From time to time I grow tired off shooting on white, grey or black backgrounds when working in my studio and then I go look for other possibilities. It turns out there are much more colors to life than just white, grey or black. All it takes is a big soft light, some shiny latex and the ever ravishing Shannety to turn my studio into a fiesta… And oh, maybe some orange and yellow backgrounds.
Low Country Boil, which is sometimes referred to as Frogmore Stew, is a simple seafood stew. It originates in Louisiana, somewhere along the banks of the Mississippi. It uses seafood that is found in abundance in the Mississippi delta: crawfish, crab, large shrimp. Traditionally, corn, potatoes and Andouille sausage are added. All ingredients that come quite cheap in that region of the US.
Some of the ingredients are not always easy to find in Belgium. Some might not be as cheap as in the US. Check your local food stores or supermarkets, and you will find most ingredients. I buy the crawfish, crab and shrimp at Makro: you can find both frozen and fresh seafood there. You’ll find Old Bay seasoning in American expat shops for sure. I buy mine at Graré in Antwerp.
Andouille sausage is very hard to come by, but I’ve found that Polish sausage comes close. So I substitute the Andouille sausage with Polish sausage I buy at Makro.
Method: (serves 6)
Remove the husks from the corn and chop each cob in to 6 pieces. Clean the potatoes and cut into bite size pieces; no need to peel them. Clean the onion and cut in to 6 wedges. Rinse the lemon with plenty of water to remove dirt and possible chemicals and cut into 6 wedges. Put the potatoes, corn, onion and lemon wedges in a large pot and cover with water. Season with 3tlsp of Old Bay, 1tlsp of cayenne pepper, 1tps of smoked paprika 2 bay leafs and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil.
If you are using fresh seafood, add your fresh crab and fresh crawfish now.
Cut the sausages in bite size dice. About 20 minutes in to the boil, add the sausage. This would also be a good time to add your seafood if you are using precooked and frozen seafood. Make sure your seafood is completely defrosted before you add it. Cook for a further 10 minutes or until the potatoes and corn are done. Turn off the heat.
When you use fresh prawns or frozen but uncooked prawns, add them now. The residual heat will cook the prawns in a matter of minutes. The prawns are cooked when the are pink on the outside. I recommend to use fresh or frozen but uncooked prawns because precooked prawns get really chewy when you reheat them. If you’re using frozen prawns, let them defrost before adding them. When the prawns are cooked, you’re ready to serve.
Best way to serve it? On a large platter in the middle of the table so all your guest can dig in and share. A good beer and some fun stories with the dish will get a party stared for sure. But if it needs to be a bit posh, serve it in a bowl and top it will some spring onion and a parsley.
Ingredients:
Back in the 80’s–the 1980’s that is–aerobics was a thing. And aerobics fashion was hot: pastel & neon colors, high-cut leotards, leg warmers, … When I came across this outfit from Blacklickorish, I knew I just had to shoot it. And, guess what: both Shannety and Jolien look damn hot in it.
And when they’re side-by-side in the studio, they look like sisters, very cute sisters!
Earlier i told you about how I challenged myself to a photoshoot with my iPhone. Magalie was the model for that shoot.
I obviously did not want to take the risk of returning home from a photoshoot without a nice photo, so just to be on the safe side, I also took along my dSLR and did a series of fashion portraits with Magalie.
This Airbus A400 M will become the new workhorse off the Belgian Air Force in a couple of years when it replaces the Lockheed Martin C130 Hercules of the 15th Air Transport Wing. I will hate it when the Herc’s retire ’cause that is one heck of transporter. But the A400 M is really cool too.
We’ve got a new demo pilot on F-16. Well, the Belgian Air Force has a new demo pilot that is. He is senior captain Stephan Darte, call sign Vador and flies with 1SQN out of Florrenne Air Base. And a new demo pilot also means a new Viper with a new paint scheme. Plenty of reasons to shoot a series of new pics of this beautiful bird.
I’m Looking forward to more demos of Vador and his Black Falcon.
An F-35 Lightning II of the Italian Air Force paid a visit to Kleine Brogel Air Base last weekend. It was on static display all weekend for the Belgian Air Force Days. It was the 1st time that an F-35 touched down on Belgian soil.
Unfortunately it did take the air on Saturday or Sunday for the crowds to admire it. But it flew in on Friday while KeeBee was open for spotters. Sorta waited all day to get the one shot at catching the F-35 as it arrived at the airbase. And I got it!
Challenge yourself as a photographer from time to time… Just ’cause it’s fun. Last year I said I wanted to have a go at a photo shoot with just an iPhone as the camera. It took me until this summer to actually set it all up: Magalie was kind enough to model for me on this endeavour and my buddy James was there to help me and light the scene.
It turned out to be quite a challenge. The iPhone has a wide-angle lens in it’s front camera, so I had to get really close to Magalie to shoot portraits. And despite the fact that Magalie and I are good friends , it felt awkward to be that close to each other to take pictures. I did the shoot with the camera of Lightroom Mobile Lightroom CC and even though it allows you to control most settings of the iPhone’s camera, it is still quite a hassle to get a beautifully exposed photo.
But all in all, it was a fun experiment which I plan to repeat in the future.
When you see yourself in the reflection of your model’s sunglasses, does that count as a selfie? Anyway, this is just a very beautiful up-close portrait. And, don’t forget it was shot on an iPhone 7, with no flash, just a reflection panel.
It is an absolute joy to work with models Shannety and Romi. After working with Shannety for more than 7 years, she’s more than a regular model. I can say she’s a friend. Romi is an absolute doll. I am happy that she wants to model for me after being away from the modeling business for quite a number of years.
Obviously no photo shoot works without models and a photographer, but it is the make-up artist that seals the deal in our case. Elem is so talented and so driven. Her work lifts our pics to a higher level. She has a very busy day job, so I am really grateful she takes the time to come and do make-up.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH LADIES FOR ALL THOSE HOURS OF FUN AND YOUR HARD WORK!
Caroline showed up for a casting wearing a shirt saying Shut up & take me to New York. We had never met before and without formal introduction, I asked her “When do you wanna leave?”. She paused for a second, smiled and replied “How about next week?”. That conversation broke the ice and about 10 minutes later we had set up an appointment for a portfolio shoot.
Caroline brought make-up artist Romina on board for the shoot, and obviously, I insisted she bring that shirt that for the shoot. We had a fun afternoon in the studio–thank you for that ladies–and I look forward to working with Caroline and Romina again sometime.
