival, but she has this

26:49

one picture where she's

26:52

just portrayed so beautifully, you can still

26:54

see the veins on her arms,

26:56

in her hands, and then she's got this very, very

26:58

sincere and very, very serene look

27:03

in her face. And when we shot that

27:05

picture and when I put it on my computer

27:07

and I printed it, that was the

27:09

first image where I was like, "God,

27:11

this is such a cool, picture,

27:14

which tells such a cool

27:16

story, which is such a personal picture."

27:18

But then when I'm looking further back

27:20

, I see the picture of Alissa in her beautiful

27:23

blue dress. It's one of the last pictures that

27:25

we made during the one-day photo shoot

27:28

where we just went up to the Chinese salon

27:30

of this beautiful Rococo house here

27:33

in the city of Ghent, and it was the last

27:35

picture that we took of her in front of this

27:37

beautiful wallpaper. And that picture

27:40

just pops. She just like jumps

27:42

out of the picture, it's unreal

27:44

when you look at it. So it's going to beone of

27:46

the central pieces in the exhibition as well.

27:49

And when I saw the picture, it just shows

27:51

everything that I wanted to show in this portrait,

27:54

like the classical way that Alissa is in the picture,

27:56

but still she shows who she really is.

27:59

She doesn't lose her true identity. She

28:01

doesn't lose who she is, she doesn't

28:03

lose what she stands for. And I

28:05

think that is a very striking

28:08

picture because the light, of course, has to

28:10

be perfect. The outfit has to be perfect, the pose

28:12

has to be perfect. And I think in an

28:14

image like that, everything really, really came

28:16

together. I'm just looking at the other pictures

28:19

that I have and they all have this element

28:21

because when I was choosing these pictures,

28:23

I had about 100 or 200

28:25

pictures to choose from and it's like I

28:28

needed to bring it down to like how many

28:30

pictures? About 60 or 70 pictures for the

28:32

exhibition. So it was like killing my

28:34

own children. So I had

28:36

to go for these pictures that were

28:38

striking to me in one way or another.

28:40

So I think they all have that. But I think that

28:42

picture of Alissa and that picture of

28:45

Mina have that – I

28:47

don't know if I look at it, I just keep looking

28:50

at, it's still, even a year after

28:52

we've made that picture. And we

28:55

also have this picture of Simone. Simone

28:57

is in this very big Elizabethan

29:00

white dress designed by my wonderful

29:02

boyfriend, by the way, I have to give him some credit.

29:06

And she was in this big cathedral here in

29:08

Ghent, and in this one picture

29:10

we just put her in front, not in the actual

29:12

cathedral setting, but just in

29:14

front of a beautiful plain blue canvas,

29:17

painted canvas, and she's just looking

29:19

over her shoulder a bit into the camera.

29:21

And that was the most striking image, which is

29:24

so cool and which is a bit weird

29:26

because we are in this beautiful setting of a cathedral

29:29

and then we put her in front of a blue canvas

29:31

and that's actually the best picture of the entire setting,

29:33

stripped down again, just Simone, as

29:35

she is, looking at me in

29:37

front of a blue canvas and nothing else.

29:40

So image to me is also very, very striking.

29:43

But I have a couple of them, so if you want to see

29:45

them, you really have to see the exhibition where

29:47

all the images are going to be life-sized

29:49

. So that's going to be very spectacular.

29:52

I know, it's very different looking at photos

29:54

in a book versus in-person and

29:57

bigger than the normal size, like full-size.

29:59

It's a lot to take in and you

30:01

actually can get close and see detail.

30:04

Everything looks stunning from what I've seen Tim.

30:06

Your work is always very inspiring and executed

30:09

meticulously.

30:11

Well, thank you.

30:11

A little side note: I work with

30:13

your band photography all the time in

30:15

my work. I wanted to thank you for creating

30:18

such beautiful art to integrate into my designs.

30:20

It makes my job easier.

30:22

It's all my pleasure. Yeah, I'm

30:25

happy that you say that because there are so many,

30:27

and I don't want to talk shit about other photographers, but there

30:29

are sometimes magazines who

30:31

come to me like, "Hey Tim, we've just got these

30:34

new press pictures of this band, but

30:36

we can't do anything with

30:38

it because they don't work for our publishing

30:42

or for our graphic design. It just doesn't fit

30:45

the article or it doesn't fit the cover. What

30:47

can you offer us? Which pictures do you have of

30:49

this band?" And it's always something that I try

30:51

to do. I always try to not only

30:53

focus on, "Okay how can I make this an artistically

30:56

interesting picture, but also how can this

30:58

reflect and how can this work on

31:00

paper and magazines and not only in a beautifully

31:04

designed booklet of an album?" So

31:06

that's what I always try to do, so I'm

31:08

very happy that you say that I make your work

31:10

a lot easier. Not easy like, "Hey,

31:12

you don't have to do anything anymore." But still I make

31:14

it a lot more challenging, and a lot more cool,

31:16

and cooler for you as well to really show

31:18

what you can do as well.

31:20

Yeah, I mean that's the brilliant part of it for me because

31:22

you make your photography very accessible for

31:24

other artists to work with. And

31:27

I think it's also, the photo

31:29

is still very powerful, but again, it's that stripped

31:31

down – you see the personality

31:34

of the band instantly and that's

31:37

the visual impact that I want to be

31:39

the forefront of my design work. And

31:41

you know, every time I get a photo from you I'm like,

31:43

"I know what photo I'm choosing, I know what I'm doing

31:45

with this."

31:46

Okay, cool. Teamwork,

31:49

yay!

31:49

Collaboration, it always works out great. Well

31:51

Tim, I wish you the best of

31:53

luck, though everything seems to have already gone

31:56

great so far for this project, and I

31:58

expect a wonderful turnout to the exhibition

32:00

launch party.

32:00

Oh, thank you.

32:02

Yeah. Well thank you so much for taking

32:04

time out of your day to talk with me and

32:07

share your vision.

32:08

Really my pleasure. It's always cool

32:10

to share some of my thoughts and it's

32:13

always cool to just talk to a friend

32:15

who I haven't seen in so many years.

32:17

I know! I hope the next time

32:20

we chat it's in person because it's been far

32:22

too long.

32:22

Indeed. But, you know what, I'll

32:24

take today, you know? That's good that I can chat

32:26

with you. Absolutely.

32:30

For more information on Tim's portraits

32:32

project and his exhibition in Ghent,

32:35

Belgium, open to the public with

32:37

free entry beginning September 20 until

32:39

October 12th. Visit Tim trunko.com

32:43

visit metal Maven, podcast.com for

32:45

links to Tim's social profiles, photos,

32:48

videos, and read the full transcript of this

32:50

interview. Thanks for tuning in and

32:52

be sure to subscribe to metal Maven podcast

32:54

on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, and

32:57

Google.