Since 1994 · Since 1994 newsletter@ ... can almost hear the yakety sax when watching it! Jason...

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Next Meeting 16.03.16

Next newsletter submission deadline 02.04.2016

Co

ver

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English-Speaking Photography Club of Brussels

Newsletter no 227, March 2016

Since 1994

[email protected] www.viewfinders.be Bank account: 310-1244075-39

We look forward to seeing you all, old and new, at the Swedish Church and Cultural Centre

35 avenue des Gaulois, 1040 Brussels, tel. 02.387.25.19, next to the Merode metro station (metro lines 1& 5, tram 81 & 83, buses 22, 27, 61, 80)

Marolles by Alun Foster

Send us your photos for the next newsletter. News, articles and creative writing also very welcome.

Photos should be between 1 Mb and 2 Mb filesize in jpeg format. Send to [email protected]. Filenames

should identify you and distinguish the image. For example: FredSmith01_flowers.jpg or FredSmith02_Venice.jpg

mailto:[email protected]

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Photography in motion

Review of February meeting

After the announcements by club President Alun Foster, Robert Paridaens presented a "Tribute to Artists". Using the works of famous (and some more obscure) artists as a base, Robert showed a selection of his own interpre-tations of such artists as Gustav Klimt, Egon Shiele, Paul Delvaux, George Grard, René Magritte, Robert De-launey, Jean-Michel Folon, Auguste Rodin,... He com-pleted it with his own inventive twists, often mixing the works with scenes from everyday life, often in the form of collages and using techniques such as superimposi-tion. The evening then continued with the main topic of the evening: the "Moving Photography" assignment. The basic concept was to create a 1-minute video with a fixed camera position, showing a scene from real life. The video could be displayed in real time, slowed down or sped up, or even a succession of still images. This as-signment really got the creative juices flowing, with no less than 15 videos submitted. The topic clearly clicked with our members! Alun Foster kicked things off with a time lapse of last year's lunar eclipse, showing this exceptional natural phenomenon in all its glory. Next was Robert Paridaens

who dedicated his video to famous Paris landmark, the Eiffel tower, showing it from different angles and times

of day, closing off with the same painting from Robert Delaunay which was already part of his "Tribute to Artists" presentation. Felicity Handford showed us a video of colourful Chi-nese New Year dancers at the Grand Place, and a clip of the atmosphere during the weekly Châtelain market. David Marsh took a different approach and showed us the evolution of his garden as it changed going through the different seasons. For a year, he took a photo from the same position every day, creating a stop motion video, with accompanying synchronized music. A won-derful result from a lot of effort!

Jeroen Van Gent dedicated his entries to the chaotic Brussels traffic, a cornerstone of public life in Brussels many of us experience every day. One was shot from a busy intersection next to a White Night cornershop, while the other was a timelapse video showing the madness of a busy street in Uccle around rush hour. This was a perfect example of how you can create visual impact from a familiar scene.

Tribute to Artists by Robert Paridaens

Video trams by Jeroen Van Gent

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Review (continued) and Preview of March meeting

Nicolas Jouveneaux used a similar technique for his vid-eos: one showing evening traffic on the Brussels Ring, dash cam style. His second clip was a very entertaining and funny scene at a bustling Grand Place showing the antics of the selfie-making tourists, in super speed. You can almost hear the yakety sax when watching it! Jason Kravitz also used this technique in his video of a countryside landscape with dark and menacing clouds zipping by at high speed, again allowing us to experi-ence this everyday scene in a very different way. This was followed by 2 videos by Bob Taylor, one show-ing a water lily and its blooming cycle over a day. The other showed us some whipped cream collapsing over time, but as it was played in reverse, it gave the impres-sion that it was actually rising. Peter Easton showed us a slice of everyday city life in a Brussels metro station, with a violin busker providing a natural soundtrack to the scene. In another clip he fo-cuses on a busy intersection in downtown London, with throngs of people going about their business, seemingly unaware of each other. Finally Martin Szekeresh concluded the assignment with his video showing the silhouette of a saxophone player near the River Seine in Paris, and a dreamy clip of a cur-tain fluttering in the wind, aptly accompanied by some Pink Floyd music. So there you have it, plenty of videos for this assign-ment on a whole range of topics, and using lots of different techniques. A big thank you to everybody who submitted entries, some really creative stuff there! All of them will be made available for viewing on a dedi-cated page on the Viewfinders website, so go have a look! Finally, after the assignment there was still some time left, so to close off the evening Sebastian Boatca took the opportunity to show us his street photography from Japan, for which he did not have enough time during the January meeting. A stunning collection of black and white images depicting people going about their business in a bustling Japanese metropolis. The slideshow is available online here: https://vimeo.com/155110748 Highly recommended!

