2011 has almost said goodbye… but before the switch to another year, I’d like to thank all my lovely clients, all the fantastic people I’ve worked together with, the models, the make-up artists, the stylists, other photographers….  and i’ll be forgetting someone probably…

So: a very BIG THANK YOU for the confidence in my work and for all the nice and fun moments we had in 2011 !!!

Let’s do it over again in 2012, but even BETTER, BIGGER and wit loads of FUN!

May all your wishes come true in 2012 and see you soon!!!

Last week I wanted to have a go at a new shoot with a promising model, Marine from Modelsoffice.  So I went out looking for a nice location and checked the agenda’s with my make-up artist Peggy Timmermans and stylist Bjorn Verlinden to find a empty spot…

Didn’t take long to find a date and last Sunday we had our shoot!

Marine, Peggy and Bjorn did a great job, only the weather let us down…  so we had to stay inside.  No worries, the location was really nice to have a blast!

Thanks to the crew… and as we said before…  see you next time!  The results were really stunning!

To bring back a bit of the (late but beautiful) summer into these cold and dark winter-days, I’d like to share a few pictures of the summer give-away session.  It was a beautiful day at our belgian coast with a nice and sunny feeling.  The happy family in the picture made the day complete, just by showing their happiness and lovely smiles to be captured.

All pictures were taken on Fuji Pro 400H film, with the Hasselblad and the Nikon F5.  It was a pleasure working on film again and the future will sure be more film for me!

Last friday I witnessed one of the most amazing concerts of the year, one of the Night Of The Proms concerts at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.

Every year, the organisation tries to find a selection of artists who are able to entertain a sold out arena.  I have to say…  this year they did more than succeed… they truly outperformed!

The line-up of this year was:

• Div4s: 4 beautiful Italian sopranos, who had all a classical formation and performed already a few times with Andrea Bocelli
• Il Novecento: for those who know the Night Of The Proms, the all time classic for the symphonic orchestra, led by Robert Groslot
• Fine Fleur: the choir who manage to deal with pop and classic songs as no-one else can
• John Miles: every year he performs with an all-time pop classic at the Night Of The Proms
• Mick Hucknall: also known as the man with the voice of Simply Red.  In 2010 Simply Red stopped existing as a band and now Mick is going on his own musical journey
• Angie Stone: One of THE soul-voices of the last decade, known all around the world for the world-hit “Wish I didn’t miss you” and many other great songs
• Seal: Like Angie, this man needs no introduction.  Everybody knows “Amazing”, “Crazy”, “Killer”,…etc.  The man who nows how the get the crowd moving!

Let the images speak…

No words, just some images from my trip to London last week.

All shot on Fuji Pro 400 H, with the Leica M6.

Back from London since last night, a little bit later than expected, due to Eurostar…  but eventually we got back!

As I went to London to accompany my girlfriend, who was attending a make-up masterclass, I had 4 days completely free to do the things I like…  have a walk in the sun, make some nice pics, have a drink…  just relax!  The life I could get used to!

Well, as this was nice already, I decided to give it a little extra…  I asked a colleague photographer to meet and have a chat about our big love: photography.  Good idea…  but where to start in the selection?  Well, for me it was quite easy.  I follow some photographers on Twitter and their blogs and I can assure you, there are only a few in London who’s work I really like!  So, after writing a mail to one of them, I got a surprisingly quick and positive reaction back!  Woohoo… me happy!  Kjrsten Madsen found it a nice idea to have a coffee and talk about our mutual passion: photography.

Kjrsten is a photographer who came from Portland (USA) to London this year and she works 100% on film.  After trying the digital world, she decided to go back where she came from and was happy with: film!  And talking to her, you can see that she is really happy with what she is doing now!

By moving from Portland to London, it was a big move…not only in miles… but also in culture, climate, habits, etc.  But after being a while in London now, she seems to be doing very well!

