Viewfinders Newsletter April 2023

APRIL 2023

#296

Photo by Sabine Piosdziech

What’s inside? Intro

After a long period without the opportunity to exhibit, our merry club has held two quite successful exhibitions since the start of the year.

The “ Views on Time” exhibition, resurrected from 2020, took place at the Brussels Women’s Club for a month, and our major club-wide exhibition “Collective” (though limited to 2 weeks to keep the costs reasonable) was also highly appreciated, by exhibitors and by the many visitors.

We now hope to be able to build on this momentum and set up more exhibitions in the near future.

Rankin: The Dazed Decades

Check out the mini-exhibition by member Damien Maguire and myself at the Octopus heART center (rue Haute 253, in the heart of Brussels’ Marolles district) to discover one such possible gallery. Watch this space for more news in the coming weeks/months!

Alun Foster

Photo by Kaim Merali

Preview of the April 2023 Meeting

Come join us at our next Viewfinders club meeting on the evening of Wednesday, 19 April, starting at 20:00 at the Swedish church

The meeting will also be streamed live via Zoom. The login information will be sent to all members by e-mail several days prior to the club meeting.

After his announcements, Alun will give an introduction to the upcoming “Portraits in the Park ” photo project.

This will be followed by a short tutorial by Piotr on night photography.

The main event of the meeting is one of our two semi-annual Challenges. The topic is “Faceless Portraits”. The inspiration for this Challenge along with the Challenge rules and photo upload information have been sent to all club members. Up to 2 entries may be submitted, either digital or print. Digital images (.jpg) must be uploaded no later than the evening of Sunday, 16 April.

Looking forward to seeing you and your photos at the club meeting.

Richard Sylvester

Photo by Miguel Angel Vilar

Summary of the March 2023 Meeting

The start of the club meeting was preceded by an evening visit to our “Collective” exhibition at the GH Market.

The prints on display were provided by some 38 club members and covered a wide variety of topics.

Moving to the church, Alun welcomed those members who were present and those attending via Zoom. In his announcements at the start of the meeting, Alun mentioned the upcoming activities that are being organized, which include the “Faceless Portraits” Challenge in April and the “Portraits in the Park” photo project in June.

He then invited members to upload images for the Newsletter and for posting on the Viewfinders' Instagram account. Alun also asked for volunteers to help with the meeting’s logistics and to provide backup for producing the Newsletter.

The main event of the evening was the presentation by our external speaker, Eddy Verloes

Eddy is a multi-award-winning Belgian literary symbolic photographer, a visual storyteller. His atmospheric shots of interiors, landscapes, and urban life hover beautifully between realism and surrealism. Taking a spontaneous approach to the craft, Eddy captures the unexpected moments of the day. His studies of literature and philosophy fueled an inquisitive search for the mystical and the poetic. He shoots with his soul, not with the camera. His photos reflect his personality.

Eddy spoke about some of his most recent projects, especially Losing Our Minds (about ultra-orthodox Jews), Aardelingen (Earthlings) : a project with Jef Neve in December 2022, and In Omzien: a project with the psychiatric institution Alexianen. For more information about Eddy, his work and his long list of awards, see his website and especially his award winning collection Losing Our Minds.

Photo by Frederic Paulussen

The meeting then turned to viewing and commenting on the wide range of edits submitted by 12 members on three images provided for the “Photo to Edit” project: architecture, island jungle and beach photos. During the viewing, Richard and Miguel Angel presented Alun with a certificate for being the best photo exhibition organizer this side of Betelgeuse.

Alun then thanked the participants and closed the meeting.

Richard Sylvester

Photos by Frederic Paulussen

Collective, an impressive gallery !

On 5 March 2023 it was time to open the bottles: Our Collective exhibition opened its doors to showcase the work of 38 photographers from Viewfinders.

It was so exciting to see people streaming in, who were surprised by the number of images presented and by the size of the venue. Many discussions arose, artists got the opportunity to share their inspirations and background information with visitors about their work. We even had some international travelers visiting Brussels who came to our exhibition.

The drinks and finger food on offer made the event still more convivial. Alun welcomed visitors with a speech about the event and also about the club.

