I swear, I’ll get back to doing this even if it kills me.

Honestly folks, it’s not like I wasn’t trying hard enough.

It’s been quite hectic lately, for sure.

Can’t believe it’s been six bloody months already.

Pretty much all creative photography has come to a standstill.

I blame the Leica, or at least part of it.

And, errr, I wasn’t trying hard enough.

Sure, I’ve been doing quite a number of assignments.

Honestly, where do you lads find the time to update everything so often?

Guess I’m not trying hard enough.

So… is this thing on?

We were assigned to do some shooting during Laundry Day, a mega dance manifest type thing in one of only two large, Flemish speaking Belgian cities: Antwerp. The assignment had a familiar ring to it: shoot some partypeople. The twist: it was broad daylight. So bye-bye to club atmosphere and moodlights. Although, in retrospect, I was wrong about expecting a lack of ambient light. See, I did get plenty of moodlight, but it was from a natural source. Go figure. Oh, there were several stages, some larger than others. Belgium’s premier radio station, Studio Brussel, had one of the larger stages. So did a certain Belgian brewery that goes by the name of Alken-Maes. I’ve been assigned to cover events by each of these rather large players before (though I’ve never dealt with them directly). This time round, it was my responsibility to do a nice little coverage of the Levi’s stand. Yeah, the Jeans folks. The assignment was pretty simple: shoot the deejay, the promogirls, the crowd and the dump truck. Yeah, you heard me.

“The deejay in the dump truck.”

It has a peculiar ring to it.

Then again, it might just be the music I’m listening to right now. Begin cheap plug:
http://somafm.com , commercial-free internet radio. The Drone Zone channel is nice. So is Illinois Street Lounge, among some others. Hmm, I’d better donate some of the filthy cash I’m making to these nice lads.
End cheap, well-meant plug.

So, what was that thing again about a dump truck?

14mm Asph – ISO400 – f/14 – 1/2000s

15mm Fish – ISO400 – f/11 – 1/125s

As one of the British deejays so eloquently put it:
“I’ve played in plenty of strange places mate, but neva’ in a fookin’ dump truck”

I thought it was cool. Compact yet cosy. Like sardines in a tin can, but without the smell of fish cadaver.

85mm – ISO400 – f/9.0 – 1/200s

Did I mention this shoot was for Levi’s?

85mm – ISO400 – f/2.5 – 1/4000s

“For Levi’s? Really? The Jeans folks?”
Uh huh. ’s Right.

85mm – ISO100 – f/2.8 – 1/2500s

“So you were supposed to try and bring out the sponsor in your photos?”
Yeah, sort of.

14mm Fish – ISO400 – f/5.6 – 1/160s

You might be able to tell from the photographs, but I’m not entirely sure.

Allright, enough with the silly running gags already.

Let’s move onto some random shots, I haven’t got all night.

85mm – ISO200 – f/3.2 – 1/2500s

The standard indecisive type. “Hmmm…. where should I go next..”
Nowhere dude. Stay right there and don’t move. Nice glasses too.

85mm – ISO100 – f/2.8 – 1/2500s

The standard “I fit right into a Levi’s commercial” type. My partner-in-crime strongly disagrees. She thinks he’s pretty attractive looking. She reckons he’s more of a Trussardi Jeans type. Doesn’t matter, I shot him anyway.

Please take note of the river ‘Schelde’ in the background. The stage was placed right next to the water. I guess that explains the fence. We wouldn’t want any casualties resulting from a head-first dive into unknown water. It was way too cold, anyway. The icy wind did its utmost best to chill my bones down to unacceptable levels. Anyway the wind blows, indeed. I’m starting to make some sense out of Mr. Barman’s movie title.

85mm – ISO200 – f/1.8 – 1/1000s

More men. This one’s a teddybear. I tried, but I couldn’t find a shot where he’s assertively coming onto one or more of the lovely female attendees. I reckon he’s the type that wouldn’t spot a pair of hungry female eyes if they were parked at approximately two and a half inches from his arty facial hair.

No seriously, the ambient light was pretty relaxing.

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s

So errrr… let’s switch to girls. No disappointment there, the ladies were nice, generally pretty well-dressed and ready to dance, have a laugh, some free beers and maybe even a snapshot now and then, papparrazzi-style. By the way, in order to place even more distance between myself and the subject, I’ve been looking for one of them disgustingly awesome Canon 200m f/1.8 discontinued models. I assume none of my readers (I hope it’s still plural) has any experience using such a lens? Thought not. Though you might be able to blatantly lie to me and pretend you’ve used such a lens before. C’mon, do me a favour and lie. I’d be grateful because it will give me a reason to justify robbing the nearest liquor store.

I just went from girls to fancy lenses to booze in a timespan of 35 seconds. Any shrinks in the house?

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.8 – 1/4000s

More ladies. The Elvish type. It was still pretty windy. I didn’t spot Mr. Barman. Maybe he was watching the whole scene from his penthouse, who knows.

Let’s switch to more dancing and less posing.

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.8 – 1/2000s

The ubiquitous can of Red Bull. Oh, and some nice ambient light.

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s

The ubiquitous teen presence. Teens don’t give a damn, you can shoot ‘em all day and they won’t object. These girls were having massive amounts of fun, regardless of how many people showed up at the stage. I like that kind of mindset.

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s

Same camera setting, approximately half a second after the previous photograph and about one metre to the right: more teens.

85mm – ISO85 – f/2.8 – 1/2000s

Of course, an event such as this one can’t possibly be taken seriously without the obligatory ‘just hangin’ attitude, preferably with a good ol’ dose of quality Nederwiet. Ah, the influence of our Northern neighbours manifesting itself. In return, we grant them the right to listen to good Belgian music and drink some quality beer with us. We do care about our brothers and sisters in the North, you know.

14mm Fish – ISO800 – f/5.0 – 1/200s

Another knobhead playing with the midtones. This fellow was pretty cool too, he nodded when I came onto the stage to do some a-shootin’ and offered me a drink. In return, I made him look good on photo.

85mm – ISO100 – f/2.8 – 1/2500s

A striking selection of shoe-styles. This fellow was completely into it, no doubt about it. Later on, he bared his pubic hair when I pointed the camera in his direction. I’m sure the female deejay standing next to me (I was standing on stage at the time) must have seen stranger things in her life. Still, he was pretty hairy because I was unable to spot anything else in the immediate vicinity. Maybe it was taped on, dunno.

85mm – ISO200 – f/3.2 – 1/2500s

Exchanging glances. Sun is setting. Slowly.

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.8 – 1/2000s

Getting late. I loved the way the sun illuminated everything. Good thing the people in charge of the stage chose this particular orientation. Couldn’t have been better.

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.0 – 1/2000s

Here’s a shot from the opposite direction. Last sunrays, summer’s almost over. On an important side note: weather-wise, summer was lousy once again. I’m seriously starting to wonder whether we’ll ever have another summer like the ones I remember as a child. Back then, it always seemed so much more intense and colourful. Plus, I have a whole back of exposed 8mm film to back my claim.

85mm – ISO200 – f/13 – 1/2000s

Exposed to the area of the setting sun. The sun’s positioned behind the girl’s head, in case you were wondering.

85mm – ISO200 – f/2.5 – 1/1000s

One of the coolest VIP areas ever. Right next to the banks of the river ‘Schelde’. Deejays and promogirls hangin’ lazily. It’s been a busy day.

85mm – ISO200 – f/9.0 – 1/1000s

Same place and time, different exposure setting. You know the drill. I have another shot in near darkness, exposed at f/1.2 and featuring some lovely illumination from the industrial complex around the river. But errr, I’m not going to show it just yet. Heh.

14mm Fish – ISO800 – f/6.3 – 1/15s

One last shot of the dump truck. A cute little nightmare, exposure-wise.

14mm Fish – ISO800 – f/5.0 – 1/15s

And what better way to conclude this entry than with a bird’s eye view of some more cheeky teenagers. Reminds me of that song: “do you know where your teenager is at five AM in the morning?”

Fortunately, it was only ten to nine in the evening, so nobody skipped class this time round.

Right, time to move on, I’ve got some catching up to do! I’ll never make it!

Feels good to be back!

G’nite folks,

C.

Maybe not the most exciting title, but it may or may not sum up the contents of the following post. Nicely.

Lately, I’ve been feeling increasing pressure to write in a witty, sacrastic style. The pressure comes from within, just in case you had any doubts.

More random sentences: I’m listening to a bunch of musicians who call themselves ‘Why?’, more specifically their latest effort titled ‘Alopecia’. I highly recommend it. Pay attention to the brilliant lyrics.

