Nadaar site launched
Finally the website of 'Nadaar' is online. Nadaar is a Brussels based collective of photographers and photojournalists, founded by Eric De Mildt, Tim Dirven, Jan Locus, Dieter Telemans and myself at the end of 2008.
In 1864 pioneer photographer Félix "Nadar" Tournachon took photographs of Brussels from "Le Géant", a hot air balloon. Mobile barriers had to be erected to keep the crowd at a safe distance. Since then these barriers are known in Belgium as "Nadaars". Nowadays they are often used to keep photographers at a "safe" distance.
Our collective Nadaar is in the first place a platform for contemporary documentary photography. Photography is an individual, sometimes even lonesome, occupation. Therefor it's good to meet collegues, give feedback on each others work, discuss technical issues or new equipment, exchange contacts and have a beer.
Besides our personnal work, we plan to realise a collective project each year. The first one, a documentary about the diversity of the population of Brussels, will be ready in the summer of 2010.
Being "five in one" we hope to have a better position in dealing with bigger assignments. Because there is power in a union...
‘Red Journey’ in Hasselt
Untill January 10, 2010 'Red Journey' can be seen at the Cultuurcentrum in Hasselt. Today was the opening. The spacious gallery allowed me to extend the exhibition to 43 works. That's half the book. I'm very satisfied with it. Here are some photographs. It's better to see them live though...
Cultuurcentrum Hasselt
Boekenbeurs
Hollandse Hoogte is good in selling photographs for book covers. I found two books about Central Asia with my pictures on the cover at the Antwerp Book Fair. "Bentleys in the steppe" by Marona Van de Heuvel is about Kazakhstan. "In Centraal Azië - Een reis langs tradities en godsdiensten" is the result of by Linda Otter's trip through Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Both books are published by Atlas Amsterdam/Antwerpen.
Le Monde Magazine
Le Monde Magazine published a portfolio on 'Red Journey' this weekend. 13 photographs, 8 pages. The story has been sold by Cosmos, my agent in Paris.
Wrong time, wrong place
Tonight the exhibition 'Verkeerde tijd, verkeerde plaats' opens at the University of Antwerp (UA). This work unites black and white portraits of refugees, made by Dieter Telemans, and my documentary on the asylum procedure in Belgium.
Almost five years ago 'Verkeerde tijd, verkeerde plaats' was shown for the first time at the FotoMuseum in Antwerp. The exhibition has been travelling non stop to schools, organisations, cultural centers and asylum centers ever since. Many people must have seen it. I guess the exhibition has had its use.
Exhibition at UA, De Meerminne, Stadscampus UA, Sint Jacobsstraat 2, 2000 Antwerpen.
Nocturne: Through the eye of the photographer
On November 3rd Michiel Hendryckx and myself will be interviewed by Friedl' Lesage at the annual Book Fair in Antwerp. Both our books were published by Lannoo earlier this year. And both of us had an exhibition at the FotoMuseum in Anwerp. The talk starts at 7PM at the Green Room. Afterwards is a double book signing of 'Red Journey' and 'Dolen, Onderweg in Europa'.
Circus Bulderdrang is back in town. Picture by Nick Hannes.Ademloos/Breathless
50.610 euro. That's the gain of the auction at Bernaerts Auction House in Antwerp yesterday. 70 artists offered a work to sell by auction to the benefit of action committee Ademloos ('Breathless'). Thanks to the voluntarily persistence of a small group of concerned citizens, megalomaniac plans to construct a viaduct (The Lange Wapper) and a new highway through the city are blocked. However, the war ain't over yet. The Flemish government has the last word and the concrete lobby is powerful and greedy. Ademloos continues the campaign for a livable city. Glad I contributed a little by giving my photograph 'Dilijan, Armenia, 2007', one of the 'Red Journey'-images. It was sold for 450 euro yesterday.
Building new roads to dissolve traffic jams is blunt. The only way to improve mobility is to decrease the amount of cars on the roads.
Urban Dream
I've got the cover of Knack Weekend this week, with a picture of the beach in Astana city, Kazakhstan. With this one and 9 other photographs of former Soviet city scapes, I won the Weekend Photo Award 2009 yesterday, a contest organised by Knack Weekend, Le Vif Weekend, Nikon and the Photo Gallery in Brussels. This year's theme was 'Urban Dream'. Got a Nikon D3x now and a bunch of flowers on the kitchen table. I'm happy.
New blog
2009 has been a good year. My first book 'Red Journey' was published by Lannoo, got the Nikon Press Photo Award 2009 for it, had an exhibition at the FotoMuseum in Antwerp and a screening at Visa Pour l'Image Festival du Photojournalisme at Perpignan. However, the most overwhelming thing that happened was the birth of my lovely twin daughters Billie and Suzanne on august 3rd. Great feeling.
Meanwhile new long term projects are running, and plans for the next big trip are being made. (I'll write about this later.) On the other hand assignments for the press have become less. A sign of the times I guess. I do regret the crisis in the media (both financial and qualitative), but at the same time it made me consider other ways to live my photographer's life. In order to keep people informed about what I'm up to, I decided to start this weblog. I hope you will like it.
Click here to watch the screening of RED JOURNEY at the Visa Pour l'Image Festival in Perpignan