A short welcome was re-iterated by Anne-Christine, Dagmara, Marci, Frédéric and Sabine in French, Polish, Spanish, Dutch and German.

Michael Chia, a Brussels-based photographer who had already joined club meetings as a speaker and also as judge for Viewfinders Challenges in the past, was there for the Brussels magazine BRUZZ and interviewed some of the exhibitors.

Damien Maguire, another photographer friend of Viewfinders, enhanced the enjoyable atmosphere with some background music.

Photo by Eduardo Tardaguila

The mood was good There was a constant flow of visitors and it was not easy to keep track for some statistics. But we would estimate conservatively that around 300 guests joined us during the few hours that the vernissage was on. One reason more to call it a success!

During the two weeks that the exhibition was open, the visitor flow was quite irregular with peaks during the weekends of course. All in all, some 300 guests explored the exhibition after the vernissage. During conversations with some of them, we learned that they came because they knew one or several of the photographers, read the advertisement somewhere or they were just passing by and saw the flyer at the entrance. Almost all of those we talked to said that they were surprised and impressed by the huge variety of styles and themes.

Some feedback collected from the Guest book:

• Wow ? [sic]

• Amazing! Thanks for sharing the world through your lenses!

• Trés beau voyage à travers la photo! Merci – Magnifique!

• Belle expo dans tout sa diversité !

• A great exhibition with plenty of beautiful and original pictures...

• Proficiat! Prachtige tentoonstelling. Zoveel stijlen, zoveel thema’s, zoveel werelden!

• Very lovely and interesting.

• Splendid collection of photographic art. Really well shown, and I loved the explanations of the photographers who produced it all...

• Thank you!

Photo by Alun Foster

Photo by Piotr Wolski

Photo by Piotr Wolski

In addition to its external impact, the exhibition served as an excellent opportunity for club members to develop their own projects and gain valuable knowledge about the printing process, and other technical aspects of exhibiting photography, as well as learning to present their work to visitors and to promote themselves. It also allowed members to build personal and artistic connections with one another, as they were able to view and discuss each other's work. This was particularly exciting as it marked the first time that some members had presented their own projects to the group, making

it a unique experience for them. This dynamic experience of sharing and learning also resulted in a surge of new members joining the club during that month, which was a testament to the positive impact of the exhibition on the club's overall sense of community and growth.

The virtual visit in 3D created by Charles HennikerHeaton after the closing of the event will make it possible to invite friends and family from abroad to appreciate the exhibition remotely.

Photo by Eduardo Tardaguila

Photo by Alun Foster

Photo by Piotr Wolski

Photo by Piotr Wolski

Photo by Alun Foster

Photo by Piotr Wolski

Photo by Piotr Wolski

Virtual Galleries

By Charles Henniker-Heaton

We hope that you enjoyed the virtual visit to the Collective Exhibition. If not, it is still available on the VF website

My business partner, a 3D designer, and I make virtual tours like this one on a regular basis, usually of offices, showrooms, or restaurants. But having spent nearly my whole working life in the photo industry, my preference is always for art and photo galleries.

For these tours, we use a Matterport 360 camera to take multiple scans around the space. The camera has with six optical lenses and three infra-red sensors that measure distances, which is necessary to build a 3D model into which the visual elements fit correctly. The VF exhibition used seventy 360-scans. This creates a fully 3D digital version of the space that you can ‘walk around’ in, from the warmth of your home! (That big hall did get rather cold at times! [ed – this is an understatement! ]). These are what we refer to as ‘real’ 3D spaces.

Despite the apparent complexity, prices are very reasonable, so If you have an exhibition coming up and would like a tour made, you know who to contact!

Next to capturing and digitalizing a real 3D space, it is also possible to create virtual spaces that can serve the same purpose. Here, the exhibition space ‘exists’ only in digital form, so can be updated or modified as and when needed. The company “Kunstmatrix” supplies such virtual galleries, which typically cost €10/month to host, which allows up to 100 images to be uploaded at any one time and to host up to five concurrent exhibitions! The online software is very intuitive but does take some time and skill to master. As a Service Partner to Kunstmatrix, I also have access to some special features and can have an exhibition up and running in a couple of days. An example, with e-commerce links, is Ralph Kerle’s gallery.

