The Busker, Hendrik Conscienceplein, Antwerpen

I love that space, this place, his sound ...

We don’t take photographs with our cameras, we take them with our hearts and our minds. They are a reflection of ourselves, what we are, and what we think.
Arnold Newman.

Late Afternoon Sunlight, the Cafe, Belgium

Gent, as the sun goes down ...

Like everyone, I know Bruges but I haven’t paid that much attention to Gent ... it’s a city I pass through on my way to other places.

Yesterday, Jurjana and I went wandering.  Or perhaps that should read, ‘yesterday, Jurjana dragged me out of my ‘feeling-sorry-for-myself’ state and took me on a road trip that was both hilarious and soul-restoring. …

Sahara Art Stones, Belgium

On my desk, I have a small collection of stones from beaches and rivers around Europe, a painted stone from Africa, an exquisite compass box gifted by Veronica, a couple of beeswax candles, little tins ... stuff.  I love handling stones, smelling the beeswax as it burns, opening my small compass treasure box…

Musicians, Antwerpen

Two of the musicians waiting for the march to Grote Markt to begin.  They played traditional instruments as the Dansgroep Lange Wapper performed here in Antwerpen.

Jessica Hilltout - an interview with a photographer

I wandered over to Brussels to chat with Jessica Hilltout, Belgian photographer and serious wanderer, curious to know more about the woman responsible for the beautiful images I had found on her website. 
This is what I discovered ...

The Painting Gifted on my Red Bookshelves ...

I promised this photograph ... I should have written ‘eventually’.  I’m still trying to develop a 48 hour working day but it’s going badly.

So the painting was gifted to me by this extraordinary man and it still makes me smile whenever I look up from my desk and recall my whisky-drinking photography session with this…

And back to Belgium ...

I brought so much work with me, it almost surprised to get through check-in without being over the luggage allowance but no, my work is the 1000s of photographs I have on my laptop and backed-up all over the place.

I told no one I was returning, no one but Gert and so Jessie and Sahara almost fell over when…

New Technology and a Move North-East

This afternoon’s family photography session at the park was a success, the bed is still covered with things I’m packing - waiting for the ironing to be done, and the bathroom ... well I’d like to clean the bathroom before I leave town.  It’s this quirky thing I do, I like to clean before leaving.

It’s been a day of…

Shrapnel Charlie - aka Ivan

I met Shrapnel Charlie yesterday, as part of my quest to capture something of the amazing spirit I find out here in West Flanders ... the exhibition opens 12 February 2010.

Valerie was my guide, my patient guide, who drove me to Ieper where we both enjoyed catching up on the man known to so many all over the world.

The Tullintrain Piper, Flanders Field

And then I met this incredible pipeband practising their music and they let me take photographs while they worked ...

The Stone Mason, Belgie

I spent an hour or so in the stone mason’s workshop, photographing both him and his son as they worked and discussed business with my friend.
Really good people.

6.30am ...

6.30am and Martin’s picking me up on his way back to Flanders Fields…

And so begins a new search for images for the new photography exhibition. 
Here are some the old ones I have tucked away in my photo folders.

Houthulst Cemetery and the Italians, Flanders

I am almost used to the sadness of wandering amongst the graves of the thousands of young men who died during World War One but every now and again, something so sad and unexpected gets me in throat and it’s all I can do not to cry over the ridiculously cruel waste of human life ...

Yesterday, after a meeting…

The Path Home ...

This morning, cycling home after delivering Little Miss 5 to school, it occurred to me to perhaps admit that, although I miss the Nature I loved so well back home in New Zealand, this Belgian version goes some way to replacing it ...

The Belgian parks are much more manicured, I struggle with that but perhaps these backtracks cater to…

Street Performer, Antwerp

My cousin, Julie, and I are wandering around this Belgian city of mine, talking, drinking a little red wine last night, and enjoying the fact that we are with some of our family ...

We phoned home and talked to Auntie Coral and my lovely Sandra sister, missing everyone.

There’s a Toad in Our Garden ...

Gert captured our little garden toad with his phone camera ... resting in amongst the plastic garden refuse sacks we had left outside. 

I think Gert’s quite taken with our toad, he made him a little shallow pond with a stone in it (nothing to do with my ‘But he must have somewhere to swim…