Posted on March 24, 2010 - by Editor

Chasing Her Infinity: Cindy Frey

© Cindy Frey

Tucked away in the Benelux, Belgium to be precise, resides a music photographer who has over the past decade built up an impressive portfolio of work. Cindy Frey has had her work adorn various media, publications; album covers and is a staunch fan of punk rock and other alternative music as well.  Recently her work can be seen on both Sick Of It All’s new album booklet but more personal is her expo “100% SELF MADE” in Brussels which exhibits all her self-portraits tracing her evolution as a photographer over the years. Cindy herself has appeared in various media for her tattoos and lifestyle. Distorted managed to have a lengthy chat with Cindy about her rise as a respected photographer in a cut throat industry and she provides an inspirational insight into making it, if you really want it.

Steve: So a bit about your background- how did you get involved with photography initially and what do you enjoy about photography?

Cindy: I got involved in photography after I brought a small digital compact camera so I could document things for later, coz I met so many cool people, bands, travelled a lot and I just wanted to keep memories. One thing led to another and six months later I knew this was gonna be my job.  I loved it so much. I enjoy photography coz you can be creative, you can escape from reality, you can put your own stamp on a photo, its pretty personal but at the same time its often someone else on the photo.  It’s also endless, you can keep learning things; I call it my infinity.

Steve: What was your biggest challenge/s trying to be a professional photographer?

Cindy: I think for me it was pretty hard coz I started with no money in my bank account. The business side of it is not as fun as the creative side of being a photographer, so the challenge is how to get enough clients to make money to pay your bills, how to advertise your work and how to make a name for yourself.

Steve: What was the best piece of advice you were given when you started and what would you advice a young photographer today?

Cindy: I actually didn’t really get advice I think, I just remember people telling me it’s not that easy to become a photographer and to be self employed, to build up a business. I just followed my own instinct and believed in myself. The advice I can give to any other young photographer is to be strong, to work hard, not to give up and to believe in yourself. There will be hard times when you think you should quit, but I never gave up and I think everyone can do what they want, as long as you work hard enough and believe in yourself.

Steve:  Sound advice. You are based in Belgium which I think despite its geographical size (or lack thereof) seems to have a bit going on musically, would you agree?

Cindy: Yes I’m based in Belgium but there isn’t that much going on here, but I travel a lot. I’m flexible and I love travelling, so for me it doesn’t matter where I live, I will make sure I go around the world anyway.

As to why there isn’t that much going on musically, Belgium is very small, there aren’t many magazines for rock/metal/punk music, no TV channels covering it, not many radio stations that play this type of music. Belgium is also a country where people don’t dare much, they are scared of change and they just follow what other people do rather than try something new. The question is always “what will other people think or say?” For me, I don’t care, I do what I like and I don’t care what people think.

Steve:  Are you are an avid fan of music? What sort of music would you find on your music player?

Cindy: I love a lot of music, my taste is very diverse.  Just to mention some bands that I like; Rancid, Placebo, Muse, Kings of Leon, Alkaline Trio, Amy Winehouse, Billy Idol, 3 Inches Of Blood, Tree, Coheed and Cambria, City & Colour, Alexisonfire, Fall Out Boy, Duffy, Slipknot, Dragonforce, Blondie, Mistfits, Rhinestone Lives, Gorilla Biscuits, 30 Seconds To Mars, Mastodon, Red Sparowes, Paramore, The Gaslight Anthem…and way more!

Steve:  Quite the selection. You vary the type of photography from band photography, live photography, portfolios for models,

The Misfits © Cindy Frey

promotional portraits; fashion etc. Is it necessary to be that diverse or is it a matter of enjoyment for yourself?

Cindy: I just love it all, I don’t like to stay with one thing, and I like to be able to do it all. It’s always a challenge to do something new or different.

Steve:  How do you feel photographers contribute to music?

Cindy: Photographers are important in the music scene, it’s the way the photographer can portray them, as well promo shots and live shots, which is important for a band.  The music is very important but also the looks are important nowadays, and without bringing the visual side, it would be very different for the bands. People are always curious, they like to look at other people; what they wear? How do they look? They can relate to that often, and if the live shots are very good, the fans can feel a bit the atmosphere in a show.

Steve: What are you main goals with band shoots and live shoots, what is it generally you want the viewer to see/experience?

Cindy: I want to bring out the personality of the band in promo shoots and that’s the challenge, portray them like they are and make them look strong and confident, the fans should get a good idea what the band stands for if they see the pics. I also like to drag the viewer into the photo, I want the photo to look interesting.

In live shots, I want to try to capture the energy and atmosphere and again drag the viewer into the photo, the viewer must have a bit of a feeling as if they were really at the show.

Alkaline Trio © Cindy Frey

Steve: Who have been one of your favourite punk rock bands to shoot and why?

