We all, want to wish you a Happy New Year full of new pictures ...

In our association of professional photographers, we organise a lot of workshops. By exchanging a lot of experiences, we hope to improve our skills. Together with my colleague Berten Steenwegen, we prepare a lot of meetings and workshops for colleagues who are already a long time active in the photo-business.
Hereby some pictures of different meetings.

Together with 12 ladies of the company TE Connectivity, we have made an office-calendar. They were not photo-models but wanted to do something for the charity organisation "Music for Life". The calendar has been sold for a good cause. All the profits went to the association for lungtransplantation. It was really a great experience. Not only for the models but also for the photographer. These ladies had given the income of €24000 to this charity-organisation.

I have started a new photo-project. It is socially and spectacular inspired. With all the citizens of our city, we will realise the world largest print. The intention is that everyone has to take a picture of his right-neighbour in front of their door. If everyone takes part to this event, we will have pictures of all our citizens. These pictures will be printed, one side by side, on a very long banner. With 5000 citizens we can realize a 2 kilometer long print.

In september we started the preparations for an exposition with Chinese photographers in a the Dutch gallery DIS in Maastricht (Holland). I worked together with a Dutch colleague and friend Roy Wanders (who won a Gold medal in Lishui) to get him in contact with the Chinese photographers, Liang Daming, Wu Qi, Fu Weixin and Lu Chaosheng. The prints were from a very high quality and the visitors loved "the Chinese light" of the Chinese photographers. An organisation of the Sir Lyone Foundation.

Out of the hands of chairman Wim Debuck, I received the Silver Medal. Yearly during the Colour Art Photo Belgium congres there is a photo-contest among the members. There is always a theme. This year was the theme "Corpulent".

My participation for the photo-contest "I've been in Ghent". The rules were to take a picture of a VIP-person in the surroundings of the city Ghent. I placed an athletic lady, ready to start, between the tracks of the public transport. Having focus to the finish.

I had the chance to have an exposition in the province Guizhou (China). With 50 pictures, I took part to "Colorful Guizhou". Together with a lot a Chinese colleague photographers, we had a roundtour in the province Guizhou. A lot of new Chinese friends and a lot of pictures were the results of that stay in China.

This year, I was awarded with two Silver Medals of the 2nd CIDPAE festival in Lishui (China) in two categories (black/white and color).

Silver medal: category black/white

Silver medal: category color

With 10 international renomated colleague photographers (Usa, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Hungary and Belgium), we took pictures of the Central Axis in Beijing during the "World Photographers focusing on Beijing". This event was an organisation of Beijing This Month. Together with my translator, guide and driver, we had a unique shooting-week with very beautiful weather.

Since 2006, the Chinese photographer Cui Heping is a very close friend. During my several visits to the Pipphoto festival in China, he was a true guide for me. In 2009 Cui Heping organised for me an exposition about child-photography in Taiyuan and Yangquan. This year I invited Cui Heping and his family for 10 days at our place. Together we did a lot of exciting activities. A photostory about our governor. Visiting Nikki and Norbert in Antwerp. Also we visited the Dutch colleagues, Laurens Janus and Roy Wanders in Holland. Even we found a lot archives of a former Chines prime minister Lou Tseng Tsiang. True friendship forever.

With 4 Chinese pictures, I took part to an exposition in a hospital.

Every two weeks, Thijs an autistic person, comes to our photostudio. Together with him we do some photographic experiences because Thijs is very fond of photography.

China Press Photo Contest in Nantong-city
Together with 12 international colleagues, I was invited to be part as a jury-member for the Chipp-contest.
I have a great admiration for all the press-photographers.

Yearly, UNIZO (an association for entrepreneurs) organizes an education-tour with entrepreneurs for students. We, our photostudio and a printing-company, organize a workshop for students. I make a group-picture in our photostudio. The students take the digital file with them to the printing-company. On the fly, the printing company prints the digital file on big posters. A really fine experience for the students.