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Behind the scenes of creativity

A trip to Werkzwo Fotostudio

Why seek far afield, when the good is so close?

We thought so too. The Werkzwo Fotostudio has been located not far from the Br24 headquarters in Ahaus, more precisely in the Wüllen industrial park, since 2011. Br24 and Werkzwo have been working together in partnership since 2014. It’s high time to get to know each other personally; face-to-face instead of over the phone.

Said and done! The Br24 team made a trip to Werkzwo Fotostudio. André and Ines Winkler spent almost a whole day with us, showed us around their impressive photo studio and gave us an insight into their daily work in front of and behind the scenes at Werkzwo Fotostudio.

Br24 Blog Behind the scenes of creativity: View of a setting at the Werkzwo Fotostudio

At first glance, the large grey hall appears to be a typical industrial park hall. But as soon as we enter the building, we are quickly taught otherwise. Offices, a built-in, functional green screen with daylight installation, an XXL infinity cove built in the cyclorama and various theme sets, including a fully functional show kitchen, are spread over several hundred square metres. Everywhere we discover numerous settings, finished or under construction, accessories and decorative objects.

Werkzwo also offers the entire studio as a rental studio to other photographers and filmmakers as well as musicians and influencers. Not everyone has their own space and can therefore rent individual areas of the studio or even the entire studio.

The complete photo studio is self-made. In the in-house workshop, the Werkzwo team manufactures all sets and individual parts themselves. Almost everything can be realised here, individually tailored to each project.

But first things first.

WHO & WHAT IS WERKZWO?

The core of Werkzwo are Ines and André Winkler. He is a trained theatre and set builder as well as a photographer. She comes from the visual marketing sector. Together they set up their own photo studio “Werkzwo Fotostudio” in 2011, combining their skills and knowledge.

It started with milieu photography for products, a lot for catalogues. With their experience in the theatre and marketing, both know exactly how to present products in an appealing way.

“You don’t just press a button. […] We create sales through emotions and incentives.”
Werkzwo Fotostudio

Br24 Blog Behind the scenes of creativity: View of a setting at the Werkzwo Fotostudio

A plain white background? This is too conventional for them, too boring. Products cannot be sold with such photos alone.

From living room to kitchen in one day

Creativity is their trade. Werkzwo also sees itself as a generator of ideas. Whether it’s furniture, textiles, tools or machines … Together with the customer, an individual concept is developed. Room character, lighting conditions, decorations. From industrial design to country house style. From living room to kitchen. Werkzwo creates the right milieu for every product and every taste, the perfect setting. Always keen to present the product perfectly.

Br24 Blog Behind the scenes of creativity: View of a setting at the Werkzwo Fotostudio

Werkzwo relies on a modular system. Settings and individual parts of the room can be put together in such a way that different rooms are created through different positions or colours of the elements. There are no limits to creativity. Pretty much everything can be used multiple times. Anything that is not already available will be made without further ado. With the help of a self-made large infinity cove, even larger products and objects are no problem. Whether for XXL clippings or for XXL room situations.

Things don’t always go according to plan on a shoot. But thanks to their experience at the theatre, André and Ines are very good at improvising. Be it in front of or behind the scenes of the Werkzwo Fotostudio.

“There are no problems, only solutions.”
Werkzwo Fotostudio

Catalogues and product photos were just the beginning. In order to meet the increasing demands and expectations of customers, Werkzwo is now active in various areas. The photo studio produces a lot in the field of moving images, video and film. With product videos and tutorials or live streams, they support product launches, for example. There is a fully functional show kitchen in the hall, which is equipped with all kinds of equipment and is used, for example, for product presentations. With a built-in green screen, productions for commercial, corporate video and TV are set in scene. Even television shows, such as talk shows for local stations, are now shot at Werkzwo.

Br24 Blog Behind the scenes of creativity: View of the green screen at the Werkzwo Fotostudio

WITHOUT IMAGE EDITING, NOTHING WORKS

Br24: As specialists in professional image processing and retouching, we are of course particularly interested in one point: How important is image editing and digital post-processing for you and your work?

Werkzwo: Image processing is very important for our photo productions, no photo leaves the studio without image processing. Even if you photograph with high quality standards, post-processing is still necessary.

In the case of product photos that are used as sales photos, the demand for colour accuracy and sharpness is particularly high, as is the clipping of the product for online shops. It doesn’t matter whether it’s textiles or technical components, the customer and we want an exact presentation of his product.

Br24 Blog Behind the scenes of creativity: Detail photo of a watch

With image photos, a lot is sold through emotions. Our customer or later the end consumer should “want to have” the product or service based on the photo and be encouraged to buy and ultimately buy it. Due to the possibilities of image editing, you can then give the image photos one or the other visual highlight.

Br24: What about the area of CGI, is that an issue for you?

Werkzwo: CGI animated representations are an integral part of today’s world, you see a lot of them on the internet. It is a good alternative if you do not yet have a product that you can show or photograph, but to give other people a first impression of it.

Our clients don’t ask us about CGI, so it’s not an issue for us. After all, our customers have a product and want it to be presented in the right light, whether as a product photo or image photo is decided afterwards.

We believe there will always be real images or photos, perhaps a little less than in the past, because they are replaced by the moving image, i.e. by videos and films, which are increasingly being asked and demanded, and there will be a place for CGI images.

Many thanks to Werkzwo Fotostudio for the exciting insights. We are looking forward to more pictures and projects and are happy to look behind the scenes at Werkzwo Fotostudio again 🙂

 

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