Red Cathedral

No, I have not started hibernation. In fact I have made plenty of pictures.. eventhough I've had little time to process them so that's lagging. Been testing a pre-production Sony A7IV for over a month and today I bought one.. so yes, that happened. Let me entertain you with some Autumn portraits while I process more pictures, think of even more to make and film some tutorials for the A7IV.  . Yes plenty more images are waiting to get processed. And there is something video-ish on Clapper . More is on Flickr as always And then this happened.. standing on the organising side & the model's side & the director's side & the presenting side of a webinar. Too many hats to wear at once.. but so much fun to do. A small bonus for those crazies who scrolled till here?? .

It is that time of the year when the ghouls can leave their caves and mingle with the crowds. For a few days humans welcome all creatures from the Darkseid.. these last decades this welcome has become a purely commercial event as have all celebrations. Every holiday has become a reason to encite consumerism.. so I made a series of Halloween photos with the Sony A7IV you can watch for FREE on Flickr . Merry Samhain you creatures from the Dark.      For those who were looking for a less horror-themed Allerheiligen / Toussaint / All Hallows' Eve image:  .

A question I often get during events is: " Don't you find it just awful when you're filming a bit and suddenly you see an image that would have made a great photo? " But there is a solution to fix this: The Photo Capture function in the current generations of Sony cameras just might save you. ( Yes, this is a photo Capture from an A7III 4k 25p 8bit 4.2.0 video. ) Which cameras? I've been using this function since my A7III. It can also be activated on for example A7RIII, A7SIII, A7RIV, A7IV, A9, A9II, A1, A7RV, A7C, FX30, A6100, A6400, A6600, ZV-E10, ZV-1, ZV-1F, RX100VII, and even on some Sony video cameras . Full Youtube video Went live on February 10th 2023 ( Yes, 1.5 years after this article was written.. and I still don't enjoy watching/hearing/editing myself on the screen ) How does it work? 1. You shoot a video. ( 8k, 4k, 1080p, horizontal or vertical video orientation, S&Q-video , 8bit or 10bit, 4.2.0 or 4.2.2,.. ) 2. On a quiet moment you ...

 " Why? " You will probably ask while shaking your head. " Why would you do such a thing? " 1. WHAT? Let us start with the " What? " In Sony full frame mirrorless cameras you can always switch between using the camera full frame or in APS-C-mode. This changes your field of view into a " zoomed feel ". What really happens is that in this APS-C mode the processor uses only a part of the sensor. This part is the same size as an APS-C sensor as found in the A6000-series. For photo you always sacrifice megapixels in this "cropped" mode. For video this APS-C mode is called Super 35 mode and has several advantages. But this article is mostly about photography. In video you might want to read this article and consider that for example the full frame A7IV automatically snaps into Super35-mode when you switch it to 4k 50p/60p. In that latter case.. why not put your trust in a lighter, wider ( and often cheaper ) APS-C lens? Subtitles ar...

It's true: once you have completely set-up your Sony Alpha / FX-camera to your likings as I showed you in this video / article , you can save those settings in some of the cameras. This feature can be found on the following Sony cameras at the moment : A7RIV, A9II, A7SIII, A1, A7IV, FX6, FX3, FX30, A7RV. And it seems to be an overlooked feature, judging by the astonished reactions during the trainings I give. 1. What? Save/load settings means you can load a series of settings onto you camera from a memory card or from your phone via the free Sony Imaging Edge Mobile app. Other way around you can save some of your settings onto a memory card or onto your phone. On a memory card you can save 10 settings. ( SD or CFExpress A, depending on your camera) On your phone you can save 22 settings. ( Which are most of the important settings ) Some info you cannot save due to privacy regulations ( Copyright info for example ) You cannot swap settings between different camera types at ...

1996 Was a very good year for videogames. Production of the Playstation 1 was going through the roof. Nintendo countered with the Nintendo 64. Duke Nukem 3D, Super Mario 64. Tekken 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3 became legends. Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Command and Conquer, Quake, Pokémon, Dead or Alive, Star Ocean and Resident Evil all debuted. For me the survival horror of Resident Evil was something new. A different atmosphere than zombie-shooters like Doom or Wolfenstein and even more addictive. Luckily in 1996 I was working in the videogames industry .. so playing all night could even happen at the office. Not even Parasite Eve, Silent Hill, Nightmare Creatures, Bioshock, Deep space, The Last of Us, The Evil Within, .. grapped me like that first night of Resident Evil.. that first time of being a vulnerable human in a world of zombies.  And yes then there were the sequels, and the movies, and the novels & comics and the animated series and the remakes. ( Full list )...

