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5 (random) frames of Bruxelles with a MIR-1B, a Pentax ME Super and a Kodak TMax400
The late hours of a day are dangerous times, because this is when the mind, lacking tasks, begins to look for a way to keep itself busy. To make a long story short, this is why, against what the common sense would have suggested, I decided to take a stroll in a (very) cold winter evening along and around Avenue Louise in Bruxelles to test a MIR-1B 37/2.8 mounted on a TMAX 400 loaded Pentax ME Super with an M42 adapter. Initially published on 35mmc.com. As much as this is not a ‘field test’, I was unfair to the lens because I used it in challenging conditions, starting with the…
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Actors, Autumn, B&W, Bruxelles, Colour, Daily photo, Fighters, Fighting Disciplines, Photography, Spring, Summer, Winter
What Does ‘Professional’ Mean in Photography?
Pro’ is the photographer’s blessing and curse. It is the status we all – well, many of us – aspire to. It is the marketing gimmick created by the exploiters of the Gear Acquisition Syndrome to make people believe that tools make the craftsman. ‘Amateur’, on the other hand, is a word associated with casual photographers, ‘wannabe’ artists, and people who want to make you believe that tools make the craftsman. I have always been unconvinced that such a difference exists, at least in the general meaning associated with the words ‘pro’ and ‘amateur’, and in relation to the idea that the equipment used or the quality of the shots…
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Floating
The Panasonic TZ100 is a very good travel camera. Its one-inch sensor allows a fair balance between performance and portability. Being slightly bigger of trendy smartphones, this camera delivers a way more better results.
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Cleaning the Tabernacle
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We Are All Made of Stars
The street is slick with rain, fenced for works in progress, cluttered with signs and barriers. Yet above it all, the stars have returned — bright, geometric, electric — heralding the slow, luminous arrival of Christmas in Brussels. A lone figure walks toward the camera, wrapped in a scarf and his own thoughts. He is grounded, ordinary, human. But above him, a constellation of neon dreams stretches deep into the vanishing point, inviting passersby to look up, to believe, even if just for a moment. This photograph captures the paradox of the urban winter: cold, messy, fractured — and yet luminous with potential. The construction fences are still up, the…
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Menu Meditation
There’s a particular silence in cafés just before ordering. That moment when the cold air from outside still clings to your coat, and all attention narrows to laminated options and the quiet negotiations of hunger. This was taken on a grey afternoon in Brussels. A couple sits across from each other, each reading their own menu as if studying for an exam. No phones. No talking. Just decisions to be made: sweet or savoury, warm or cold, this or that. It’s a familiar ritual, yet rarely observed this closely. What drew me in wasn’t the scene’s drama—there was none—but its quietness. The soft concentration on their faces, the gentle lean…
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The Bystander
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Intelligence Contest
A pane of glass separates two worlds. On one side, the hyper-stylised gaze of a model — digital, sculpted, aloof. His stare pierces outward from an ad inside a hair salon, promising precision, control, curated masculinity at €21. Behind the glossy veneer, real people go about their routines, dwarfed by the giant printed face that symbolises a synthetic ideal. On the other side, a cluster of balloons—soft, round, unformed—calls out with its own clumsy presence. Unintended perhaps, but visually evocative, the column of latex orbs resembles a puppet or caricature. In their simplicity, they reflect something the model cannot: humanity, imperfection, absurdity. The composition turns into theatre. A confrontation of…
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The Quest for Belgian Chocolate…
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Outdoor Aperitif
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Traffic Master
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Safe Living (?)
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Washed
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Belgian Chocolate – Godiva
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The Jewels Sale
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Belgian Chocolate – Neuhaus
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Glancing Books
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Fancy a Beer?
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Inside the Palaces of Power – Bruxelles
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RedLight
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Sweet Dilemma
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Belgian Macarons
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Buying Chocolate
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Macarons. Again