Preview of March meeting

After the opening announcements, David Van den Bunder will talk to us about colour-calibrating your computer’s screen. A calibrated and profiled display is essential if the colours you see on your monitor are to match the colours in your digital file, otherwise you will not be happy with the colours in your prints. The main topic for the evening is “Prints and Papers”. Janet Haines, an English photographer who is currently based in The Netherlands, will talk to us about her work in Prints. She has an Associate Distinction from the Royal Photographic Society and chairs their Digital Imaging Group. Janet has had considerable success with her images in Salons around the world. She believes that to print your work is the ultimate respect of your belief in your image and that only through this medium can you truly produce a piece of art work that you can be proud of. http://www.jayhaines.co.uk/ We will be looking forward to seeing her prints and we hope

to see you at the meeting.

Richard Sylvester

Video Grand Place by Nicolas Jouveneaux

Fredau © Janet Haines

https://vimeo.com/155110748

http://www.jayhaines.co.uk/

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Photo outings

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Report on photo walk at Jeu de Balle flea

market and the Marolles

Our Viewfinders photo walk on Sunday 21st February to

discover the Marolles was a great success. Nine ‘early

birds’ equipped with cameras convened at 6:30 am (!

Yes, they did it) at the entrance to ‘Place du Jeu de

Balle’/‘Vossenplein’, where every morning the famous

flea market of Brussels is held. The rain had just ceased

– and did not recur during the whole expedition – offer-

ing ideal lighting and reflections on cobblestones where

the antique and ‘brol’-sellers were setting up.

At 8 am, a few others joined the courageous explorers

for a nice breakfast at café ‘La Clé d’Or’ where Freddy

Govaere, who helped organize the expedition, awaited

us. Freddy is an expert lover of the Vieux Marché, and

chief editor of the local magazine ‘le Brol’ (translation of

the typical Brusselair word Brol may be approximated

by ‘stuff’ or ‘bric-à-brac’). We ate our bacon and eggs at

the famous table where Prince Philippe (before becom-

ing King) once dined with Mathilde, his dulcinea.

From 9 am, our picture-hunters were able to immortal-

ize the now active market, illuminated by daylight and

even by some bright rays of sunshine between the

clouds. After a short walk, taking the unusual elevator

(‘ascenseur des Marolles’) linking la rue Haute to Place

Poelaert, we met Mr Vereecken who led us on a 2-hour

guided tour of the Marolles. He was surprised by the

unexpectedly high number (22) of participants, but

managed it brilliantly.

The guided tour started with expert explanations on the

geography and the origins of the Marolles (the name is

a transformation of ‘les Maricoles’, a catholic order of

sisters who protected poor people and prostitutes dur-

ing the 17th century). We first visited the entrance hall

of the Palace of Justice, an enormous building built be-

tween 1866 and 1883 (during the reign of King Leopold

II). The space needed for this gigantic construction re-

quired the removal of many inhabitants [Ed: I’m told

many were moved to the Place St-Job area in Uccle].

Those moved were so unhappy that the job title of ar-

chitect Joseph Poelaert became the worst insult in

Brusselair: ‘Architek’ or ‘Rachitek’. We then walked for

a couple of hours around the Palace, discovering the

Marolles themselves with nice anecdotes, and finally

returned to the flea market. Twelve of us finished the

expedition with a typical Belgian lunch at ‘La Brocante’

restaurant, where we also had the nice surprise of a

dynamic jazz band.

The pictures taken by our artists will be (re)viewed

soon, and a selection will be published in ‘Le Brol’. We

also hope, with the help of Freddy, to exhibit in local

cafes or galleries.

Robert Paridaens (Papyrazzi)

Vieux Marche by Robert Paridaens

Marolles by Richard Sylvester

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Exhibitions

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Exhibition

‘Disorder’ at the Contemporary Art Centre, Ixelles. An

impressive exhibition in an impressive exhibition space.

