Who's in the Crew? - Spotlight on Maren Kindler

NAME: Maren Kindler - https://www.marenkindler.com/
https://headshotcrew.com/marenkindler

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? I live in Schindellegi, a small city above Lake Zurich, 30km outside of Zurich The place was put on the map when Paris Hilton moved here to live with her Austrian boyfriend. She only lasted about a year...

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SHOOTING HEADSHOTS? When I started to be a full-time professional photographer, my main focus area was portraits/headshots and products. This was in 2016. Since 2019 (starting in the HSC) I have learned the difference between portraits and headshots.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU LIKE TO SHOOT? I like to shoot food, products, and dogs. I like to portrait dogs in my studio with the setup similar to humans. I always shoot the yummy food I cook.

WHAT IS YOUR LIGHTING SETUP FOR HEADSHOTS? I use the PH Westcott Flex Cine Bi-Color kit. Since I finished the intensified, this light was spinning in my head. So I had to order it! However, it was really difficult to buy it over here. There are no distributors in Switzerland and I had to order through Westcott Europe and go through all the hassle with customs and tax.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER PH AND THE HSC? I always research the web before meeting someone or selecting a provider, etc. When my son needed a new orthodontist, I saw these great pictures and discovered the photographer. It was Patric Pop, an associate in the Headshot Crew (last week's Spotlight). After I read his website, I wanted to know who Peter Hurley is.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO JOIN THE CREW AFTER YOU FOUND IT? I found the PH headshot crew in January 2019 and realized that the first training in Europe is in Amsterdam in September 2019 only. So I booked the intensive and the intensified. I figured out that the intensified with the special offer is a must for me. And indeed, it was great and I can only recommend it. During the intensive, I learned about the HSC membership and signed up. Since then I am very passionate about headshots :)

WHAT'S ONE THING ABOUT YOU PEOPLE WOULD NEVER GUESS? I have moved houses 10 times and as a result, have lived in 7 different cities and 3 countries (Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland). Our move to Switzerland 11 years ago was driven by the great quality of life here, not work. By that time, my husband had his office in Madrid, Spain, and was heavily traveling while I continued to work in Luxembourg in a combination of onsite work and home office. After 3 years, we were still convinced that Switzerland is a great place to live for us as a family, but work needs to be local and with less travel. A year into this setup, I decided to leave my busy IT life and become a photographer allowing me to be more creative and to enjoy more thankful clients. This business background helps me to understand and meet the requirements of professional customers with individuals and companies.

WHAT'S ONE THING YOU WISH PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT YOU? I am always positive and have countless ideas on what to do or how to improve things. Sometimes my family has a hard time coping with me always having better ideas to do things more efficiently. Whatever I do, I do passionately. As a result, my day has more than 24 hours and I always multitask many things at the same time. As soon as my family is in bed, my head starts spinning and the ideas come. Also, I cannot stop when realizing that I could still finish something in the evening and would have a few hours "free" in the morning. To give you an idea...I like sailing, skiing, snowboarding, golf, cycling, hiking, wakeboarding, healthy food, and trying new diets and methods like sugar-free or fermentation. My discoveries end up in new recipes, adapted to healthy diets, and to the Thermonmix. I have a Youtube cooking channel https://www.youtube.com/mixxitblog (sorry, only in German ) documenting and sharing my work. I give photo classes to other moms from school and show them how to take better pictures with their equipment in their daily lives. This enables me to explore other areas of photography such as architecture and nature, and I like sewing, nowadays mainly collars and fluffy beds for the dogs.