Category:Photography
The President of the U.S.A. paid a visit to Belgium to attend a NATO summit. And that usually creates a little buzz among aviation geeks because that means Air Force One will be in town. I’ve seen Air Force One a couple of times before but I never had a chance to photograph it.
I had a business meeting in the Brussels area today. And I had carefully planned the meeting so it would end right around the time President Biden would be leaving for Geneva. So I packed my photo gear and found me a spot at Brussels airport after my meeting was finished. Since I didn’t know from which runway Air Force One would take off, I choose a spot near the Skeyes control center to cover both sides of the Brussels airport.
I was fortunate: I captured a decent pic of Air Force One skipping of the trees as it left the airport.
This plane is actually a Boeing VC-25, the military version of a Boeing 747 and only 2 of this type are in service. Did you know that the plane only carries the call sign Air Force One when the US President is on board?
Shortly after Air Force One took the skies and headed for Geneva, a US Air Force C-32A took off. I believe that is the plane that took the 1st Lady of the U.S.A. back home. I’ve read somewhere she would not be joining the President at his meeting in Geneva. It took US Secretary of State Antony Blinken back to home to Washington D.C.
Finally! After 6 months of inactivity, life returned to my photo studio! I can not begin to explain you how thrilled I was to have a real human in my studio again. One of my favorite humans too: Shannety. Millions of IM’s and countless hours on FaceTime can not compare to having her in the studio.
We shot the swimwear collection for her webshop. This is one of the shots we did. Shannety styled the outfit herself and we added a couple of house plants to complete the jungle look. Needless to say that we had lots of fun turning my studio into a jungle.
Check Shannety’s webshop at SecretLittleCloset.be for her complete collection of swimwear for this summer.
This series got me longing for summer! Bright yellow, flashy orange and fuchsia and rainbow nail polish. Shannety and I shot this series last year at the end of summer. Back when the COVID-19 risk was low.
As we approach spring again and the COVID-19 situation is looking up again, I can’t wait to have her back in the studio for more photo fun. As a matter of fact, I can’t wait to start working on all those ideas–in the studio and on location–we came up with during lockdown.
This calls for a hit from the movie Grease soundtrack… “Aaaaaaah! Those summer nights.” I guess it’s time for a little dance now.
My love for the shiny qualities of latex runs deeps and goes way back. But there’s something about the combination of latex and regular clothes that is attractive too. That latex pencil skirt from William Wilde hugs Svenja’s hips just beautiful. And it matches her lacy lingerie perfectly.
2020 has been a very difficult year. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a halt on our social lives and even worse fro some. So far, I have been very fortunate and I’ve been spared from the most terrible consequences of the pandemic.
But just as my friends and colleagues in the photography business, I did not get to work with models in my studio a lot in 2020. Publishing the little work I did last year feels strange. I have been holding off on publishing it ’cause I am not sure if it was/is appropriate in these times.
And yet, I have some work that is definitely worth sharing. Like this set I did with Svenja. We had to postpone our shoot twice last year. She was one of the few models I had in my studio. It was the 1st time Svenja and I met. It was Svenja’s 1st time in latex and she did just great! I’m looking forward to have her back in my studio as soon as the conditions allow for it.
I got this gorgeous 2 piece latex lingerie set from Pandora Deluxe in their sample sale. It has these beautiful laser cut details that make it seem like lace. It’s all pink and girly. It was the perfect outfit for a warm summer’s day shoot.
When I showed the set to Daria, she was eager to try it on. When I explained her what I wanted to do–pink lingerie on a pink background–she told me that she not really a fan of the color pink. But she indulged me and went a head with the idea. At the end of the shoot, she said she really loved the results. The photos are really girly, but she liked them.
She made me promise that for our next shoot, there will be no more sweet pink thingies. Next time we will do something dark and bold! I promise!
So, Daria says that pink is her least favorite color. But what do you guys think? Doesn’t she look marvelous in this pink set?
Shannety and I have been doing quite a lot of work for her webshop lately. But we have found time to do some other stuff too. Latex obviously. And experimenting with lighting setups and colorgels too. The light setup makes her glow like a star.
When we shot this, I had a couple of outfits from LatexSensation on loan. Shannety looked at the outfit she’s wearing and said: “Oh my god! I love that jacket!”. She changed into the outfit and we set off for a little shoot.
We loved that biker jacket from LatexSensation so much, that I ended up buying it. You’ll see more of it in the future.
I am used to the sound of military jets flying over the house. Living close to the Air Bases of Volkel, Gilze-Rijen and Kleine Brogel, there are F-16’s in the skies quite often. But when I hear, the sound of multiple jets coming and going my aviation brain is automatically put in a state of alert. Some of the jet noise did not sound familiar so I decide to go and have a look outside. As I step out on to the back porch, I gasp and run back inside to grab my camera.
“There is a Lightning in the sky! There is a Lighting in the sky!” As I grab my camera, I still can’t beleive it, but there really is a F-35 Lightning II of the Royal Dutch Air Force in the sky. A very rare sight in the skies over Belgium and the Netherlands. There really was a Lightning in the sky and it was doing flyby’s over my home.
On top of that, I saw a couple of Vipers hiding in the tree line. First 1, then 2, then even more F-16 Fighting Falcon of the Belgian Air Force appeared over the treeline behind my house. Not in the regular combat formation–about 2km apart–but much closer. I knew something was up.
I keep watching and in true Top Gun style, I exclaim: “Holy sh*t! It’s Vador!” as I see the Dark Falcon skipping over the trees too. In case you don’t know: Vador is the 2020 F-16 demo pilot for the Belgian Air Force. His F-16 is nicknamed Dark Falcon.
I know that these aren’t the greatest pics but you can just about make out the 2020 paint scheme of the Dark Falcon.
He was part of a 12 ship formation performing a flyby at Kleine Brogel Air Base with the Dutch F-35 and an Airbus A330-200 MRTT as a farewell to the commander of the Belgian Air Force I learned later.
The A330-200 MRTT of the Royal Dutch Air Force is rare sight in the skies over Belgium. Stationed at Eindhoven Air Base, these A330-200 MRTT will serve as air-to-air refueling planes for NATO. I watched as a number of F-16 Fighting Falcon of the Belgium Air Force lined up with it for a formation flight.
Elinne called me up and said she needed a photo for the header of her website. She asked if I would mind shooting a couple of portraits for her. I happily obliged and we walked away with this cool sporty chique photo.
It is a lot of fun to shoot for Shannety’s online shop. You all know I much I like working with here, right? There is probably no better days than when she in the studio.
And I don’t mind shooting a little fashion from time to time. But shooting latex is a lot more fun for me. So we decided to combine the best of both worlds. We matched the Blaine blouse from Shannety’s SecretLittleCloset to a latex skirt from my latex closet. A true closet secret you might say.
The top and sunglasses are for sale over at SecretLittleCloset (while supplies last). The latex miniskirt is from William Wilde and belongs to my private collection. It is not for sale.
