Lisa and her gang

First of all : I am not allowed to title this post "Lisa and her gang". So I shall call it "Lisa and her Seven Johnny & Marina's". Late one friday night, Lisa and her gang were getting dressed up for a party at Café d'Anvers. The rumour spread through our house (Lisa is Brit's youngest daughter), and, although we had a guest, I quickly set up a studio & light in our living room (thank you Brit, sorry Ann - or vice versa). The shoot took about 30 minutes. This picture is the result. And no, of course they do not look & behave like this in real life. They just act as "Johnny & Marina's" here. Let's all agree on that.

The picture is by the way composed of six different photos - all made before a black background and lighted with one Elinchrom 600 through a white shoot-through umbrella (camera right, high, 45°, flagged right & under). Triggered by sync cord. One big golden reflection screen camera left. For those who can reverse engineer light : there is one deliberate "mistake" in the picture. Find it and you get rewarded.

The composite picture is inspired by Annie Leibowitz and her group portraits of e.g. "The Soprano's". Saw the documentary on her life and work recently. Fascinating!

Only recently did I discover that these were composite pictures. Read it in my favourite magazine, "The New Yorker", in an interview with PhotoShop wizard Pascal Dangin. I also love The New Yorker's star photographer Platon. 

PS : anyone who can give me a good link to a decent site on Annie Leibowitz gets rewarded aswell.

Sara

Voorlopig laatste in de reeks "My Beautiful Laundrette". Sara (2j) woont achter de hoek van de wasserij (ik heb het de laatste weken nauwlettend in de gaten gehouden : het is ècht wel de mooiste wasserij uit de buurt). Eigenlijk wou ik oorspronkelijk graag haar moeder op de foto, maar die was helaas niet te overtuigen. Maar ik ben wel bijzonder blij met de vrolijke en onbevreesde Sara bovenop de tafel.

Jessica & Toro

Ze zat op een zonnige septemberdag in de Erasmusstraat op haar deurdrempel met een bende kinderen al spelend om haar heen. Ik rijd met mijn fiets die vrolijke bende voorbij en denk : "Hey, een foto!" Tegen dat ik het einde van de korte straat bereikt heb, kan ik mezelf overtuigen om rechtsomkeer te maken... "Mag ik een foto komen maken?" "Euh, hoezo? waarom?" "Awel...". Even vlug mijn materiaal gaan halen dus.

Jessica is overigens van Portugese afkomst (je kunt in Borgerhout ècht niet om het multiculturele samenleven heen) & is de derde generatie die in dit huis woont. Verder op de foto : Joaquin (8), Matis (4) en Ali (10).

En nee, Toro is geen stier. Maar dat had u al begrepen.

Alix does not live here anymore

One thing thas has not changed since Alix moved, is that she reminds me of the mysterious Rachael in "Blade Runner". I had the neo-noir atmosphere of this Ridley Scott film in mind when making this picture.

In real life, Alix is not an experimental replicant, but the oldest daughter of Brit.

Roland as an engineer

Roland Jachimczyk ("Yes, a Polish name") who studies Industrial Engineering in Hoboken (Antwerp) and lives with his girlfriend around the corner of the Beautiful Laundrette.

I love the "engineering-look" of the picture. Could have been made in a nuclear powerplant - if you use your imagination - Well, OK, lots and lots of imagination.