7 minute read
OUR WEEKEND IN PELT
The RPS Benelux Chapter PHOTO FESTIVAL
Photo Festival
Pelt
On Saturday and Sunday 18 - 19 September
2021, a group of us from the RPS Benelux Chapter spent one or two days in Pelt. We also had a group of ‘guests’ which was great! Some of us stayed overnight in various locations or just drove up and down for the day(s).
Arranging this weekend was a bit of a challenge with so many changes due to COVID-19 and trying to get speakers even at the last minute we had to accept that Janet Haines ARPS could not come over from the UK for this reason. Going back into a quarantine just was not feasible for her. We were really looking forward to a reunion. Janet had won the Bronze Award for Amateurs, so Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS collected it on her behalf.
We had Pieter van Leeuwen from the Netherlands give a Documentary/Street photography workshop on the Saturday. It was so much fun! We were challenged to go outside of our comfort zone and be a nonphotographer. Eleven of us spent a few hours in the streets of Pelt working on this concept. (Published in the previous eJournal) We then had about 30 mins to select our five or six best photos out of camera (no editing) for discussion.
Under pressure! But this led to success. The results were great! Humour and surprises. All participants enjoyed themselves. We had excellent weather so the mood was very good.
The day ended with a lovely dinner and we counted nine nationalities: American, Dutch, Belgian, Serbian, Scottish, Swedish, Australian, French and Portuguese – truly International indeed!
© pages 33 - 35 photos by Carol Olerud FRPS Janet had won the Bronze Award
The President of the Pelt Festival Carine Van Gerven joined our meetings too
Start photography workshop with Pieter van Leeuwen Ended with a lovely dinner
© Carol Olerud FRPS
Day 2 began with the awards ceremony
presentation. The Mayor of Pelt, Frank Smeets, was in attendance as well as a few jury members and the Photo Festival Committee were there. All winners and honourable mentions of both Professional and Amateur levels were awarded certificates and a large print of their photo. There was a prize for best young photographer and best creative photographer and best Corona Photo too (www.fotofestivaloverpelt.be) After lunch we gave our presentations to a small group of people. Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS began with explaining what we do in the Benelux Chapter, our Study Groups and workshops etc. We followed this with a presentation I gave on Distinctions which Janet had provided for us –many examples of fantastic successful Panels at all levels. We then, at the last minute got a speaker, Zvezdan Mancic from Belgrade, Serbia to talk about contemporary photojournalism in the Balkans.
We saw many examples of terrific photos. Zvezdan is also the President and instigator of Vizualizator a Photo Festival in Belgrade.
“Serbia has a lot of Pulitzer Prize and WordPress winners. The International Photo Festival Vizualizator is well known in the Balkans. The organisation as well as the photo festival play an active role in the world of documentary photography.”
Zvezdan could have talked for longer, but we also had Armando Jongejan FRPS lined up to give his presentation on ‘Monk’s Life’. An impressive look inside the Sint-Adelbert Abbey in Egmond-Binnen (NL) where Armando has had many years access. He’s accepted there with his camera, which gives him the fantastic opportunity to document life inside the Abbey. Black and White classical style photos of a brilliant quality. Armando has made several books of life inside the Abbey.
After the very interesting presentations, we closed the weekend here with tired but satisfied faces. ‘Thank yous’ were given all around and people soon scattered and went back home.
Enjoy a few of the photos with impressions of the weekend and some results of the workshop. The International Photo Festival in Pelt is a twoyearly event, so let’s start thinking about 2023!
From left to right: President Carine Van Gerven, Carol Olerud FRPS, Mayor Frank Smeets and Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS
Jeroen Dorrestein LRPS began with explaining what we do in the Benelux Chapter
Zvezdan Mancic from Serbia Armando Jongejan FRPS from the Netherlands
How do you see the world around you?
About changing your perspective What you see is not objective, your neighbour sees other things.
Today’s Assignment:
By background ………………………………………….. By motivation Looking for relevant pictures By situation You are in ‘workshop’ mode
Fill in the dots, using anything but a photographer!
From top to bottom © Bart Tielens – I am a Refugee from Syria © Carol Olerud FRPS – I am a City Planner – Looking for Green © Jan Janssen – I am My Mother with Bad Eyesight © Joaquim Capitao – I Cannot Ride a Bicycle
From top to bottom © John Roeleven – I am Homeless © Marcel Borgstijn – I am a Time Traveller © Nina Noordzij – I am New in Town – A Tourist © Rudi Theunis – I am a Rubbish Collector © Ton van der Laan LRPS – I am a Dog
After a year and half of Covid-19 and
meetings via Zoom, it was great to meet everyone in person again. Pieter van Leeuwen set us the task during the Pelt workshop, to forget what we like to photograph as photographers and create a different persona that does not applied to you.
Then walking around Pelt taking photos through the eyes of your chosen persona. For me, the pictures were taken as if I was going around Pelt as wheelchair user.
So, I took pictures by bending down in order to shoot them from about waist height, which is something that I find difficult to do, as it causes me to become dizzy and I needed to use a cane as a support.
My pictures focused on the view from the wheelchair, things that may hindered the user and difficult surfaces. At the end of the workshop, we had to pick our best five images, this was hard to do just using the screen on the back of your camera. So not all the images chosen on the day have survived the final cut. Overall, the workshop was very enjoyable and well worth it.
© pages 38 - 39 photos by Katherine Maguire ARPS
Pieter van Leeuwen, in his Benelux Chapter Pelt weekend workshop, pushed us out of our usual photographer’s perspective by having us imagine we were someone or something else. With that assumed transformation, we were to walk around Pelt and photograph what that new identity would notice or find important. I chose a theme of fear – a person constantly interpreting their environment as threatening. On what turned out to be a cheerful, sunny day in Pelt, this was a stretch for me in the short time we had, but it did help me notice details and potential images I would otherwise have overlooked.
© pages 40 - 41 photos by Sue Goldberg LRPS