This entry contains exactly three digitally manipulated images. I set a new record. I’m not counting good old-fashioned burning, dodging and reframing. The digital kind, of course.

My next post, maybe in a couple of weeks or so, will probably be about parties again. It’s been a while, really. I don’t know which party to choose from though: the one with the prettiest photos or the one with the hottest ladies. Since most of you readers might be male, there’s a chance I’ll opt for the latter. Then again, I might opt for the former. In any case, I doubt it will affect my pageviews. Because they’re currently being dominated by the Studio 54 blog entry, which for some odd reason keeps racking up a lot of views.

Let’s continue the random stories plot.

The nice Latvian fellow Artis recently wrote a piece on cool Belgians. Of course, he happened to bump into me, my partner-in-crime and my friends. I’ll give you a brief take on that particular evening.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

This sexy fellow is Tom Earthwalker, an old fried of mine with too much brains and plenty of stories to properly fill them with content. The man’s travelled around a lot. Took quite a number of photographs too. On top of that, he’ll fix your bike any time of the day. Did I mention he’s single? He’s got a slight obsession with exotic first names but I’m sure he’ll make an exception just for you.

Anyway, I shot Tom using auto white balance, no flash, maximum ISO value and a peculiar absence of available light, sort of. As Artis already mentioned in his own blog: “It was impossibly dark in that joint!”. Still wanted to show you the shots though, so there you go.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/80s – f/1.2 – by MK

A second fellow who joined us on our little beer-exploring session was another old friend of mine named Wouter. A guy with too much brains paired with plenty of processing power to quickly outwit anything you throw at him. His smart mouth is matched only by my own, naturally. Too bad I lack a pair of matching brains. But I make up for it by chugging along a big hunk of photographic glass.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by Artis

Thanks Artis! This is what I look like without the aforementioned hunk of glass fixed to my eyeball. Next photograph please. Wait, lemme get some Cinnamon tea first.

5D – 30mm – ISO3200 – 1/80s – f/1.4 – by MK

It’s been a while since I used someone else’s lens. Artis was nice enough to let me try his 30mm. I think it’s very arty, just check out the pretty vignetting caused by the massive light falloff. On a 5D, it’s easy to exploit this particular feature. I think I want a 35mm f/1.4L but then again, I’m slowly beginning to accumulate too much photographic toys. Maybe it’s time to actually start using all that junk.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

We moved to a different bar pretty quickly, and this one was much better as far as available light was concerned. This time ’round, I was smart enough to set the white balance manually. My lovely partner-in-crime is holding the toy camera. The toy camera is a righteous bitch to focus in low-light conditions. I don’t care what that Austrian shooter says about easy focussing. What puzzles me even more is that he’s able to properly focus that thing while under the influence of alcohol. Must… show… respect….

For the record, Artis, I’m not jealous. I was just trying to provoke you. Mwahahahaha.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

Sneaky fellow, I tell ya. Don’t feed him too much beer, he gets drunk pretty quickly :-) So this bloke is a photographer in his spare time, he likes to write entertaining blogs but don’t tell his personal massage partner, she doesn’t know. I found out he doesn’t work for the enemy, which is a relief. Other than that, go easy on the gas pedal when he’s sitting in the back, you wouldn’t want a hefty lawsuit pinned to the back of your Volkswagen.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/125s – f/1.2 – by MK

I’m telling ya, my old friends were like “what in the hell are these bloody freaks doing”. I guess that’s photography, in a way that might be beyond the grasp of fellas with too much brain capacity.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/125s – f/1.2 – by MK

I can see Tom second that thought too. “Hrmmmm, shooting away, aye? Lemme see that thing you’re using. You can fill a container with all that glass you’re carrying around.” Tom happens to work for the enemy.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/125s – f/1.2 – by MK

Hi there, gorgeous.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

In the foreground: my beer. Which was excellent. In the background: Artis’ beer. Which was even better. The beers are the exact opposite of each other. Allow me to elaborate: the waiter would come out and ask our Latvian friend:
“Strong or light?”
- “Light please”
“Dark or blond?”
- “Dark please”
“Sweet or bitter?”
- “Errrrrr….”

So when this waiter fellow starts his routine on me I interrupt him and say “just gimme the opposite of what he’s having”. Life can be simple at times.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

Some delicious cheese to match the beer!

I’m going to thank my old friend Tom at this point. Tom, the next one’s on me mate!

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/100s – f/1.2 – by MK

Two more shots at f/1.2, this one was taken from the driver’s seat around midnight, on our way home.

5D – 85mm – ISO3200 – 1/200s – f/1.2 – by MK

Last one, using the truck’s headlights. I wonder what a Noctilux is capable of, since it’s supposed to be half a stop faster than my beloved ‘85.

Man, I have this peculiar urge to go out and have a nice beer. Might as well do it, since the lovely weather is not going to last much longer, unfortunately.

I want to briefly talk about something else now: action photography. No elaborate comments, no magic tricks, no wise words or expert insight. Just some thoughts.

5D – 85mm – ISO400 – 1/2500s – f/5.0 – by MK

This shot took seventeen takes. The bulldog is chasing a ball, as you can see. I grossly underestimated the sheer amount of concentration action & sports photographers must possess. Forget about shallow DOF, unless you have a 200mm monster (or possibly bigger). I had to revert to at least f/5.0 to get decent focus. It’s meant to be a fun shot, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like it, heh.

Enough about dogs, let’s do some horses for the sake of the aforementioned randomness.

5D – 85mm – ISO200 – 1/250s – f/2.0 – by MK – (converted to B/W)

For some reason, I really like this image. I think it’s mainly because of the way he’s looking at his hands, all concentrated, making sure he’s properly grabbing the reins. At the same time, he appears lost in his own thoughts.

5D – 85mm – ISO100 – 1/1250s – f/2.0 – by MK – (channel alteration)

The weather was really lovely. Sunshine illuminating everything nicely. Here’s our young rider once again.

Allright, let’s move on to something else entirely.

As some of you know, I recently dropped a rather significant amount of wad for the sole purpose of being able to turn the photographic clock back roughly fifty years. Yes that’s right, I bought the toy camera. I came across a very well-tended specimen a while ago, and made an appointment with the owner, a professional photographer that goes by the name of Serge. Not only does he entertain himself and his viewers with some fabulous shots using his beloved Hassy, he’s also a damn nice fellow. Needless to say, we exchanged quite a few words on photography, photographic gear, good coffee, and life in general. I need to make a mental note so I don’t forget to check back on him, something tells me he’d like to know how his toy camera is doing right now.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Superia 200 – by Jorid

First shot with the toy camera was not by my hands. My lovely partner-in-crime took care of that when we first met up with the seller. I loaded it with a roll of Superia200 which I bought nice and cheap from a local store which was going all-digital. They even had a roll of expired Velvia, but refused to sell it to me. Don’t know why, really. I forgot to ask.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Superia 200 – by Jorid

Come to think of it, I think my lovely sidekick has used it more often than I have, so far. She uses her left eye to focus, which I think is funny. Yes, it’s a mirror self.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Superia 200 – by MK

What better way to try my new camera than using a pair of unsuspecting cats as guinea pigs? I need to keep a pencil and a notebook with me all the time, because I really want to remember what shutter and aperture these were taken at. Maybe next time.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by MK

Changed the film. 36 exposures go by in a heartbeat. Fantastic.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by Jorid

Nikki holding a black two-eyed monster in her lovely arms. I remember Bernhard always complaining about what a great job photo labs do of handling one’s negs. Note to self: Bernhard is right.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by Jorid

A semi-professional photogeek and a former professional photographer. Peter’s a friend from another era. He’s not particularly fond of being photographed, but I think Jorid caught him just in time.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by MK

My turn again. Just a simple shot. Night-time, streetlights and such. Walking and focussing at the same time is not all that bad.

M6 TTL – 50mm – Neopan 1600 – by MK

Enjoying some coffee. I like the fact that a more or less decent result with the toy cam feels much more gratifying than a technically better shot composed with the 5D. Maybe it’s all in the mind.

Bronica ETRS – 75mm – TMax 400 – by MK

Note the completely different frame size of the medium format Bronica. You really have to get used to the way all these cameras feel and handle. I’m currently trying them all at breakneck speeds ;-) Tmax400 was all I had for the Bronica film back, a photographer gave me a couple of rolls so I’m not complaining.

