Red Cathedral

Every May 1st, a national holiday in Belgium, Genk becomes a city of colour, of fantasy and of cheering people. 55000 cheering people in 2024 to be exact. Because that many people lined the road for the O-parade. Luckily at the same time it's kermis ( carnival fair ), jaarmarkt ( market ), fireworks, and hundreds of stalls to drink & eat.. a grand total of 130000 visitors for 1 day is a lot for a city with only 63000 inhabitants. These are some impressions from the editions in 2022 & 2023 .  Eventhough 2024 has had an extremely rainy, stormy and dreary Spring, the weather shifted for a few days and the parade enjoyed the sun and a decent 26°Fahrenheit. The day after it rained again and was 14 degrees colder. So a big thanks to all the witches who made sure Beltane would be a great day . . . Let's provide you a few links: ▷ All photos can always be found on/downloaded from my Flickr and here ! ▷ A " How to download stills from Flickr " tutoria...

Yes, I know: I had promised to cover only one carnaval's parade per year. But I have a great excuse: a brandnew camera fell into my lap to experiment with and I needed an event for testing. So no, it was neither the free booze, nor the happy people, nor the smoutebollen that lured me to Hasselt.. those are simply perks of working . Just to be clear: that Sony A9III is a magnificent camera with crazy specs. I will probably consider buying the 2nd or 3rd generation of its Global Shutter sensor technology, but for now it's great, but not needed for what I shoot. Sports + wildlife shooters and everyone who runs into banding effects are the intended targets and they'll enjoy it greatly.  Hasselt carnaval has a very enjoyable parade wth several international participants & loads of confetti. The 2024 parcours had some very long, straight streets.. perfect to test a huge 300mm f2.8-lens. Thes most excillerating was however something tiny & strictly personal: I r...

Do you think everything is silent & calm on May 1st?  It's a national holiday.. and it's a day of celebration in the city of Genk. Kermis ( carnival fair ), jaarmarkt ( fair ), fireworks and my favorite: a street parade named O-Parade. . . . Last year I visited it almost by accident: Some photos & video This year however I was there on purpose & on time. ( and fearing for rain ) And there were some awe-inspiring creations ranging from balloon candy and a army of sea-creatures, to a giant locust & life-size whale. Eventhough all participating streetartists come from different places in Europe they all have 1 thing in common: the urge to entertain their public. and they did ! All 150 photos will be HERE on Flickr A short video is on  Clapper & maybe later on Instagram For updates on my progress you can check Facebook . . . Yes, there is a short VIDEO with the dance of Gruppo Folkloristico Pavullese And for now I'll hav...

This morning's goal was to upload the 1st images from the MOD cosplay event I visited yesterday.. yet suddenly I realised that I had completely forgotten to share some pictures from the O-Parade earlier this month. Blame it on work ( tradefairs , Pairi Daiza photowalks , videoclips , webinars , shoots ,.. life is back to normal and I need to get used to it again )! Before I always thought the O-Parade in Genk and the Zinneke Parade in Brussels were about the same age. A big mistake from my side. Zinneke started in 2000, and the O-parade is apparantly already 67 years "Old".. Maybe that's what the "O" stands for? Luckily the acts, the costumes and the massive public interest make it feel everything except old. Going from steampunk & giant balloon art, over the mesmerizing Queens of May and inspiration to support our bees, butterflies and flowers, to scifi-imagery reminding me of Star Wars and Mad Max. . I think next year I won't be planning any...