News
I have removed the links page from the site. I moved to most interesting links to the menu on the left. It is too troublesome to maintain, and it was confusing to have links in the menu and on a separate page.
I’m getting sick and tired of spam! First, I get flooded with spam via e-mail. With a little help from my hosting provider, I got rid of most of the spam in my mail. Now, I get spammed through our blog. Anoying!
So, I have decided to close the blog for non-registered users. And I don’t even know if I will allow people to register.
I’ve done a little model shoot at DIFO, the photography club I joined last fall. There’s a couple of shots from last night in this gallery.
A big thank you to An, the model for the evening, and to the people at DIFO for organizing the shoot.
Rumors about an upcoming release of a new Springsteen album were floating around the Internet for several weeks. And as Springsteen fans always seem to be well informed, the rumors turn out to be true. Springsteen’s publisher, Shore Fire, announced the release of We Shall Overcome The Seeger Sessions. According to the press release, “the album features Bruce’s personal interpretations of thirteen traditional songs, all of them associated with the legendary guiding light of American folk music, Pete Seeger, for whom the album is named.” The album will be released on April 25th. Bruce is planning a short tour in the U.S. and Europe to accompany the release of the album.
As always, I am excited with the news that Springsteen will be touring again very shortly. But I am not sure what to think about the album. I like Springsteen’s folky side just as much as I like the rock songs. I enjoyed the albums The Ghost of Tom Joad and Devils & Dust. But I wonder why Bruce decided to release a cover album. Springsteen is a talented songwriter, and is perfectly capable of writing his own folk songs. I don’t understand why he needs to revert to covers to tell his story.
Until yesterday, I had never worked in photo studio before. Compared to shooting on location, studio photography is a totally different experience. There’s a lot more preparation involved: setting up the studio, lights, props, finding the right poses, … It will take a few more studio sessions before I really understand the basics.
My good friend Kelly was kind enough to pose for me. She’s not a model, and she had never posed for photo shoot before. But she did a great job: she was very patient with me and very cooperative too. Thanks Kel!
And thank you to DIFO for allowing me to use the studio.
More photos in Kelly’s album.
For the 2nd time this year, I went out for a model shoot. I had arranged to go to the Keiheuvel in Balen with KimM. It turned out we were not alone: there was a big mountain bike contest going on. And we wanted peace and quiet for our photo shoot.
Fortunately, there is plenty of nice quiet places in the area. We turned the car around and drove to the Zilvermeer in Mol for the shoot.
Thank you Kim for a fun afternoon!
A couple more photos can be found in KimM’s album on my gallery.
We spent last weekend in Paris, France. Nothing too much exciting. We went to Paris to go see Mylene Farmer at the Palais Omnisport de Bercy. We bought the tickets for last Saturday’s concert in December of 2004.
Mylene Farmer is one of my favorite artists. Her concerts are renowned for their extravagance: beautiful costumes, lot’s of dancers, excellent lightshow and many surprises. She decided to promote her latest album Avant que l’Ombre… with just 13 shows in Paris. She did not want to play concerts anywhere else.
I was expecting it to be big, but I have never seen a stage show like Saturday’s concert! I was just blown away: 2 stages, big video screens, lights everywhere, surround sound effects. It was awesome. Ticket prices were quite high, but it was worth it every penny.
The only drawback of the night: the hostesses that we guiding us to our seats asked us for a little token of appreciation. We paid 132 EUR per ticket and those girls actually had the nerve to ask for a tip!
Last Saturday, I joined fellow photographer Sven Michiels for my first photo shoot of the year. A couple weeks ago, Sven came up with the idea to go to the Ardennes for a model shoot in the snow. I had never done a model shoot, so didn’t want to let this opportunity go by. But since snow was uncertain, we decided to seek shelter in de abandoned buildings of Anco in Turnhout.
I had a little experience with models: I participated in 2 shooting days organized by Belgium Digital last summer. And those shoots got me excited about working with models. I didn’t realize there’s quite a lot of work involved in preparing a shoot: finding the right models, location, equipment …
It was a very cold day last Saturday, but it all turned out well. I had a lot of fun, as did Dasha, Natascha and Sayanna (our models for the day). I know I still have a lot to learn, but still I am pleased with the results. Here are a few samples:
Full album in our gallery.
Thank you Dasha, Natascha and Sayanna for the shoot. I hope we can do it again sometime. And a big thank you to the people of Hillewaere Turnhout of allowing us to use the location.
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over over
If you want it
War is over
© John Lennon