On a side note: I haven’t been able to set up the darkroom so far. I know a lot of analogue heads have insisted I should develop my own stuff. I’ll get around to that in good time, no worries.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

I think it went off by accident. Strange thing is: with my 5D I would have been able to precisely pinpoint when and where this was taken. With the toy cam, I can’t even begin to guess.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

Switching rolls again. This time it’s TriX400. Lovely partner-in-crime can be my willing subject as long a I haven’t gotten used to handling this little beast. I’m referring to the toy camera, ya bunch of witless geeks.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

Walking the streets of Ghent, in search of a food joint. Ah.. Ghent. Lovely city. I’ve heard rumours that my partner-in-crime is going to move to Ghent pretty soon. She intends to take me along with her so I’m definitely not complaining. I’ll raise my glass of Pastis to that.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

The sweet MJ, our host from the old Berlin blog entry, joined us for some food and a little chat.

M6 TTL – 50mm – TriX 400 – by MK

Yup, I’m really going for an overdose of partner-in-crime shots.

You know, the toy camera feels very comfortable and natural in one’s hands. It has some undeniable charm. I’m probably going to waste another slew of frames in the next couple of weeks. Lemme know if I should try out some exceptional colour film. Or b/w, for that matter. I’ve become curious, so recommendations are more than welcome, folks.

Wrapping it up with some good ol’ digital:

5D – 85mm – ISO100 – 1/800s – f/1.2 – by MK – (tone curve adjustment)

I hope summer will be good to us this year. Here’s to 2008.

Thanks for watching & see you around in the blogosphere!

Nitey nite,
MK

Okay folks, just a quick one. And I really mean it this time ;-)

The nice, totally laid-back and not to mention immensely talented & handsome fellows who, together, form the musical five-piece The Big Four paid my little studio a visit the day before yesterday in order to do a shoot for their upcoming album titled ‘The Congregation Sessions’.

A tiny bit of info on The Big Four. They’re a five-piece, two lads hail from Belgium and the other three from The Netherlands. The Big Four are into Jazz, Roots and R&B. Check their MySpace at your leisure.

Anyway, the guidelines were as follows: ‘low key’, ‘portrait’, ‘black & white’, ‘closeups’, ‘dark shadows’, ‘personality’. Which sounds pretty specific to me. So after a couple of coffees, some pleasant banter about musical styles, gigs in the UK, instrument preferences, the merits of shooting nude models and event organisers that are always on a tight budget, we started shooting and after two hours of work the lads chose the following portraits as their final ones:

Dr. Basie J, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100

Mo Gomez, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100

Franky Gomez, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100

Bird Stevens, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100

JB ‘Hurricane’, Canon EOS 5D, EF 85mm f/1.2L II @ 1/125s, f/16, ISO 100

So whaddya think of my first real studio session? ;-)

I’m pretty satisfied with the end result, and so was the band. They liked the coffee too: mission accomplished. If you prefer doing a bit of wanking to some hi-res samples, be my guest and click on the images for a bigger version.

I decided to add them to our personal hall-of-fame. Everyone entering my house, yes that means you too Bernie, anybody entering my house will be shot and nailed to the wall with a thumbnail mwahahaha.

The dreaded Melvinkobe Wall of Fame – beware of the evil polaroid shooter

So anyway, what’s left to write about? Oh, maybe one more thing: if any of you are interested in buying a Voigtländer Color Skopar 21mm f/4.0 including an M-bayonet adapter: I’m selling a brand-new specimen over on Ebay. Note me if you require details. Here are some shots:

Originally a nice Christmas present from my lovely partner-in-crime, I received her consent to sell it in order to buy something… err.. similar yet different. You’ll see… :-)

Righto, I have a wedding album to finish. Gawd, I hate fooling around with photographic prints, glue, and thick paper. Dammit Jim, I’m a photographer!

Just so you know: I still have a pulse.

Some of you (maybe one or two) were wondering what the hell happened to me from October 2007 until this very day. Others probably don’t give a damn, but at least they might have put some thought into deciding they don’t give a damn. I am, however, glad to inform you that I do give a damn about neglecting to comment on all your lovely blog entries. But rest assured: I’ve seen the lovely imagery. At this point I’m going to mention Suzan’s USA blog entries, which (in my not-so-humble opinion) clearly show what’s she’s capable of when she’s walking around an unfamiliar city all by herself. About the other blogs: I’ve seen the pictures, even the dirty ones (that, or I must have clicked on the wrong link – the classic excuse for a porn page suddenly popping up in your browser window). And I’m most uncomfortable with seeing my crooked mug plastered all over your blog (yeah, that means you two, check Jorid’s latest entry). Seriously: thanks. It’s an honor. No really, it is. How come I never manage to sound serious, even when I am? Anyway, on the other hand you’ve been spared of seeing my face displayed on Bernie’s blog, since our nice little collaboration has been postponed to an undefined point in the future. Blog-wise, Bern’s been a productive little Austrian, as usual. Excellent stuff, as usual. May God have mercy on his soul someday. On second thoughts: God will probably put him to work as his right-hand photographer. We all know how much God loves imperfections, so who in his right mind would opt for Cartier-Bresson when Bernard Wolf is sitting right across your table, his halo tilted slightly towards his forehead, grinning from ear to ear, a Leica in one hand and half a litre of highly toxic beer in his other. Besides all that, somewhere on the blogosphere I found out that Latvia is a beautiful country with pretty ladies inside. Either that, or the photos I saw are just good enough to deceive my eyes.

I’m getting carried away.

We visited Valladolid a while ago, and the photos have been sitting on my harddrive (300+ Gigs and counting, damn the RAW format, I’ll never ever get an 1Ds Mk III, I’m such a drama queen), collecting static discharges while bits & bytes around them fell apart and were being replaced by new memories. It’s about time I put some Valladolid imagery to good use. Whether posting them here means putting them to good use is up for debate of course. But first, let me show you the nice Christmas present I got from my partner-in-crime:

I believe it’s called Voigtländer Color Skopar 21mm/f4.0 and it fits on an M39 mount. I also got a nice adapter so I can attach it to a fancy M6 when the need arises. Some nice fellow from the UK recently told me that I should forget about the body and look for the glass, since it’s all about the glass. So, errr, if someone wants to lend me 3000 EUR for the Leica glass I’d be very happy with the generous gesture. I’m not even talking about donating it to me, nonooooo. Just a nice loan will do. Any fancy bank managers reading this blog, perhaps?

Now, since we’re talking nice gifts, and I did not want to disappoint my partner-in-crime by giving her a piece of overrated jewelry (yes, that’s the type of guy I am), I decided to try my luck on Ebay and came up with the following:

I believe it’s called Zenza Bronica ETRS. I bought it off some nice Austrian guy who shipped it to me in a very nice Austrian box stuffed with very nice crumpled Austrian newspaper pages. It was like I now owned a piece of daily Austrian life. It was very hard to part with it. I’m talking about the newspaper pages, you bunch of contextually clueless monkeys. Anyway, I’ve been dealing with a number of nice Austrians lately, most notably a nice fellow that sold me a Sigma EX 14mm/f2.8 ultrawide monster. Let’s see how that one performs. I hear the light fall-off is horrible on a 5D but who cares: vignetting is art. Ask any Holga-toting mob. Back to the Bronica: I only bought the body, the rest was already in my partner-in-crime’s collection. That’s just what happens when both your parents are photographers. Not my parents though, they prefer hard work to fingering a shutter all day.

Speaking of my mum: she bought me a nice pair of socks. I love stuff that’s immediately useful.

The cats have settled in pretty well too. They love Christmas. Especially the Christmas tree.

So Miles was caught red-pawed. Thank God I decided to wait before decorating the tree. After seeing Miles climb to the top of the tree a number of times, we decided to eschew the tree setup altogether and settle for the basic pretty lights instead.

I think Charlie appreciated the presence of soothing lights. All in all, we were satisfied with just having pretty lights instead of the whole bombastic tree setup.

Some more informal cat shots, people have been asking me about these so there you go. Don’t worry, this is not going to turn into a DeviantArt cat callery.

Funny thing is, you can basically guess their character & behaviour just by looking at all the above photographs.

Two more, shot last weekend :

I’m telling you, a housecat’s life is something else. And I’m not talking about Felix here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, onto the main course, since I’m not going to entertain you with feline imagery until you grow a tail.

