Ghent, Night walks, shadows, portraits

As this month leads us to the end of the calendar. I find myself on nightwalks, taking portraits in my Atelier and visiting Ghent for one of the best exhibitions I’ve been to this year.

Transcript of a sea by Stephan Vanfeteren

Ghent is a city full of character. I wandered the streets at night, photographing what took my interest.

Maheel and Mitch asked me to take their portrait as they don’t have many photograhps together. I have taken a couple their portrait before, so I knew what was to come. Its diffrent what I love about portraits is the one-on-one dynamic. I prefer to work alone when taking portraits, I believe the result is better when both parties are not being distracted. That’s said I love how the photograhps turned out.

I have come to believe winter light is my favourite light; most of the time, it’s soft because of the weather functioning as a soft box. But when there is direct light, the shadows it casts are breathtaking. Reflections dance on walls. This has always caught my eye. If I go back to my Archive in 2019 it is full of pictures of shadows. Every good thing comes with a downside: winter light is in a hurry to go to bed, or the dark is very persistent in taking the stage?

Speaking of archive, this year marks 8 years of photograhpy for me

A few mornings this month, it was foggy. If I see fog, I get fidgety I need to get out and take photograhps. Perhaps the curse of being a black and white photographer. It is like there is a constant white backdrop around me, combined with a mysterious feeling looming. It never fails to amaze me how beautiful the world can become with a slight change in the weather.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy

the month of December.