Everything is well in photo-land. A lot of opportunities and big projects are coming up for me, whom I can not yet reveal. This is a blogpost about opportunities and dare to be different.
This picture was made today at a local museum, and it shows exactly how I work.
The statue is Don Christophe, a big spanish giant who helped Hasselt. Once every 7 years he is shown to the public for the Virge-Jesse Procession. The other 6 years and 8 months he is kept in a museum room, hidden from public except some small peeping holes. You can only see some details, like a leg, a knee.
But that shot of one of the youth mascots of Hasselt was not enough for me. I wanted something special. I wanted to see the statue. Show it IS real, that it sits there waiting, only divided by some plywood and 2×4’s.
So I looked around and saw that there was a way to get on top of the crate and see how it looked. I then bargained my way in a closed-down bit of the museum, and got the shot I wanted.
If I see something (as in, see a special angle, something worth photographing, a special way of photographing something has seen a thousand times before, …), I will try and get the shot. No matter how complicated. It might not always work, but when it does, it’s great.
Again, it takes a pair of brass ones and a way with words at times.
Like that time I snuck into the Red Carpet premiere of Harry Potter in Ireland.
Or got permission to shoot both in the National Library of Ireland and Marsch Library on the same day. Both strictly prohibited to photograph.
It’s like urban exploration. In 2008 I was planning my new website skyline, and as a research I managed to gain access to the attics of City Hall, city buildings and some churches. Even a police tower. Back then I only had my point and shoot, so I didn’t make amazing pictures, but I did get the data I was looking for, and a lot of contacts and memories.
Last february when I got asked to do a special wedding shoot, I knew just the spot that could give it the extra punch for these amazing people.
I think the moral is, dare to dare.
Be crazy enough to let yourself have the crazy ideas. To Paraphrase my favorite quote:
“Because the ones who are crazy enough to think they can (…), are the ones who do”.
Be yourself, and don’t let anyone stop you from become what you want to tell people. Your vision is yours alone. Nurture it, and let it grow and flourish. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you are the top. You are not. I am not.
If you look at old images, it’s only natural to think ‘WTF was I doing back then”.
And that’s good. It doesn’t mean you sucked, it means you’ve learned. Keep analyzing yourself, finding your mistakes
“Stay hungry, Stay Foolish”.
Stay open for opportunities. The biggest things evolve from small and unimportant things. A tweet can be enough to get you in the national news. A picture at the right time and place can be enough to launch a career. A friend at the right spot can lead to big things.
If I told you how everything in my life came to be, you wouldn’t believe me, and call me insanely lucky, or crazy. Or both. And I guess I am.
It’s time for me to wrap this one up, upload some pictures to the site of the newspaper, and go to bed.
‘night.