How come we ended up in Valladolid? Simple: I always travel where I know people. Spare me the lines of “but travelling to a completely unknown destination, where everyone is a stranger, can be so adventurous!” When you’re lugging 5000+ Euros of photographic gadgetry along (I don’t own a Leica yet, you know), the last thing you want to do is end up in the wrong part of town and realising that the fancy backpack is still weighing you down because you forgot to leave it at a secure location. But, more positively: the locals always manage to show you the nice stuff, the hidden places, the gems that no regular traveller or tourist ever gets to see, unless they get lucky. Really, I think one of the best parts of my travelling adventures is that I always have a guide by my side, and Valladolid was no exception. Actually, it’s the third time I’ve travelled to this place. That’s just what happens when one of your good friends happens to live abroad. I can already imagine the fun of seeing Porto and Palermo, for one thing ;-) And, hopefully, Latvia will show up on the menu too someday :-) Just don’t forget: my modest little country has a lot to offer as well, and it’s a stone’s throw away from Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne and even London. But, as far as our modest little country is concerned, you’ll thank your lucky stars for having a guide who is able to show you the nice spots. Because there are a lot of them, only problem is that they’re hidden far too well from the traveller’s eyes.

Back to Valladolid, damit!

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy – ISO100 – f8 @ 1/500s – Melvinkobe

So errr, this is a shot of Valladolid. Heh. Nice town square. There were several ones, actually. But this one is rather nice, it’s located right next to the park. Funny park, too: squirrels climb out of the trees and walk right up to you. No, I don’t have a shot of the squirrels. I was kind of freaked out to see a squirrel walk up to me and demand some tasty nuts. That last scene might or might not have happened in reality. Notice lovely partner-in-crime in the background, sitting by the fountain. Yeah, that small figure in the middle. Let’s zoom in for a closer look.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy – ISO100 – f4.0 @ 1/2000s – Melvinkobe

Ah! There you are! All hail to geometric fisheye distortion. As you can see from all the bag-like objects: we just arrived. The bag on the far left is the important one. For me, at least. She, on the other hand, would probably go for the one on the far right since it contains clothes and other girly stuff we males don’t really care about. On the other hand, at least we agreed on where the shoes had to go.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II – ISO100 – f2.0 @ 1/8000s – Melvinkobe

Did I mention that you’re about to be treated to a significant number of “jerk” shots? Big Bernie’s the king of jerk shots, but somehow a healthy number of photographs featured a lovely lady giving me that look. Not in this particular shot though, but rest assured: the tone will change. Oh, and don’t get hysterical: the vignetting is not a feature of mr. 85mm titan lens. The 5D isn’t responsible either. It was actually caused by a swarm of flies hovering at each corner of the frame. C’mon, just let me fool around with da P’shop mmkay?

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f4.0 @ 1/750s – Jorid

Hmmmm, not hiding in the shadows this time. I love the fact that commercialism is always so….. omnipresent. Oh well.

You’d be crazy if you all thought we wouldn’t be sipping the Spanish wine mere hours after our arrival in this lovely city.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO800 – f2.0 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Getting tired of attempting the perfect beer shot. The solution: try wine instead. Somewhere in a dark corner I hear an Austrian beer-nut cry out “blasphemy!”.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 – ISO800 – f2.0 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Dude, check out the size of that beer glass. Somewhere in a dark corner I hear an Austrian photo-nut laughing his eyelids off. Notice partner-in-crime looking very serious. Notice our Spanish friend Guillermo checking out her left ear. Healthy fellow. Or at least very wise.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 – ISO800 – f1.8 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Partner-in-crime now about to go into giggle mode. Can’t blame her: the Irish coffee that was being served at the bar packed a mighty, yet very tasty, oomph. I just had to try it out for myself.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 – ISO800 – f2.2 @ 1/100s – Jorid

Good Lord, she’s right. That Irish coffee is amazing. Not bad for a non-Irish barmaid. Took her almost TEN MINUTES to mix it, though. Hell, I’d wait twenty minutes for another Irish Coffee like that. I’d even persuade God to opt for Cartier-Bresson in exchange for one more sip. We tried to locate the bar the next day, and the day after as well. To no avail: the Irish Coffee had effectively erased any traces of the bar in our memories. Shame.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 – ISO800 – f1.8 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Thursday evening in Valladolid. Right before the Fiestas. All peace & quiet. We walked around some more before calling it a day/night.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 – ISO1600 – f1.8 @ 1/80s – Melvinkobe

Nitey nite. “No really, I’m serious. Turn off the camera”.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f9.0 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

A look from our bedroom, quarter to eight in the morning. Friday. I will always remember Valladolid as ‘the city of appartment complexes‘. This particular part of the city is brand-new, and you can definitely tell from the fabricated, planned-out look of things. A stark contrast to the old town centre.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f5.6 @ 1/15s – Melvinkobe

Half an hour later we managed to get out of bed & put some clothes on. Everything was nice & quiet, except for the low hum of distant traffic. The pleasant temperature was also a welcome change from what we had to endure back in our home country. Seriously, last summer was one of the worst ever, so coming here in September did some good things to me on a psychological level. Anyway, I have no idea who set the camera to use those ridiculous values for exposure. Also, I have no idea what my left foot is doing in the frame.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO200 – f4.0 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Couple of hours later we were sitting at a nice place called The Wok, ready for our first lunch. Wait a minute buddy: ‘The Wok’ doesn’t exactly sound like the name of a Spanish food joint. Hey, that’s just the ol’ ‘go west’ attitude finally gaining a foothold in good old tradition-laden España. Before I forget: the food was nice.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f6.3 @ 1/250s – Jorid (duh)

Clowning around. Enjoy the Fishy shots while they last, a regular 14mm is about to take its place as the primary tool for self-shooting. On the other hand, Bern made me come up with the idea of lugging a 200×100cm mirror around in order to do selfs outside of public toilets.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO100 – f1.2 @ 1/8000s – Melvinkobe

Awwwww…. still no “jerk” facial expression in sight.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO100 – f1.8 @ 1/8000s – Melvinkobe

Stepping back, just a few steps, in order to capture the surroundings.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f5.6 @ 1/400s – Melvinkobe

“I’m an insect with compound eyes, wiiiiiiieeeeeee.” ‘The Fish’ strikes once more. I’ve been wondering: is the statement ‘when she plays with her hair she must be keen’ based on any factual data? That question has been on my mind for a long time now, I’d be glad if someone would be able to put it to rest.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO800 – f1.8 @ 1/800s – Jorid

Another time, another bar. This one was pretty arty, smoky, and filled with many old photographs. Good thing it did not have one of those scary old mirror portraits. No time to explain it now, I’m already over the 2000 word count so I’m slowly beginning to wonder why I can’t just shut up and show you the damn pictures.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO400 – f1.2 @ 1/1000s – Melvinkobe

Guillermo doing a few phone calls. Guillermo looks like a mediterranean rock star but he’s actually a lawyer. “A what??” Don’t worry, he’s used to it. He’s also a hunky sportsman.

It still strikes me how two people from different cultures, having different native languages, can meet each other almost by coincidence, happen to like each other, and one of them makes the bold & ballsy decision of leaving her friends & home country behind in order to live in a foreign city, where she knows nobody, doesn’t speak the language, and still manages to find a good job and generally carve herself a little space in society. I can respect that. Makes it easier for me to let go of a friend. On top of that: they look very nice together.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO400 – f2.8 @ 1/100s – Melvinkobe

Uncharted terrain in the background. Well, it looks that way, more or less. Until you turn off the sun.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO1600 – f2.8 @ 1/2s – Melvinkobe

Draws a slightly different picture, ay? No tripod either! Guess I’m not the one who would piss on the toilet seat because he’s all shaky. Then again, I was probably very sober when I took that shot. Let’s change all that.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO800 – f1.8 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Ahhh, San Miguel. I have no idea if this beer is any good by Spanish standards. The bottle is really tiny. Guess the Spanish feel they don’t have to compensate for anything. Did I ever mention I’m half Spanish? And have you ever seen one of those Austrian half-litre beer mugs? I smell a connection.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO800 – f1.8 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

By now you’re all convinced we’re nothing but a bunch of drunks masquerading as harmless tourists visiting the big city. I assure you, we do take photographs from time to time as well.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO800 – f1.8 @ 1/80s – Melvinkobe

Well well, who would’ve thought. I’m finally getting on someone’s nerves. Besides my readers, of course.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO800 – f1.8 @ 1/125s – Jorid

People who know me will see the funny side of this shot.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO800 – f1.8 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Spanish-style parking action.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO1600 – f1.8 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

How come really drunk people often look like they’re in disguise? Come to think of it, he’s probably a cop. This is probably the only hip-shot I took during the course of this little trip to Spain. There’s a good reason for it too: ever tried taking a hip-shot with a 85mm 1.2L mounted on a 5D body? You might as well wrap a fresh antelope cadaver around your neck in a cage full of lions. Bottom line: hip-shots –> for small cameras.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO1600 – f1.8 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Last useful shot. Barely. Hand-eye coordination deteriorating at an exponential rate. Where’s the rest of the gang, anyway? What gang?

