Dré as Captain Haddock

He works in the port of Antwerp. But he is not a captain, nor a sailor. But he could have been. Maybe he should have been. Or he was, in a previous life.

Dré, één van de vaste klanten van Buurthuis De Drei Pleintjes, aan het Terlooplein - de buurt waar ik woonde voor ik naar deze kant van de Turnhoutsebaan verhuisde.

Hier in een geïmproviseerde studio met wat zwarte doeken & een paar gewone flitsers, onder het afdak in mijn tuin, terwijl het aan het regenen was. Dré : "Nee, nee - ik heb het niet koud. Ik ben goed geïsoleerd."

Brit as a bearded sailor

Is she a neighbour? Well, she was when we met. Does she fit in this project? She fits in my life. Here you see her in the role of bearded sailor. Excuse me? Yes, I was setting up & testing some light I wanted to use to make a portrait of Dré as Captain Haddock. And I needed a model to check it out. Breaking the Michèle Pfeiffer-rule which states : "There is not to be hard light near my face." ("The moment it clicks" - Photography secrets by Joe McNally)

You will probably be seeing more of Brit. In the streets if you are a neighbour. And on this blog for some more test shots.

En verder zijn op komst : 

• Dré als Captain Haddock, dus
• My beautiful launderette
• Lisa and her gang
• Jessica Ramos, Torro & the kids
• Bea die wordt gestoffeerd door haar dochter Fien
• en nog een hele trits buurtbewoners die ik zaterdag tegenkwam op de openingsreceptie van het nieuwe buurthuis van De Drei Pleintjes.

En, zoals je merkt, heb ik besloten dat zowel Engels als Nederlands (als eventueel Frans) voertaal zullen zijn op deze blog. 

Soon to be featured in The Neighbours :

My beautiful launderette with Francisco, Roland, Isaac, Ousmane & Sara - pictures made yesterday.

Lisa and her gang with Lisa, Max, Camilla & Ben - photoshoot planned for one of the next days/weeks.

In the beginning

It started with the idea of making 2 minute portraits of people in my city, Antwerp (Belgium). Why? Because I am a photographer, and I wanted to update and upgrade my portfolio. And I wished to experiment with strobes and stuff (strobist). Manno, my best friend, had a look at some of the results I put on flickr and suggested I needed a story to tie it all together. So, instead of kindly coercing people here and there & everywhere into being a one-minute model for me, I start on this not-too-systematic journey through my neighbourhood. 

And where else to begin than with my three children : Arthur (11 - 'Do I really need to be in this picture ?!'), Elijah (6 - 'Come on, join us !') & Velma (almost 10 - 'Guys !!'). Picture taken in the Kroonstraat (Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium), returning from the market last saturday. Deliberate misuse of on-camera strobe, zoomed at 105mm, while my lens was at 17mm.

Any resemblance to Michelangelo's 'The Creation of Adam' could be (un)intentional.

More adventures to follow.

wander  1 go from place to place without any special purpose or destination  2 leave the right path or direction  3 be absent-minded; allow the thoughts to go from subject to subject

wanderings  1 long travels; journeys  2 confused speech during illness

One of my favorites: Magnum photographer Raymond Depardon & his book "Errance"

Of in't Nederlands : de Swa is weer vertrokken. Yihaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!