We both shared some of our experiences with clients, camera’s, commercial stuff,… without knowing time flew by.   I can say that it was really nice to see how colleagues from abroad think, work and try to give the best of themselves for their clients!  For my part, I really learned a few important things from the conversation and got to know a good and very kind photographer… so yes: mission accomplished!

At the end…  she came up with a scary surprise…  she wanted me to pose for her… ouch!  A photographer posing!  I usually don’t like it, but she could make me feel at ease without much of a problem….  so yes: another extra!  I didn’t see the picture yet, but I’m quite sure that it will be one of the best I had until now!

If you’re in London and looking for an inspiring photographer…  one good advice: take a look at Kjrsten’s work.  it will be worth it!

Saturday September 24 was the day of Stephan Badal’s Haute Couture show Fall-Winter 2011-2012.

The fabulous location “Elzenveld” in Antwerp was tailored for the magnificent event of Stephan and his crew.  The new collection for this Fall & Winter was showed and for the first time ever, Stephan had a male model in the show to present his fantastic suits.

A short impression of the show & backstage.

A few weeks ago we had a great shooting day @ the Rentaloft studios in Anwterp.

This location has an awesome range of possibilities for shooting with natural light.  The loft-building has lots of huge windows, which offers lots of light.  Also the light interior colors only add to the positive influence in lighting.

Together with Bjorn Verlinden for styling and Peggy Timmermans for makeup, our models Nathalie, Lucie and Tosca did a great job!  It was really a day with tropical temperatures, but the whole crew stood out and performed like never before.

For me it was a great experience to enlargen my portfolio with some nice shots!

With this post I would like to thank again all the boys and girls who helped me out that day:

• Bjorn, for setting up  some sizzling outfits for the girls
• Peggy, for making the girls sparkle and look really radiant
• Frank, for assisting me in difficult moments and providing some crazy movie captures
• Nathalie, Lucie & Tosca for showing your most beautiful selves and being super kind models

Many years ago, when I started out at photography school, digital photography was still at very beginning. No huge sensors, incredible amounts of pixels and everything in digital was really expensive!

Nowadays, anyone out there can afford a brilliant camera with enough pixels to print a wall-size poster! Is this bad? No, technology evolves and it goes faster and faster, you can’t stop evolution… just as life… goes faster and faster… time flies by!

Sometimes it’s that part that really annoys me, that everything has to be done at a really high speed. That’s why I decided to go back, and take time again for my pictures… think, frame, focus and push the button. And yes…look at the back of the camera to discover that there is no LCD-screen! Right, I was shooting film!

I decided to get back to the beginning of my education and started getting out with a film-camera again. A few months ago I purchased a Leica M2 and took it with me on holiday to see if it did what I expected it to do! No light meters, no nothing… only the sunny 16.   Also the Hasselblad 500C, it had to be taken on a test-drive to after all those years of digital madness.

As I wanted to do test on color negative I tried the new Kodak Portra 400 with my Leica and the Fuji Pro 400h with the Hasselblad. Why this choice? Well, I think the Portra is better suited for scenery, landscapes and vacation shots as the Pro 400h is better at portraits. The Hasselblad has his test-drive at a fashion-shoot, so portraits it would be!

As I can only develop B&W film myself, I relied on the services of Richard Photo Lab (California) to give me the best they could. And they did a good job! I certainly will have to get used to work with film again, but I think this was a quite good start for the first 2 rolls.

The hasselblad will be used more often again, the Leica needs a CLA. Some of the shots (at slower shutter speeds) lagged, resulting in a dark left side of the frame. But hey, the camera is already over 60 so a few minor mistakes are allowed. Only 4 of 36 frames suffered from the lag.

To give you an impression of the try-out, a few of the shots….  I can assure you one thing.  More of this will follow!

No editing aftwards had been done, only resize for web.

A series from my holiday in Rota, Spain, shot with the Leica M2 on Kodak Portra 400

One of the frames suffering from the shutter-lag, resulting in the dark part at the left-side (bottom in portrait stand)

And some of the Hassy shots, shot on Fuji Pro 400 H…  the sun was very strong in back-light so I took a risk, but it ended out quite good I think.