Cindy: Alkaline Trio; they are amazing people, love their music and they became friends. I got their logo tattooed on my arm!

Steve: Nice. So how would you describe your lifestyle, you seem to have a lot of interests and have featured in music, art, photography and tattoo media in the past discussing various topics.

Cindy: I think my lifestyle is just doing what I like, feeling free, being creative, every day is a new challenge, a mystery, and it’s not a good lifestyle if you like to plan too much. I live day by day.  I love it like that; I take it all like it comes. If I have a less busy time, I will just come up with a new project and work on that.  I live a bit like bands do, travelling a lot and I don’t know where I will be in two weeks, what gigs will come up? It’s hectic, but fun. I wouldn’t wanna change it.

Steve: Let’s turn out attention to you exhibition “100% SELF MADE” which started 18th March in Brussels, what’s it all about?

Cindy: This exhibition is about my self portraits, to show an evolution from 2003 to 2009. I started in 2003 taking pics of myself coz I didn’t have many models yet. I was so eager to learn and experiment and practise, since I had no job and I was at home a lot, I had no money to go out, so I used myself as a model a lot. I learned a lot from this; how to use light and so on. I never expected that I would ever do an exhibition about it. As time went on, people loved my portraits so much that they were even asking for new shots of myself, there was so much interest. I started to get press interest too, so I always used my own self portraits to add with an interview, later I even got on covers of tattoo magazines, music and even fashion magazines. So I wanted to show the people my evolution.

Steve: Ok, and what are you hoping to achieve through the exhibition and would you ideally like to do more outside of Belgium?

Cindy: I don’t wanna achieve anything with this. I guess I just wanna show more of me; get the people to understand me more and show them how I started, how things can go differently from what you expected. It was just something I wanted to do. Of course I would like to do more outside of Belgium, I’m looking for exposure everywhere, and I’m talking to someone about an exhibition in Paris and Holland, maybe next year. I had one group exhibition in Hamburg last month.

© Cindy Frey

Steve: Big plans then, good luck. You have a massive profile within alternative music and punk rock; what do you think makes for a successful music photographer?

Cindy: I don’t know. For me it just all happened, of course I worked really hard and I photograph with passion, put my heart and soul into it. You also need to create your own style and make a name for yourself. That’s important.

Steve:  And have you had any issues with copyright and people stealing your work?

Cindy: I did, but I’d rather not talk about it.

Steve:  Ok, so how would you say you have matured as a photographer? Are you your own worst critic?

Cindy: I have learned a lot in these years; how to become better, how to improve, but I still follow a my feelings and I work a lot by improvising, its something that just comes up in my head. I use what I get, what is available and how my mood is or the people’s mood. Everything depends on all that.

I’m pretty critical about my own work, I always think I can do better, which is good, so I’m always ready to learn more, I push myself further and I’m very determined to be better. It would be boring if I wouldn’t improve anymore.

Steve: Your books to date include; ‘Girl At The Rockshow’, ‘Ink Passion Calendar’, ‘Live Evil’ and ‘Live Evil II-Come Play Wish Us’ which is due later this year. Can you tell us briefly about each and the upcoming book?

Cindy: Girl At The Rockshow, is a hardcover glossy photobook; 128 pages, 200 bands. It contains my first one and a half years of concert photography, I basically photographed every band at concerts I went to starting in May 2003 till December 2004, and it came out in April 2006.

Live Evil I: It’s a dark art photobook containing 38 haunting images, I published it myself. The text is done by Derek Grant from Alkaline trio. I did all the photography as well as the photo editing/ manipulation myself.  It came out on Halloween 2008.

Ink Passion : This is a soft cover book, published it myself too, containing 50 portraits of people with ink, its just an addition to my exhibition that I did in the summer of 2008 in a gallery in Oostende, Belgium for two months.

Live Evil II ‘Come And Play With Us’: This will come out on Halloween 2010, its probably gonna be a hardcover and I will have a exhibition with it in Oostende again for one month. This book will contain dark art images with only kids. I’m totally excited about this one.

Steve: Sounds interesting. A couple more about you; you live a vegan and straight edge lifestyle- what inspired that and how tempted are you when travelling around the globe on shoots?

Cindy: It’s just my lifestyle I have had for about 17 years now I guess. It’s what I believe in; it’s totally not tempting at all. I don’t care what other people do, but no one can convince me to change.

Steve: Finally, what are your main goals for 2010?

Cindy: My goals are to be happy; do the things I like, paying my bills, enjoying life and work on lots of cool projects, to improve again, to travel more, get new cool jobs and go on tour. It’s important for me to see I move forward and if I see I do, I’m happy.

These are some of the photos in Cindy Frey’s current “100% SELF MADE” exhibit in Brussels. In addition are B/W portaits of Brian Fallon of The Galsight Anthem and John Joseph of Cro Mags.

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Civet © Cindy Frey