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO800 – f3.5 @ 1/60s – Jorid

Looks slightly surreal to me. I was wondering about how people’s interpretation of this frame would be like if they didn’t know what I was doing. Sipping another drink before going to bed? Making a universally-understood gesture with index finger and thumb? Actually, I was brushing my teeth. Yes folks, a man’s gotta brush his teeth from time to time. Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO1600 – f1.2 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Last shot before closing my eyes. Perfect way to fall asleep.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO1600 – f2.5 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

“Awake.. Shake dreams from your hair my pretty child, my sweet one.” I opened my eyes, saw this frame, grabbed my camera, took the shot, and went back to sleep. I need to see a psych.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO400 – f3.5 @ 1/100s – Melvinkobe

Disorientation. Mixing beer, wine and some “cleanly knock you out cold” cocktails. There’s a remedy..

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f1.8 @ 1/8000s – Melvinkobe

Coffee. Maybe. Trivia question, educated people: which painter is featured on that delicious cup of coffee?

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f1.8 @ 1/8000s – Melvinkobe

Loving the T-shirt. Heh.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f2.5 @ 1/5000s – Melvinkobe

“Oh, how I love being showered with so much attention.”

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f1.8 @ 1/3200s – Melvinkobe

I guess I’d better start shooting the pretty walls instead.

Anyway, we decided to hop in the car and drive out of town in order to visit some surrounding villages. As it turned out, Guillermo’s parents had a nice little summer house stationed in one of the nearby villages. Come to think of it, it strikes me that I know a lot of Spanish folks that have more than one house, and usually one of them is only inhabited during the holiday season. To get away from it all, I guess. But never mind that observation, the nice part is that we were invited to tag along and enjoy a relaxing day.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO800 – f4.5 @ 1/800s – Melvinkobe

I have to admit, I’m slightly jealous. The house was by no means big. Actually, it was small & cosy. That must have done the trick. Plus, it really did feel like a holiday away from holiday experience. Did I mention the great weather? It’s been getting me down ever since I came back from that place. Luckily, in a few year’s time, we’ll be baking in the sun over here in Belgium as well. I’m going to step on the gas pedal some more in order to accelerate the process.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f2.8 @ 1/1250s – Melvinkobe

Same place, different angle.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO800 – f3.2 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

The good old kitchen-fisheye shot. A bit like the one in Berlin, basically.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f2.5 @ 1/8000s – Melvinkobe

Another one of those looks. Three time’s a charm! Finally on our way to the pool for a dip in -I kid you not – ice-cold water.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f9.0 @ 1/200s – Melvinkobe

Yes, there’s a reason we were just about the only people in the pool. No, it wasn’t because of my presence. The… water… was….. frrrrrrreee..zzzzzzing cold.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO100 – f2.5 @ 1/8000s – Jorid

After a while, you get used to the cold water. Reminds me of the mixed-gender showers at Roskilde Festival. I did tell you about those, no? Wait, I don’t even have a Roskilde blog entry! You wanna see one? If you say yes just because you want to see a shot of the mixed-gender showers: forget it.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f7.1 @ 1/2500s – Melvinkobe

Red, blue, green.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f7.1 @ 1/800s – Melvinkobe

More freezing-cold showers. More distortion. Frame feels divided between red and green.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f7.1 @ 1/1600s – Melvinkobe

Typical alley in a small Spanish Village. I forgot the name of the place. I only remember the pleasant temperature.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f11.0 @ 1/1600s – Melvinkobe

The village had a little castle, too. Those builders of old sure knew how to make their village cosy. “Hi Inge! Hi Guille!”

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO100 – f2.5 @ 1/2500s – Melvinkobe

Sneaky shot, so I managed to dodge the jerk-stare this time round. Our hosts are minding their own business, lost in the background blur.

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f6.3 @ 1/800s – Melvinkobe

Time for tourist shots!

Canon 50mm/f1.8 - ISO100 – f6.3 @ 1/640s – Melvinkobe

And finally, the four of us together. Took me two chairs, a ten-second selftimer and a quick dash to my designated seat to pull this one off.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f11 @ 1/2000s – Melvinkobe

Little castle from the vantage point of a goldfish floating around in his private bowl.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f8.0 @ 1/640s – Melvinkobe

Back to the car. We headed back to Valladolid a couple of hours later. The weather would change rapidly after that. Lots of rain would follow. Didn’t matter really, we were set to watch an important game of Basketball between Spain and Russia that night. From the comfort of the living room, that is.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO1600 – f1.2 @ 1/100s – Jorid

Here’s Guille, all relaxed and confident that Spain would win the match. He and his mates even bet on the match. As the match progressed, though, their attitude would change from ‘relaxed’ to ‘edge-of-your-seat‘ to ‘biting-your-nails-until-your-bones-protrude’ to ‘rage! rage’ to “muere te Gay-sol, muere te!” The last one is a joke only understood by the people present in the living room that night. Anyway, let’s move on to the last day.

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO100 – f2.0 @ 1/8000s – Melvinkobe

The last day usually consists of packing your bags and waiting around. Good thing the fountain was active. Nothing like the feeling of microscopic water drops gently touching down on your forehead, cheeks and lips.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO100 – f4.0 @ 1/6400s – Melvinkobe

Playing with her hair. I’m sorry about the crooked building on the left, but I’m really too lazy to correct that one even though it’s not particularly hard.

“Christ, MK, how many times a day do you switch lenses? “

Canon 85mm/f1.2 L II - ISO100 – f2.5 @ 1/1600s – Melvinkobe

Digital black & white once more. I’ll never get the hang of it. Ever. Do you believe in the concept of colour shooters and black & white shooters? Or isn’t everybody who’s adept in framing a decent shot able to do it in both black & white and colour? It’s been on my mind lately.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO800 – f5.0 @ 1/125s – Melvinkobe

Our plane. No kidding. The shot’s got a weird sort of pattern/symmetry/whatever to it. There there, I’m becoming all lyrical.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO800 – f3.5 @ 1/250s – Jorid

Male jerk shot? It exists.

Sigma 15mm/f2.8 fishy- ISO800 – f2.8 @ 1/100s – Melvinkobe

Closing off with the traditional self-in-the-plane. Thanks for watching, reading, and above all: enduring :-) You’ve seen about 3995 words, but only 66 photographs. I’m not going to ask you the obvious question relating to the age old saying. Rest assured.

Enjoy what’s left of the weekend!

MK

You know, sometimes it seems as if the only thing I ever do is take snaps at parties. And, well, this might or might not be true. All I know for certain is that photographing people in bars, at parties, live concerts, etc.. rekindled my love for photography. Oh, and I also got to socialize with nice ladies a lot. Sooner or later one runs into his future partner-in-crime, though.

I have to admit, having a partner-in-crime shooting by one’s side can be very satisfying and rewarding, even when viewing the results of the shoot on the screen, afterwards. Plus, during weddings, you have all bases covered, resulting in what should be a decent selection of photographs for a -hopefully- satisfied customer. Spread the word, I’d say.

Anyway, I’m here to show you some results of our most recent wedding session. The couple did not request any prints, or an album, which allowed us to finish up the assignment pretty quickly, after the usual selection process and subsequent tinkering in ‘da Shop.

I’ll try to keep the amount of words to a minimum, opting instead for the more universally understood act of just showing the bloody pictures. Knowing myself, this approach will probably not work, as I’m a great fan of my own writing. Heh.

Welcome to the wedding festival, photo by Jorid.

A while ago, a soon-to-be-wed couple approached me, asking whether I was interested in shooting some wedding action. Apparently, their approach was a little on the different side. In short, they wanted to organise their wedding as if it were a music festival of sorts. There would be live acts, a deejay, a chill-out room featuring  exotic weeds, food stands serving all-vegetarian food, performances by magicians and the likes, a huge campfire, and even a couple of extra surprises for all guests that decided to set up their tents at the -you guessed it- camping site, erected especially for the act of remaining inside the whole festival spirit thingy.

Naturally, this assignment seemed like a lot of fun, so we happily accepted the invitation to cover their wedding.

The event started out with the usual ‘gathering at the dinner table’. Here’s one in digital B&W. Notice my sharp partner-in-crime covering the far end of the table from a different angle. Fun fact: there were Danish folks, Brazilian ladies, Congolese gents and a few other nationalities (mostly Belgians) at the table. So quite a few of these people had traversed more than a fair share of kilometres.

Overseeing the table from a different angle. The old photo effect courtesy of Artis, for pointing me in the direction of a certain company with folks from outer space. And I’m not talkin’ about Jerry Garcia here.

