Red Cathedral

You are completely correct when you think: ▷ Sometimes a person needs to leave their comfort zone to feel comfortable. ▷ The person that comes down a mountain isn't always the same as the person who went up the mountain. ▷ Sometimes when you feel troubled, all you need is a mountain. Once you get to the top of it and watch the world from above, you quickly find a different perspective. Maybe your troubles aren't as insurmountable as they seemed before the purifying climb.  So it was time for another offroad roadtrip with the mates. The original plans were for another trip through the Pyrenees mountain range, but these plans changed last minute into a start in Burgundy ( the dreaded Morvan, to be more precise ) and headed into the volcanic mountain range of the Massif Central . Following large parts of the pilgrim's hiking paths towards St. Jacques of Compostella we quickly realized that these trails were really tailormade for hikers, goat shepherd s or slender quads

Since I was still processing the images from the O-Parade , I really did not go to Ciao Tongeren to make photos. I did however take the tiny Sony FX3 cinema camera because I had to test a reported audio-issue.. if I had the time, because my focus would lie 100% on enjoying nice wine and tasty food. Normally all music during this event is: old Italian chanson. But what did I suddenly hear while having a limoncello at Ambishop? Music to my taste? Rock à la Willy Radio ? The concrete minds ! A bunch of promising young hounds with the rock 'n roll attitude of old wolves playing gritty hits at The Pub.. I always say: support you local artists . So I had to make a few shots. Luckily this FX3 cinema camera also shoots stills. And luckily The Pub served some rather decent wine to make me even happier. A short video of the band performing: on Clapper To the people who posed for the camera at Buonissimo & Olio Vino: the images are in the gallery.. and the fruity rosé was delicious!

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

Let's be really quick and dirty about this event: ▼ There was was an ice-cold wind, but most of the day it was dry, △ Each time the sun showed itself it was wonderful and we all smiled, △ Got a superb medieval cape that really helped against the wind, △ Great food ( including pancakes! ) and too much mead to taste, △ Überfriendly people ( visitors, reenactors, larpers & vendors.. sorry, I didn't run into anyone of the organisation, n or crew ) △ Excellent location: high upon the ramparts of the old city, △ Parked by accident right behind the corner of the event, △ Free parking, free toilets, and a fountain that will be useful during a future hot edition , △ Music by Skayrish , cannon fire, birds of prey, throwing things ( a bad combination with mead ),.. △ A fun afternoon eventhough it was tiny. . .   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 &

Strange, do you sometimes have the feeling you nearly didn't make any photos during an event because you were spending so much time talking, but then after a long winding road you finally return home, and you suddenly discover a mountainload of shots on your cameras? Let's start with a few links: ▷ All photos can always be found on/downloaded from my Flickr and here ! ▷ A " How to download stills from Flickr " tutorial was posted here . ▷ Some highlights might go to Clapper & to Instagram or even Threads . ▷ Buy Red Cathedral a whisky on Ko-Fi ▷ Updates are on THE Facebook . ▷ Give a follow to this young creative foundation: Deep Red Noise vzw/asbl . . Was it fun? Every edition Trolls et Légendes is becoming more like Castlefest in the sense of: ▷ It's the place where you run into lovingly people you know, ▷ You meet all kinds of new nice humanesque creatures, ▷ The food, the booze & the music make you smile. A short video on Clapp

A few weeks ahead of the first cosplay shoot day of 2024 in the Verbeke Foundation I had wisely estimated that I would run into & make pictures of 10% of all cosplayers. That was a gross misestimation.. I think it's closer to 5%. Every edition organizer Geert seems to double the number of participants. I still don't know how he manages, but kudos for gathering somewhere around 240 participants. Let's start with a few links: ▷ All photos can always be found on/downloaded from my Flickr and here ! ▷ A " How to download stills from Flickr " tutorial was posted here . ▷ Some highlights might go to Clapper & to Instagram or even Threads . ▷ Buy Red Cathedral a whisky on Ko-Fi ▷ Updates are on THE Facebook . ▷ Give a follow to this young creative foundation: Deep Red Noise vzw . . Here's the image gallery : ( Click on the arrows on the side to scroll ) UPDATE: 100% is processed & uploaded That Sunday I was in a very looking t

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

Sometimes models come with a boudoir proposition that both sparks my interest and comes at a moment where I have the time to execute it: fantasy boudoir with a Dryad and an Elf in a magical forest .. but softer than the work for The Dark Cathedral and non-nude. " OK, let's do it ," I nodded while already scrolling through my cramped agenda. Evidently I needed a location.. and a back-up location.. just in case . A magical meadow with wildflowers, tree-filtered light and surrounded by young treelings that I had spotted during a hike just days before seemed perfect. A Monday-shoot would ensure that few to no hikers would interfere. Evidently Murphy's law struck, as during the last check at the location a crew was mowing everything away. No worries, for there's a plan B: a bit further into the wild where I had previously done a barbarian shoot . Water, young green trees, awesome eventhough with less magical light. Last time a friendly park ranger had even pointed

Every season Pairi Daiza, Le Jardin des Mondes , hosts special events. The festival of lights & carnaval have brought some light to the dark season.. which is probably not a very good thing for the resident animals.. but it was a blessing for us humans fearing the Dark of Winter . .  A photo gallery: The fire show was by Pyronix Productions & the beautiful Venetian carnevale costumes in the Dome are from Regards Vénitiens . Both splendid! The only 2 things I found a missed opportunity during the 3 weeks of Carnevale were: 1. The teams of costumed people were only to be found in the Dome and at the entrance. Please let them roam the entire park and how wonderful would it be to have them in themed costumes from the different regions in the park.  2. Organise a (1) Fully costumed visitors enter for free -day.. or for a reduced price. For us with a season's pass it doesn't change much, but imagine all the great pictures in the gorgeous archtitecture of the p