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Exhibition of new portraits

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In February and March 2023 I made a series of portraits of neighbours in the area of Schaerbeek around Place Pogge to which I eventually moved in May. The portraits have been hung in the entrance, corridors and staircases of the beautiful, newly renovated municipal swimming pool (Neptunium) on Place Houffalize. The exhibition is free to visit during the pool’s opening hours until 8 October.

New community exhibition space

After Neptunium, the exhibition will move for a further two weeks – from 14 to 28 October – to A tire d’aile, a brand new community exhibition space at Rue Général Eenens 51, on the corner with Rue Metsys. Once again, entry will be free – please check the opening hours.

On Sunday 15 October, from 15.00 to 18.00, I will be there with a pop-up studio to make portrait photos of any visitors who would like that, entirely free. I’d be delighted to see you there!

2023 Calendar

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2022 has been another exceptional year, with great light, lovely people, some exciting new equipment, and a huge variety of work – almost more of it than could be fitted into 365 days. I’m still loving every single job all the way from planning to delivery, still learning something new each time, and still improving my craft.

My calendar for the year ahead, featuring the pick of my images from the last 12 months, has been printed and I have started to distribute copies to friends and family. As a thank you to all my clients, as I’ve done in previous years I’m sharing the selected photos publicly here, with brief descriptions and technical details.

Cover

At an exhibition of my neighbourhood street portraits in Schaerbeek, 24 September 2022. People loved finding faces that they recognised, and sometimes their own.
Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S lens, 1/250 sec at f/2.0, ISO 1600

January

A runner in the Brussels 20 km race, 29 May 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 300 mm f/2.8 lens, 1/750 sec at f/4.0, ISO 1600

February

Studio portrait of a young girl against a white backdrop, Brussels, 11 January 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/8.0, ISO 64

March

‘Noir’-style studio portrait of the young Belgian actor, Gianni Guettaf.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4 lens, 1/1000 sec at f/2.4, ISO 64

April

Percussion workshop for primary schoolchildren, Ixelles, 28 April 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24 mm f/2.4 lens, 1/250 sec at f/2.4, ISO 800

May

Tomato farmer Kris De Weerdt in his greenhouses, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver, 28 October 2021.
Nikon D850, Samyang 14mm f2.4 lens, 1/250 sec at f/4.0, ISO 200

June

Child playing in the grounds of a Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB) housing complex in Molenbeek, 26 March 2022
Nikon D850, Nikkor 85 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/6.7, ISO 64

July

Swedish secondary school graduate, Brussels, 22 May 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 85 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/8.0, ISO 64

August

A young friend and her newborn baby, Brussels, 25 May 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4 lens, 1/180 sec at f/4.8, ISO 400

September

Folk dance participants, Brussels, 30 October 2021.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/2.0, ISO 6400

October

Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB) resident, Molenbeek, 26 March 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 85 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/2.8, ISO 800

November

Bassist Denis Van Der Brempt playing at a jazz jam, Loonbeek, 20 May 2022.
Leica Q2 Monochrom, Summilux 28 mm f/1.7 lens, 1/250 sec at f/1.7, ISO 2500

December

Girls at a demonstration

Girls on a demonstration, Brussels, 20 March 2022.
NIKON D850, Samyang 14mm f2.4 lens, 1/500 sec at f/6.7, ISO 1100

Portrait of a company

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For individual portrait sittings, I insist on sessions of at least one hour, whether in the studio or elsewhere. This gives the subject time to get to know me a little, and allows us to work with two or three different lighting set-ups and changes of clothes. Photographing a team of fifty people or more in a single day presents a different challenge, because I have to find a way to put each person at ease extremely quickly. But it’s something I’m asked to do more and more often, and it’s a lot of fun.

I recently had the opportunity to photograph the whole staff team of Jean Wauters Aciers Spéciaux in the company’s enormous steel distribution centre in Molenbeek.

I’d been asked to make two separate portraits of each person – classic ‘headshots’ and full-length portraits that showed the company’s busy working environment in the background. Careful planning was needed to do this efficiently. To minimise the demands on people’s time, I decided to work with my two set-ups in parallel. I made a pre-shoot site visit and identified two locations close to one another, where I would not get in the way of the fork-lift trucks that whizz around the warehouse. I would have approximately ten minutes to make the two portraits of each person.

The first set-up gave me an unobstructed 270° view which enabled me to place my subjects at different orintations to the camera and my single light, so that I could get a variety of views behind them. For the second, I used a portable plain white backdrop, two lights and a reflector, all of which were hidden from the first set-up.

On their side, my client had done a great job in scheduling the subjects in groups of two or three, so we could make their environmental portraits and then move across to the other set-up to make their headshots. This saved additional time, so that I was able to finish the job ahead of schedule. The friendliness and good-natured cooperation of the entire team meant that everything ran smoothly and made a busy day a real pleasure for me.