From there on, we walked into the forest for, yes, the wedding ceremony itself. “Wot, no church?” I hear you cry. Exactly. Just some tables, a beautiful forest, and a couch for the (almost) married couple. Relax.

1/800 – f/1.8 – 50mm – MelvinKobe

1/125 – f/1.8 – 85mm – Jorid

Looks like mum’s always there to pass on some invaluable advice. So we shot her with the 85mm.

1/90s – f/1.8 – 85mm – Jorid

“There he is!” Too late to chicken out now, mate. No use running, even the little girl knows you’re the one and only groom today. Just say ‘yes’ and get it over with. :-)

1/125s – f/1.8 – 85mm – Jorid

Begging won’t help either, mate. Relax.

1/90s – f/1.8 – 85mm – Jorid

Our Danish lady singing a song in Brazilian. I think the little kid in the right-hand corner is completely flabbergasted.

Ahhhh, the ring. Note the complete inconspicuous photographer in the background, brandishing an 85L. I could have ’shopped her out, of course. But alas, I can be pretty lazy at times.

Kiss! Prince might have felt proud.

Yes, they even had a pair of doves waiting to be released. The kids loved it. About the red tone on the face: errrr, maybe it’s intentional. Probably not. I suck at this colour management business. Next time I’ll try film.

1/160s – f/2.2 – 50mm – MelvinKobe

Little girl passed in front of the camera while I was aiming for the bride and groom in the background. Turned out pretty decent.

1/3000s – f/1.8 – 50mm, MelvinKobe

Another shot of the bride while the sun is invading the glass on my 5D. At f/1.8, flare wasn’t too bad. Hah!

1/2000s – f/3.5 – 15mm – MelvinKobe

Ahhh, sweet Photoshop surgery. The festival site.

1/1000s – f/2.8 – 15mm – MelvinKobe

Impossible to lose your way around the festival site. Man, at f/2.8 still hardly any out-of-focus. The characteristics of a Fisheye, I guess. The vignetting was fabricated. But why? Dunno, I’m a fan of vignetting. And I hate doing it with a Holga.

1/2000s – f/2.0 – 85mm – MelvinKobe

Ah, finally some Belgian Beer™! I heard this rumour that Belgians can smell beer from a great distance. I forgot to ask this particular Sir whether this is true. Maybe it’s an urban legend, cooked up by some weirdos.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Little kid & his dad. The Fishy is great for emphasizing dramatic contrast between two age groups, in this case.

Photo: Jorid

Dave (the groom, duh) seems pretty relaxed now :-)

Photo: MelvinKobe

Shot near nightfall at f/1.2, I can’t tell you the exact settings because I’m at my daytime job and thus unable to access the original images. Boss will brainwash me if he finds out I’m blogging. On the other hand, I’m on a lunchbreak so who cares.

Photo: Jorid

One of the live acts. Nothing beats an army of percussionists. Bride & groom were unaware of this particular act. This turned out to be cool, as there was a build-up of drumming noises as the band slowly moved towards the festival, until they finally appeared around the corner.

Photo: MelvinKobe

As seen from above. Slow shutter (1/2 sec).

Photo: MelvinKobe

He’s a whistler, in case you’re wondering what he’s chewing on. All-manual shot (except the focus, duh), flash was redirected using my spare hand.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Really getting darker now.

Photo: MelvinKobe

All hail to f/1.2!

Photo: MelvinKobe

Ahhh, the chill-out tent. Nice collection of bongs, I wonder if they’re from a private collection, or donated by friends and family. No matter, the (tiki) tent even featured a fireplace. These folks had really gotten their act together for this wedding event. It shows what cool stuff you can do without spending a boatload of money.

Photo: Jorid

“Relax”.
Sorry, no time! Must… take… photographs…

Photo: Jorid

Allrighty, the above triptych features a little game our couple was supposed to play. A big piece of rectangular cardboard was placed in front of them, featuring a number of geographic locations scattered across the board. A well-placed dart-throw would then be used to determine where the couple would be sent to on their honeymoon.

Photo: Jorid

I guess the throw was quite succesful. It took them a number of tries before the dart remained lodged in the cardboard, though.

Photo: MelvinKobe

No points for guessing what destination was chosen by the dart-throw.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Ahh, the opening dance. A necessary ingredient. The dance tent featured lots of red lights. Maybe I’m cursed or something. Anyway, it wasn’t all that bad. By the end of the evening, I’d already gotten used to the effect.

Photo: MelvinKobe

The groom’s best man doing a little dance.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Joining in on the fun… Just letting the photos speak for themselves now…

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: Jorid

Limbo dancing, yeah!

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Needless to say, it was a pretty fun night. Regretfully, we missed out on the big campfire following the party. At 04:00 AM I was feeling pretty hollow & exhausted, so we decided to call it quits. Our job wasn’t nearly over, though, as we were expected to return the next day and shoot ‘the morning after’.

Photo: MelvinKobe

The elusive magician at the breakfast table.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Dave, our unfaltering groom, preparing another all-vegetarian breakfast for his guests. It’s the first time ever that I’m at a wedding shoot where the groom does the cooking for his guests. Amazing.

Photo: Jorid

The bride’s brother lends a helping hand. He’s not posing: the food really was that good.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Another digital B&W…

Photo: MelvinKobe

Check out Dave, our sexy groom, ready to announce the little surprise he had in store for his guests.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Obviously, the guests were amazed by Dave’s hunky outfit.

So the surprise turned out to be… a dip in the hot tub.

Photo: MelvinKobe

We were invited to take a dip as well. But, errr… I really had a job to do. Like fooling around with the Fisheye to get this top-down shot, for example. My feet, visible on the original photo, were eradicated by da ‘Shop.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Little kid from Guam. I’d heard about Guam before, but this time I looked it up on Google earth. I need to visit that country asap.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Photo: MelvinKobe

Showering the bride with splashing water.

Photo: MelvinKobe

Little kid from Guam on top of the world. Dad’s arms never falter.

Photo: Jorid

Closing image! Congratulations to Dave & Ine, and thanks for inviting us over to cover your beautiful wedding.

And, naturally, thanks to my partner-in-crime for covering everything I missed out on. You’re lovely :-)

Cheers & see y’all in a future blog entry,
MK

Allright allright, you bunch of nagging monkeys, here’s a new entry. I’m sure there are some better things to do with my time than entertain people with silly snaps. Like entertaining myself with pretentious word-wankery, for example.

Anyway, the weather’s chilly, I’m sitting inside staring at my pretty monitor, my Wii is beckoning but I’m going to resist the urge to take another stab at Super Mario World. Oh, Nintendo’s got me by the balls for implementing the Virtual Console.

A while ago, the kind folks over at KozzMozz enlisted my services in order to have me perform some media coverage at the Studio 54 party, where they were hosting one of the many VIP lounges. Studio 54 is, basically, a party. Albeit a pretty huge one. Gigantic, really. About 8000 people attend it. So that’s, errr… big. I’ve never visited the real Studio 54, and it’s safe to say that this version bears little resemblance to the original. Different place, different era, different mindset. Still, I had a job to do, and I do have a tendency to shoot anything I find even remotely interesting, especially dancing people in low-lit spaces. Soooo, here are some results:

I didn’t count the number of cheesy sunglasses, but found them a fun subject for extreme depth of field type shots. Besides stylish elements, there was an equal number of cheese to counterbalance the rest. The sunglasses were standard accessories, meant for the guests of this particular lounge. It appeared that every important sponsor had his own lounge room, where guests were ‘prepared’ before they were led into the sponsor’s VIP space. This sort of preparation included a make-up session, a compulsory change of clothing into something that reflected the sponsor’s name and/or logo, and the selection of strange accessories like the freaky sunglasses mentioned above.

As you can see, the make-up team consisted of a healthy number of make-up artists (I counted five) packing plenty of appearance-altering accessories. The make-up girls seemed to be having fun at doing their job. And they were a pretty nice bunch of ladies too. I would include pictures for the hungry singles among you, but on second thoughts I couldn’t be bothered. I mean, who’s coming to Belgium when there’s hot places like Porto, Vienna, London and Nijmegen?

Just a quick word (image, really) from our sponsor :-) Seriously, the people over at Alken-Maes are the nicest folks in a business outfit I’ve ever encountered. They’re very energetic and motivated. And they have a pretty good eye for photographic competence too.

Hairspray! Oh, you ozone disintegrator, I’ve missed you. Where are the days of outrageous hairstyles..