 NL Oorpronkelijk is de belle-époque-periode (1873-1914) een puur Frans-Belgisch gegeven. Het was een periode van vooruitgang op vele vlakken (ondermeer socio-economische, geneeskundige,..) en met een typisch Fin de Siècle-gevoel in kunst, cultuur en architectuur. Het was de tijd van vooruitgangspositivisme, van Art Nouveau, impressionisme, Jugendstil, expressionisme, de eerste strandvakanties, het Antwerpse Centraal Station, de afschaffing van kinderarbeid, Nijl-cruises, auto's, fietsen en electrische trams, de ontdekkingsreizen van Stanley, de Olympische gedachte, de Moulin Rouge en uiteraard de Eifeltoren in de Lichtstad. Tegelijkertijd was het ook een periode van ongebreideld kapitalisme, van de overgang van Marxisme in strijdvaardig Leninisme, van de Boerenoorlogen, massale industrialisatie en van Europese welvaart dankzij het leeghalen van koloniën. De landen van Europa en het Midden-Oosten (en de koloniën ) waren toendertijd veel meer verweven dan in de huidige "commu...

Drugs can most definately destroy you, your life and the lives of those close to you. Once in it's claws, escaping is harder than anyone can imagine. The craving for the next fix is the only focus in a junkie's life. Living for that one goal.. one that will inevitably lead to doom, destruction and death. Still: don't blindly judge a person simply because they need drugs to get through life. This person might very well be your friend, your lover, your parent, your sibling, your child or even yourself. So ask yourself what drives a person towards this doomed Escape from Reality. Thanks to model Kristof for investing so much time to my crazy ideas.  Larger version can be found on Flickr  

The 1st costume event in.. nearly 2 years? You can't believe the ecstasy of opening those tickets in the mail, getting that CovidSafePass in time and hearing that it would not get cancelled as feared ( unlike Castlefest ). Preparing the cameras. Getting ideas for shots. Actually smiling. Thank you Elftopia . However there was a little hick-up. I could blame it on traffic jams making us arrive extremely late.. but it wasn't that. It was exactly as feared and predicted in this post : I didn't dare to make photos. Have I gotten scared of walking up to people for a picture? Have I lost so much self-confidence? Did I stop trusting my technical instincts? Did I start doubting my gear? Haven't I talked to live strangers for that long? Is this what people call a panic attack, being overwhelmed or a hint of anxiety? I guess a bit of all of those. Meade helped a bit. Spending some time on the event finally got me clicking again.. but by that time the fair was closing its gate...

This was the reaction of the barbarian faun to the notification that Castlefest 2021 has been cancelled. We can only hope the best for Elftopia, now that Trolls-et-Legendes has postponed it's fair to 2022.  Actually.. such events have been so long that I don't even remember which kind words I should use to convince the beautifully costumed creatures from the fantasy fairs into posing for my camera. Should I Zoom or Facetime them? " Hi, you on the other side of the path.. would you mind if I took a picture of your gorgeous creation? " My fear is that I'm not the only one with these questions rushing through the head and while I will try to talk to the costumed humans, some other photographers might resort to sniping from afar with 200mm to 600mm telelenses and refuel that silly <Cosplayer/Photog> feud because some not-cleary-thinking photogs caught some cosplayers unaware .. or even worse: snapped them while taking a huge bite of a sandwich. Not the most el...

A Flemish models photographer ( but only during the weekends ) sent me a PM telling me that as long as i continued to make images with strange costumes, weird headpieces and " other bizarre items " no serious and self-respecting model would even consider working with me because such images simply don't belong in a model's portfolio. And he got me thinking.. because.. he is probably right. And I do make pictures without the things he pointed out.. BUT If a model (m/v/+) takes everything so seriously that they would never consider shoots with fantasy/scifi/historical/horror/.. elements then maybe a collab might simply not be a good idea. I like having fun and doing strange stuff when i feel like it. It’s always good to take a step back and look at your life through a different perspective. O-well, maybe he meant it well and he simply wasn't very skilled in the Fine Arts of Constructive Criticism and Basic Grammar?  So I went to check out his pictures: 70x model in ...

 Just admit that this combination works well..   Seen on Flickr

Honestly: I have never seen so many poppies in the fields as this June.  Evidently there is a perfectly scientific explanation for it ( poppies are more resistant than other wild flowers and so they thrive while the other flowers have perished during the hot summers of the last years ) On a strictly artistic level I just had to make some poppy shots. This is the first, more will follow on Flickr .   You saw this image first on Instagram