I also build websites which use a Content Management Systems (CMS) that is specially designed for photographers, and can enable them to showcase and/or sell their work. We can even link it to a print fulfilment service that will look after the production, packaging, and dispatch of prints locally or around the world and can add a ‘real’ or ‘virtual’ gallery to the site if desired.

If you want to know more about virtual visits or websites designed for photographers, contact Charles at info@kivo3d.com.

Meet Mehdi Ben Khouja

The Poetry of the Streets: A Moroccan Photographer's Story

Acamera can be a lot of things to different people. To me, it was like a mysterious object that I just had to uncover. Growing up in Salé, Morocco, I was always drawn to my father's analog camera. It was as if it held a secret power that could capture the essence of life in a single frame. I wanted to wield that power and see what kind of magic I could create.

But it wasn't until I was working on a documentary about the preservation of cultural heritage in Morocco by civil society that I truly fell in love with photography. I was lucky enough to work alongside a talented photographer who let me use her camera. When she saw my shots, she told me that one of them would be the cover of the documentary exhibition. That was the moment I realized the true potential of photography as a medium for storytelling and expression.

Photo by Mehdi Ben Khouja

Since then, I've been on a quest to capture the world around me through my lens. I find inspiration in the works of photographers like Vivian Maier, who have a unique ability to capture everyday moments in a way that is both intimate and universal. It's a style that I strive to emulate in my own work.

Of course, being a street photographer has its challenges. There have been moments when I've been caught in the middle of a chaotic scene or faced the wrath of an angry subject. But there have also been moments of pure joy, like the time I captured two elderly women chatting in an empty street. When I showed them the photo, they were thrilled that I had captured their decades-long friendship in a single frame. It's moments like these that remind me why I fell in love with photography in the first place.

As I continue to grow and develop as a photographer, I'm excited to explore new avenues and push the boundaries of what I can create. Currently, I'm drawn to the abstract and the surreal, and I'm eager to see where that takes me.

For me, photography is more than just a hobby or a profession. It's a way for me to express myself and my place in society. Through my images, I hope to contribute to the larger narrative of our world, to add my own unique voice to the chorus of human experience.

Photo by Mehdi Ben Khouja

Photos by Mehdi Ben Khouja

Masters of Portraiture

Richard Avedon: — Part 2: “In the American West"

by Philip Houtekier

Richard Avedon ran a successful commercial studio, and is widely credited with erasing the line between “art” and “commercial” photography.

His brand-defining work and long associations with Calvin Klein, Revlon, Versace, and dozens of other companies resulted in some of the best-known advertising campaigns in American history. These campaigns gave Avedon the freedom to pursue major projects in which he explored his cultural, political, and personal passions. He is known for his extended portraiture of the American Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam war. In 1976, for Rolling Stone magazine, he produced “The Family,” a collective portrait of the American power elite at the time of the country’s bicentennial election.

Serious heart inflammations hindered Avedon's health in 1974, inspiring him to create a compelling collection from a new perspective. In 1979, he was commissioned by Mitchell Wilder, the director of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, to create a “Western Project.” From 1979 to 1985, Avedon worked extensively on this commission, ultimately producing the show and book “In the American West”. This is considered to be his best body of work. The series of portraits of quite unknown Americans from the lowest social strata of society, with its humanist perspective, positioned itself immediately as a classic in the history of modern art.

Richard Avedon Roberto Lopez, oil field worker, 1980

Wilder envisioned the project to portray Avedon's take on the American West. Instead of the more traditional options of focusing upon public figures or the openness and grandeur of the West, Avedon focused on everyday working class subjects. Not the Hollywood glamour but people who live in the countryside in Texas, in small spots more or less isolated from the surrounding world. Miners soiled in their work clothes, housewives, farmers and drifters who were going from place to place looking for jobs as the mining business went down and the oil boom was over. These people were being ignored.