You wouldn’t have been prepared for the glitter & glamour at the main entrance. My eyes still hurt from all the shiny clothing people were wearing. The long-legged lads are, as you can see, from another sponsor, one that did not enlist my services. I don’t know who the girl is, dear hungry wolves.

Funny detail: there were a lot of real professional photographers present at the main catwalk-style entrance, sporting the usual L-type lens gear and matching bounce flash. Still, I drew some looks by using the 1.2L and… no flash :-) I think the results are pretty nice. All hail shiny backgrounds and disco balls!

Just two more shots without flash to kick the habit. Best lens I ever bought. Sure, without a flash the ambient light turned everything into a sea of red hues. But who cares, we’re talking friggin’ nightlife here, not some picture perfect studio session.

Here’s a crowd shot to give you an idea of the size of the venue and/or event. This shot was taken in Alken-Maes‘ VIP space. I spent the rest of the night taking photographs in this space. For one thing, because I was paid to to this of course. But the place was so huge that I’d probably never gotten anywhere close to covering this event all by myself. Granted, my partner-in-crime was by my side, but I can assure you we still had our hands full most of the time.

Another no-flash shot. Bouncing the flash off the ceiling was a no-no due to height constraits, so we used our hands most of the time.

Disco Queen sporting a Colgate smile spotted.

Oh, and a LED-illuminated dance floor, no less. By the way: celebrity alert at nine o’clock. Who can spot the identity of the blonde lady in the left hand corner? No of you, probably, except maybe Suzan. Or my mother.

Another attempt at the perfect beer shot, heh. I think Bernard could probably pull it off, since he spends so much time hanging around in dark shady Viennese bars.

They only come out at night. Lovely lady though, my guess is that, during daily life, she’s probably an accountant. Or a dentist. I like the way the chain travels along the plane of focus into out-of-focus. Call me crazy.

Free champagne for all guests. If it wasn’t for my proficiency with a camera, I probably wouldn’t even be on that list. Hey, being a part-time photographer is not all that bad.

Man, I couldn’t believe the amount of people present. The arena was completely filled. Note: this shot was taken from the first floor, the perspective formed by the 15mm Fisheye is seriously warping our perception of the scene.

Yeah! Free champagne, a LED-illuminated dance floor, and a lovely lady sporting a Colgate smile wrapping her arms around your neck, life can be bliss. And I’m here to capture it all. Wonder if any of these folks ever see the results.

Another shot from the main arena. I don’t know exactly how they did it, but they managed to drive an armoured money transport in there during the course of the party. Imagine 8000 folks packed like sardines in a tin can having to move over approximately three feet. There were special performances all night, this one was pretty cool, as the armoured transport opened its roof and the singer was hauled on top of it by a built-in elevator thingy. You’d have to see it in motion. Maybe next year, eh?

One of those technically horrible but strangely compelling shots. For me, at least. Maybe it’s the Police badge, I dunno. Probably the Police badge in conjunction with the Party necklace. Heh, imagine that. Party Police.

Closing image! I started out with cheesy sunglasses, and I’m signing off featuring the very same peripheral.

See you in a couple of hours for another entry ;-)

MK

Okay, so I want to write three brand-new blog entries, one is fairly modest in size (23 images and just a couple of lines containing meaningless blabbering), the other is fairly huge (53 images, count ‘em, and probably a whole lot more of the exquisite meaningless blabbering) while the last one doesn’t even contain any images yet, just a general idea. No wait, not even a general idea but an irresistible urge, a voice inside my head that keeps producing some sweet whispering sound along the lines of ‘update your friggin blog, you lazy piece of non-photographer’.

Because I tend to listen to the voices in my head, I decided to put up a small blog entry as an excuse to introduce some new roommates. Moreover, I hate seeing the same blog entry on my main page for more than a couple of days, call me crazy. This particular entry will probably be relegated to second place by tonight, when it’s time for a bigger update.

Without further ado:

Hello Charlie, hello Miles, welcome to your new home :-)

So this is Charlie. You could say he’s named after Charlie Parker, although there’s a lot of speculation surrounding this fact. That, and there doesn’t seem to be a real connection between both personalities. I mean, let’s face it: one is a cat, and the other is a (human) saxplayer. Moreover: the saxplayer’s nickname appears to have been ‘bird’, which further adds to the confusion. That said, ‘bird’ was one cool cat. So is Charlie. The cat, I mean.

I’d better move on before my brain gets stuck in an infinite loop.

The other one is called Miles. No points for guessing who he’s named after. I’ll give you a hint anyway: our next cat will be called Chet.

Miles is the younger one, and consequently the smaller, less powerful, but faster one. We guess that he clocks in at 15 weeks of age, but we’re not sure since he was found somewhere in a cardboard box at a guesstimated 5 weeks of age.

By comparison, Charlie seems huge. His estimated age is about 5 1/2 months, possibly even six. He, too, was found in a cardboard box. Back then, he looked like this:

(Image property of www.zwerfkat.com)

We don’t know who left him behind like that, but I must admit it’s probably a wonderful person. A real A-grade human being. Anyway, let’s not get into a full-scale discussion about animal rights and the likes. I’m fully aware that others are worse, far worse off. And choosing to adopt Charlie and Miles will not automatically ease my conscience or make me a better person.

Suffice to say right now that Charlie was found on time by people who care for the fate of these animals, and he was nursed in good care until he reached a state of complete recovery.

After an initial powerstruggle, the two seem to be getting along fine.

In fact, I think Charlie is acting as a protector to young Miles, judging from the gentle way he holds and supports Miles’ head whenever a suspicious sound is heard.

Well, that’s basically all for now. New roommates, I bid you welcome :-) Try not to eat our beautiful plants, and don’t destroy Jorid’s pretty rug with your sharp nails :-) Because it really ties the room together.

Cheers,
MK

As I was unable to finish the bottle of Pastis after completing my last blog entry, approximately fifteen minutes ago, and because I’m still not willing to go to bed, I’ve decided to bore you with one more entry about something you’re already quite familiar with: Radio Modern. This might be the last Radio Modern entry for quite a while, since I’ve decided to take a break from doing these sessions for Radio Modern. After a while, it becomes slightly tedious. So maybe the time is right for another clubshoot, who knows. Then again, maybe it’s time to jump on a rocket and launch myself into orbit. Hey chances are pretty slim, I know, but I heard that Mr. Branson reads this blog so maybe he wants to do me a big favour.

Anyway, this particular edition of Radio Modern (if you’re in for a round of masochistic MySpace viewing, here’s the URL: http://www.myspace.com/radiomodern) took place in Antwerp, right along the banks of the river ‘De Schelde’.

*STOP THE PRESS *

Okay, this is hilarious: while surfing the web for sites that abuse my photos (not that I give a damn, I just like to see where they end up), I came across this:
http://www.favorit.at/detektei/jugendkontrollen/

Haha, apparently, someone Austrian site found one of my old stock photos and used one that depicted various sorts of drugs and old coins, must have been right before the introduction of the Euro (there’s a Dutch Gulden and some Belgian Franks in there). Crazy Austrians!

So, where was I? Oh, of course: the venue! Well, it looked like this:

EX 15mm/f2.8 diagonal fisheye @ f/4.0 + 1/4s, ISO800

And our lovely band for tonight:

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/2.0 + 1/200s, ISO400

Amazingly talented musicians, the lot of ‘em. This being said, it all started out on the slow side, and the band really had to work hard to get the crowd going. But right after the first half, they succeeded in winning the crowd over en masse. I’m really happy for them, it cost them a lot of blood, sweat & tears.

Here’s some Fifties Freaks!

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.8 + 1/40s, ISO400

EX 15mm/f2.8 diagonal fisheye @ f/2.8 + 1/15s, ISO800

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.2 + 1/200s, ISO400

I love the fact that the focus seems to rest on objects that appear to be positioned at different points, while in fact they’re located at the exact same distance from the lens (the trumpet on the right and the fingers of the left trumpet player).

Pretty girls dancing, you ask? Of course, let me serve some up for your hungry eyes.

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.8 + 1/200s, ISO400

Small detail: I believe the red-haired lady in the front is ELLE Magazine’s art director so I’d better not piss her off, maybe it’ll land me some freelance jobs :-)

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.6 + 1/200s, ISO800

The obligatory cigarette shot. I’m such a sucker for a pretty dress.

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.6 + 1/200s, ISO800

More dresses. Sorry girls, I’ll try to shoot some guys next time round. I could also steal some photos from my partner-in-crime since she stalks more guys, but I’d have to ask for her permission and she’s probably too busy socialising at some fancy nightclub’s opening party right now.

