Cody Gakpo had the opportunity to create his own clothing line, and was tasked with photographing the campaign featuring Cody and his friends. This day was a blend of various elements: sunshine, snow, iconic Eindhoven settings, and three awesome local lads.

Collaborating with Cody was a smooth experience, thanks to our prior work together on the stomping grounds photo series. He had confidence in my ability to deliver excellent results for his personal apparel project, which facilitated our work. Cody often had a good understanding of the poses and shots I was aiming for, streamlining our process.

Working with Cody is a delight. He exudes a relaxed and kind demeanor, and his genuine interest in the creative process shines through. What makes collaborating with him even better is his down-to-earth nature, willingness to explore new ideas, and trust in my skills.

To add variety to our image series, Cody enlisted two of his friends to join the shoot as stand-ins for certain photos. It was a fantastic experience working with this small crew, and we explored various locations throughout Eindhoven to capture the essence of the project.

The “hit and run” shoot presented its fair share of time-related challenges. The project involved a combination of photo and video shoots at intermittent intervals. We had selected five distinct locations in Eindhoven for the shoot. Some of these locations highlighted significant landmarks of the city, while others offered a more neutral and versatile backdrop.

When working with football players, time is always a precious commodity. Players have tightly packed schedules, starting with training sessions and tactical meetings, followed by strength training and interviews. All of these activities essentially create a typical nine-to-five workday, and on top of that, they have matches to play during the weekends.