Avedon and his crew photographed 762 people and exposed approximately 17.000 sheets of 8×10 Kodak Tri-X Pan film. The five-year project concluded with an exhibition of larger-than-life prints and a catalogue. During the production period Avedon encountered problems with size availability for quality printing paper. While he experimented with

platinum printing he eventually settled on Portriga Rapid, a double-weight, fiber-based gelatin silver paper manufactured by Agfa-Gevaert. Each print required meticulous work, with an average of thirty to forty manipulations. Two exhibition sets of In the American West were printed as artist proofs, one set to remain at the Carter after the exhibition there, and the other, property of the artist, to travel to the subsequent six venues. Overall, the printing took nine months, consuming about 6,300 m2 of paper.

The collection identified a story within Avedon’s subjects of their innermost self, a connection he admits would not have happened if his new sense of mortality through severe heart conditions and aging hadn't occurred. Avedon visited and traveled through state fair rodeos, carnivals, coal mines, oil fields, slaughter houses and prisons to find his subjects.

Avedon at work in the American West, 1983

They are all being photographed with a neutral, white background, and always in the shade to prevent the sunlight making shadows, highlighting something in particular and determining what the viewer is to focus on in the photograph. Most of the subjects are centred in the compositions. The white background isolates them from their surroundings. The frame is surrounded by the black edges of the negative. Most subjects look directly into the camera, without the smile of the family portrait or the expressionlessness of the police mugshot. The minimum facial expression seems to create a maximum of expressiveness, showing depth of the surface.

All portraits inevitably balance between a psychological interest in the individual and a sociological interest in the type. At the same time, what they first and foremost capture is the physical impression of a person. Having one’s portrait made is always a sensitive and intricate event, for the resulting portrait will help to determine who one is, how one is seen, and how one is understood. A portrait is in this sense always existentially revealing.

Richard Avedon Boyd Fertin, thirteen years old, 1979

Richard Avedon James Kimberlin, drifter, 1980

In the foreword, Avedon writes “There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth". Avedon states that the photograph is a silent theatre, which makes a great effort to stage an illusion that the photographer has not been present at all, that the portrait has arisen out of nothing, with no directing, no camera, but exists as a fact pure and simple, as “what has been”. “The white background isolates the subject from itself and permits you to explore the geography of the face, the unexplored continents in the human face.”

The sitters look directly at us, intense, sometimes bewildered and nervous, sometimes full of quiet, determined defiance. This stare helps to create the illusion that no photographer is present, the picture arising out of nothing.

In reality, these portraits are all the result of an intimate collaboration, an interplay, between the model and photographer. There are some props used in the pictures. Mortality could be a key word in pinning down the portraits. There is very little humour here, the predominant mood is of vulnerability and seriousness.

Richard Avedon Ronald Fisher, beekeeper, 1981

Richard Avedon Sandra Bennett, 12, 1980

‘In The American West’ has often been criticised for falsifying the West through voyeuristic themes and for exploiting his subjects. Critics argue that Avedon's intentions are to influence and evoke condescending emotions from the viewer such as pity, while reducing faces to anatomical data.

In 1994, Avedon revisited his subjects who would later speak about In the American West aftermath and its direct effects. Billy Mudd, a trucker, spent long periods of time on his own away from his family. He was a depressed, disconnected and lonely man before Avedon offered him the chance to be photographed. When he saw his portrait for the first time, Mudd saw that Avedon revealed something about him that allowed him to recognize the need for change in his life. The portrait transformed Mudd, and led him to quit his job and return to his family. Photography can change people’s lives!

Billy Mudd next to his printed portrait

Rankin: The Dazed Decades

By Alan Waldern

Anew exhibition has recently opened at the Cultuurcentrum Scharppord in Knokke and runs through to 11th June. Whilst Rankin is best known for his fashion and portrait photography as well as TV appearances on the British Photography Challenge and Germany’s Next Top Model, this exhibition focuses on the work which he made for the cult magazine Dazed & Confused where he was the artistic director and contributor.

The ground floor of the exhibition features early photographs from the magazine which record the UK youth culture of the 1990’s. Although in the candid form of Martin Parr, they are largely posed and styled for effect which is not surprising as they

are intended for publication. With this in mind, they remain interesting and a reflection of this period, if not entirely genuine.