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.8 + 1/200s, ISO400

I usually resent red floodlight, since it eats everything it touches and sucks the light & detail out of my subjects. However, it’s not too bad here. Kinda moody.

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/2.0 + 1/400s, ISO400

Yeah! She rocked the house. Plus, she was wearing a nice dress.

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.2 + 1/200s, ISO400

The other musicians played as if their lives depended on it. (Note to self: next time, forget about using f/1.2 when red lights are present).

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.4 + 1/200s, ISO800

Guess what? Yeah, I’m bad. I like the pretty light dots on the floor. Hello? Anybody noticed the pretty dots on the floor? Anyone?

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/2.0 + 1/15s, ISO400

So, apparently this lady is a famous supermodel. I didn’t know this at the time. I just saw a rather skinny girl busting out some dancing moves and enjoying herself during this particular act. So I took some shots. I don’t really discriminate when picking subjects, I just take photos of things that seem interesting or appealing in one way or another.

So, trivia question: who is this supermodel in the red dress?

In the meantime: let’s take another look at the band (who seem to be approaching their boiling point):

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.2 + 1/200s, ISO400

No focus, you say? Well, screw it. It’s all about the vibe, mister.

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.2 + 1/200s, ISO400

Man, those are some strange etchings on that sax. It’s like they only become visible when you look at them intently. I think I can hear the sax whispering, too. “It wants to be found.”

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/2.0 + 1/50s, ISO400

Romance, a vital ingredient to any classic fifties party. A good fistfight is another, but sadly this hasn’t occurred yet, unless you count the one I started during the very first Radio Modern party.

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.2 + 1/25s, ISO400

Gotta love the enthousiasm. These sessions are just plain fun. Right until you find yourself doing these assignments twice a month. I guess some of these results make up for all the effort.

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/1.8 + 1/160s, ISO400

One last round. And round. And round…

EF 85mm/f1.2L II @ f/2.0 + 1/15s, ISO400

A Dutchie. Dead giveaway. They have a certain aura that sets them apart from their Belgian counterparts.

EX 15mm/f2.8 diagonal fisheye @ f/2.8 + 1/15s, ISO400

Wrapping it all up with a shot straight to the dome. Next time, I need to bring a tripod. The crowdshots using the fishy usually turn out deliciously horrible.

01:30 AM, I’m tired! Gotta get up for work tomorrow, hot damn!

Have a nice night, don’t keep your friends waiting at the bar, and don’t forget to leave your country once in a while.

MK

Funny. The only time I get to update this fotoblog is when I’m alone. So, while my partner-in-crime is attending some fancy soirée aka opening night of a new fancy nightclub in Antwerp, wearing the obligatory (and way too short) cocktail dress, I get to complete the thankful task of doing another nice entry over here on WordPress. Luckily, I have a full bottle of Pastis to keep me company, and hopefully some random soul will decide to send me a nice text message, asking how I’ve been doing lately, and wishing me a nice rest of the weekend in advance. Damn, I would have gone to that soirée myself, but three things keep me from doing just that. One, I refuse to wear a cocktail dress. Or a tuxedo, for that matter. Two, I have to work tomorrow. And three, I’d rather put a smile on my reader’s faces (yes, all six of you) than watch some random bird or geezer get wasted on alcohol and various assorted pills or worse. Oh, the joys of being able to hammer away at everything in blissful ignorance.

Actually, instead of showing you some more Radio Modern action, as originally intended, I’ve just decided to do a 180 degree turn and turn, turn, return to Kraków, flashback style. Feels like fun to me, let me dig into my archives for a minute…

Okay, so, before I met my partner-in-crime, I err… hung out with my friends quite often. I guess I have roughly a handful of people I call friends, all the rest are just acquaintances. To qualify as a friend, I must have travelled with you at some point in time. Why? Well, beats me actually. It’s just that, when I was thinking about my friends approximately 45 seconds (now 52) ago, I realised that (71 sec) I’ve travelled with each and every one of them.

This is about me and two of my friends, getting drunk one night and deciding to book a flight to Eastern Europe, more specifically: Kraków.

Let me press ’save and continue editing’ for a minute, I don’t want to end up plastering the phrase ‘wordpress @#%§!!!’ in every sentence, much in the same way that my photographic opposite, Bernie aka Sir Carl Rantalot, did in his latest entry.

Okay, so you’re probably used to the plane-isle-fishy shot by now. Still, the story must start somewhere, and this time it starts on the plane.

Wait, let me correct that, maybe this story started here:

You know the scene, I’ve seen it countless times in all your blogs as well. Getting together on a cosy night, getting absolutely pissfaced on champagne, going out for dinner and talking about a nice trip to a random destination. Drinking some more wine, going back home to perform some ridiculous karaoke stunts and ending up on a plane to Kraków.

Granted, I might have left out a few details. My memory doesn’t serve me that well. Must be the Pastis.

Anyway, let’s get back on track (after pressing save, meh).

So, how’s Kraków, anyway? Well, surprising is a word that springs to mind. I know this sounds cliché, but: you have to experience it for yourself. There’s many things that are so substantially different from Western Europe. One thing is eye contact. People whose path you cross on the street tend to make direct eye contact with you. More often than not, a subtle smile will appear on their lips. I found this to be very refreshing from what I’m used to. But there’s much more, of course. A certain vibe is present at all times, it’s a mix between authenticity, coziness and real conversations. Oh, and this city hardly ever sleeps. I’d order a coffee at six in the morning at a club called the Łubu-dubu, and the waiter would give me a look along the lines of “whatsamatter lad, too much liquor?”.

Before I forget that this is a photoblog and not a tourist guide to some random city: let’s move on.

Maybe it’s strange to visit a graveyard before anything else. But, as we had no real plan, we just stopped at random places. Oh, this graveyard, located in the Jewish District, was beautiful.

Make sure you stuff yourself with food as long as you’re in Kraków: it’s delicious even if it’s a bit heavy on the stomach, occasionally. But a couple of shots from a fresh bottle of Stomach Wodka should do the trick. Which reminds me: Suze, I believe I still owe you some drunk Wodka pics! :-D

After food, we usually headed to a bar for a nice cup of tea. Or more alcohol. Or both.

For Ellen and the rest of us, some strong coffee did the trick. This was taken in the Kazimierz district.

Time for some relaxation in the sun! It was quite cold already, but the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

Hey, give the photographer a massage as well, will you? Seriously, I’m tired of playing the part of the annoying chronicler.

I’m not much of a building & architecture person. As far as taking photographs is concerned, of course.

“save and continue editing”

I bet you an EF 50mm/f1.8 that you’ll buy a chess board in Kraków. They practically give ‘em away. This one costs 27 złoty. Not bad. You do the math, brainiac.

Here’s one of my favourites. Taken inside the Cloth Hall on Kraków’s Medieval Square. Artis: this one was taken with the ‘lowly’ EF 85mm/f1.8. Not sure if it’s a good reference photo but there you go.

Back outside.

Meeting a local. Granted, a pretty hunky local, depending on your taste. This particular lad studies philosophy. There are a lot of students running around in Kraków.

Okay, to equalize: some less than hunky locals.

I’m going to steal Elise’s little digicam photographs now. Thanks for letting me use them, Elise!

When Ellen separated herself from our siamese-triplets-style bond in order to surrender herself to a compulsive shopping spree, me & Elise decided to visit another dark & moody bar. For some reason, we ended up ordering a lot of White Russians and even more Cherry Wodka.

Hell yeah, power to the 3 Megapixel digicams, I say!

This is what a hangover looks like on a 3 Megapixel digicam.

I admit, the shooting quality started to rapidly deteriorate into a surreal pudding.

Luckily, a specific place was able to sober us up in practically no time at all:

Somehow, I refrained from taking pictures in there. This is the only one I have. I’ve never felt so terrified of the SLR’s mirror slap, ever.

Ellen’s patiently listening to another round of Elise chattering away ;-)

Our last night at the hostel. Very low light, no flash, lots of Honey Wodka!

Ellen stole my favourite geek cap, and my glasses. I must admit, she looks quite cute wearing my gear.

I don’t even remember these shots.

Need to go back there as soon as I can find the time. Hey, if any of you want to join in, gimme a shout :-)

I’m going to propose a toast to Kraków, to my awesome travel mates ( and friends, remember) Ellen and Elise, and to the joy of snapping away at everything that moves :-) And to Boards of Canada, keeping me company with spacey tunes while I’m typing this. On to the next episode!

Take care!

Gear:
Canon EOS 10D
Sigma EX 15mm/f2.8 diagonal fisheye
Canon EF 50mm/f1.8
Canon EF 85mm/f1.8
Elise’s littleSony digicam