You need to be quick for this one, as it runs only until

26th March. It’s the Prix Pictet Prize for Photography and

Sustainability: Disorder. It consists of about 40 photo-

graphs by the 12 shortlisted photographers. The theme

focuses on how man is destroying the natural environ-

ment, so not uplifting, but there are a number of excel-

lent photos amongst them, and a variety of styles. Free

entrance, open 2 to 6pm Wed to Sat. “Founded in

2008 by the Pictet Group in Switzerland, the Pictet Prize

is recognised as the world’s leading prize for photography

[that passed my by!]. On an 18 month cycle, the prize focuses

on a theme that promotes discussion and debate on issues of

sustainability.”

http://www.cab.be/index.php?

page=residenties&subpage=current

In any case, it’s an impressive exhibition space, so one

to keep an eye on for future exhibitions. It’s a short

walk from Place Flagey and Les Etangs d’Ixelles. “The

CAB is a private contemporary art centre that opened in

2012. It is dedicated to promote contemporary art

through the organisation of art projects in its impressive

architectural space.”

http://www.cab.be/index.php

Facebook Group

If you are on Facebook, connect to the Viewfinders

Group! Its an informal group for sharing news on

events, ‘for sale’ items, interesting websites and news

stories, or just to share some of your recent photos.

Club Equipment

Viewfinders has the following equipment available to members for monthly loans:

Canon 300D camera Canon negative scanner HP flatbed scanner ColorMunki screen and printer colour calibrator.

Requests for the loans should be made to the Club Pres-ident in advance of the meetings when they were to be collected and they should be returned at the following meeting.

CAB art centre by Peter Easton

http://www.cab.be/index.php?page=residenties&subpage=current

http://www.cab.be/index.php?page=residenties&subpage=current

http://www.cab.be/index.php

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16 March Club Meeting TTT on monitor calibration by David Van den Bunder

Presentation by Janet Haines—”Prints and

20 April Club Meeting Challenge: “Shadows, Silhouettes, Reflec-

tions

Judges will be Bart Ramakers and Steve Johns.

18 May Club Meeting External Speaker: Bert Stephani

15 June Club Meeting AGM (election of new committee members)

For more information about these events, please see the website www.viewfinders.be

[email protected] www.viewfinders.be Bank account: 310-1244075-39

Alun Foster President 0496 572 402 [email protected]

David Van den Bunder Vice President 02 269 67 22 [email protected]

Jörg Tagger Programme Coordinator 0486 590 010 [email protected]

Ana Agundez Garcia Treasurer 0486 378 975 [email protected]

Richard Sylvester Secretary 02 346 4916 [email protected]

Caroline Hendry Membership Coordinator 0494 089 098 [email protected]

David Van den Bunder Website Coordinator 02 269 67 22 [email protected]

Peter Easton Newsletter Editor 0476 661 727 [email protected]

Kevin Scarlett Newsletter Production 0486 298 630 [email protected]

Robert Paridaens Associate Committee Member 0475 203 524 [email protected]

Rick Barfoot Associate Committee Member 0497 137 546 [email protected]

Calendar

Viewfinders committee 2015-2016

Any items from members for publication are welcome. Images are particularly welcome, please send them in as separate attachments (not embedded in emails or documents), in JPEG format, with no less than 1400 px on the long side, and minimal compression. Please be aware that, in accordance with the layout, some cropping may occur. Please send submissions to the newsletter to: [email protected]

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Members’ Pictures of the Month Digital only

Do you want to see your images in print? Then feel free to send them in to [email protected]. Images should be of a size suitable for publication, usually anything over 1Mb is fine, anything smaller than this just won’t print well so please don’t send them in.

Place Jeu de Balle by Robert Paridaens Marolles by Robert Paridaens

Art Nouveau by Christine Jonckheere

Marolles by Robert Paridaens

mailto:[email protected]

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Gulls in Portugal by Martin Szekeresh

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Forest in Motion by Martin Szekeresh

Antwerp Martin Szekeresh

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Art Nouveau by Christine Jonckheere

Chinese New Year by Christine Jonckheere

Since 1994 · Since 1994 newsletter@ ... can almost hear the yakety sax when watching it! Jason...

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Transcript of Since 1994 · Since 1994 newsletter@ ... can almost hear the yakety sax when watching it! Jason...