Upstairs is a much larger and better lit space with portraits from the 2000’s and is much more consistent with work for which Rankin is best known. They show a wide breadth of both B&W and colour prints and presentation styles. Not all the models are well known, especially outside of the UK, but all show a strong engagement with the photographer and project an image – some playful and amusing and others more menacing.

(all pictures are from the exhibition's online catalogue)

Left: Debbie Harry, 1998 / Right: Painted Veils, 2008

Overall, an excellent exhibition if you are in the area and short walk from the railway station and the promenade. There are no notes in the exhibition space, but there is a full (177 page) catalogue available online when you enter the exhibition – it can be worth taking a tablet as it is hard to read, and it improves the experience considerably. I went to the Peter Lindbergh exhibition which is a complete contrast in terms of space and preparation, but Rankin left a bigger smile of my face!

(all pictures are from the exhibition's online catalogue)

Left: David Bowie, 1995 / Right: Kathy Burke, 1995

What's up?

Biennale de la Photographie et littérature

The Biennale is presenting duos of writers and photographers. There are some 40 artists.

At Château de Karreveld, Brussels

17 March to 23 April 2023

Photo Exhibition Damien Maguire and Alun Foster

Damien Maguire and Alun Foster, in collaboration with the Octopus heARTcenter, will be holding a 2-man show exhibition, in a charming gallery in the heart of the "Marolles/Marollen". Regular Viewfinders meeting attendee will remember Damien, who was our guest speaker a while back, and he also led us on a photo trip around Namur.

At Octopus heARTcenter, Brussels. 29 March to 26 April 2023

Mining Photography

Just how sustainable is the 'eternal moment'? To what extent does the production of photographs contribute to man-made climate change?

Interesting data about the history of photography.

Kunsthaus Wien, Museum Hundertwasser, Vienna

Until 29 May 2023

Rencontres d'Arles

You may wish to include the Rencontres d'Arles in your next holiday programme in the south of France ...

Every summer since 1970, over the course of more than forty exhibitions at various of the city's exceptional heritage sites, the Rencontres d'Arles has been a major influence in disseminating the best of world photography and playing the role of a springboard for photographic and contemporary creative talents.

Various sites in and around Arles, France

3 July to 24 September 2023

Discovery

DearSusan.net: photography blog

The collaborative website where travelers and photographers find location reviews, gear reviews, pro interviews, tutorials, industry news and inspiration for making their photography a more creative, satisfying and rewarding experience.

Viewfinders Calendar 2023

Espace vital : femmes photographes iraniennes, Anahita Ghabaian Etehadieh

The book invites the reader to contemplate Iran through the lens of 23 women photographers in a historical context where female Iranians request their rights with courage and strength.

19 April 2023

17 May 2023

7 June 2023

TTT: Night Photography

Challenge: Faceless Portraits

TTT: My best/worst accessory

AGM/Member Photos

Photo Project: Portraits in the Park

President Alun Foster

Vice - President

Miguel Angel Vilar

Secretary Richard Sylvester

Treasurer

Newsletter team

Membership Coordination

Programme Team

IT Support

Meeting Support Team

Trips Team

Exhibition Team

Social and others events

Caroline Hendry

Sabine Posdziech

Anna Nowak

Ines Touche

Milton Fanfa

Dagmara Jakubowska

Dagmara Jakubowska

Joaquim Capitao

Alun Foster

Miguel Angel Vilar

Miguel Angel Vilar

Nicolas Jouveneaux

Martin Schmid

Milton Fanfa

Kathy Moran

Anne - Christine Brouwers

Alun Foster

Karina Robin

Anne - C Brouwers

Karina Robin

Any items from members for publication are welcome. Images are particularly welcome. Please send them in as separate attachments (not embedded in emails or documents) in JPEG format, with no less than 2000px on the long side and minimal compression. Please be aware that, in accordance with the layout, some cropping may occur. Please send submissions to newsletter@viewfinders.be.

Photo by Kaim Merali