STEPHANI

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6 October 2018 at 5:05 pm (Zaventem, Belgium)

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BY BERT STEPHANI

It’s been a busy week after a busy Photokina week after a busy pre-Photokina week. On Thursday night, my body had enough of it and gave me no other option than to take and aspirin and go to bed. After a sweat drenched flue-like night, I wisely took it a bit slower yesterday. By late afternoon I felt much better. Just in time for Noa’s return after a five day school trip to the coast.

Pizza and a movie and staying in bed until 10 am, those are things that I hardly do these days. But I truly enjoyed them and today was a productive day, catching up on work and healthy food.

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29 September 2018 at 8:52 am (Cologne, Germany)

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BY BERT STEPHANI

I’m so proud and grateful that I was asked to speak for Fujifilm at Photokina again. They have let me play with the GFX50R, I get copious quantities of food and beer. On top of that, they even pay me for taking some pictures on a stage for 40 minutes each day, using cheap IKEA stuff as modifiers. I’m in a nice hotel and I get to hang out with friends and heroes. And yet it’s hard, exhausting and relentless. The stress to be on stage, the intensity of the conversations, the e-mails that have to be answered, the late nights and the ever present noise are getting to me. Yesterday Pat and I took it easy, went for dinner in the hotel restaurant and added some extra hours of rest to our schedule. Today is the last day, one more presentation and I intend to squeeze the last drop out of the friendships that will become virtual again from tomorrow on.

8 SEPTEMBER 2018 AT 9:02 AM (HOLSBEEK, BELGIUM)

BY BERT STEPHANI

Sometimes I wonder, is the forest an escape or is it home?

September 1, 2018 at 10:05pm (Bruges, Belgium)

BY BERT STEPHANI

A long busy day doing some demos for Fujifilm Belgium at the open doors of a photography school. But it was also a lot fun of to meet a ton of very driven people. Big bonus: Maya came along and we got to spend some father-daughter quality time. 

August 1, 2018 at 15:38 AM (De Haan, Belgium)

By Bert Stephani

Between my two of my son's football practices we immersed ourselves in nature, friends, family, sand, barbecued food and 36 hours of living the life. 

July 24, 2018 at 11:29 AM (Zaventem, Belgium / Dunkirk, France)

By Bert Stephani

Today I've spent another day photographing at the refugee camp near Dunkirk, France. I feel it's my obligation as a story teller to tell the stories that I believe aren't told enough. It's personal ... and usually I'm pretty professional in being personal. But today the camera didn't function as a professional shield, it acted as a personal rear view mirror. 

I stumbled upon two dusty boxes in my garage with toys from back when my kids were small and decided to give them to the many refugee children in the camp. Some of the toys have been in our house for fifteen years and opening the boxes brought back countless memories of happy childhoods, contrasted by smiles from children who were just born in the wrong country. 

I'm sad, angry and happy

The Dark Side of the Camera

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BY BERT STEPHANI

Unfortunately I never met Steve but his guest post on KAGE definitely struck more than one chord with me and the sad news of Steve leaving this earth made me think. 
As photographers we all want to live on in our work, well I know I do. We try to preserve everything: the youth of our children, life events, fashion, our friends, loved ones, our environment and how it changes over time ... everything. But what about ourselves, the dark side of the camera? Sure, every picture is to a certain degree a self portrait of the photographer but it is not a picture of ourselves. I don't care too much if there won't be a picture of me in 50 or 100 years. But maybe my children or their children would like to have at least some document of how I looked. Hey, maybe in thirty years, I would like to see how I looked as a middle aged man. 

I've never been into self portraiture much although I find it very interesting to see from others. But although there are billions of people that I'd rather photograph than myself, I'm going to make an effort to do an occasional self portrait. I had to dig deep in my archives to find some that I actually like. 

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Thx Steve for being Steve. You have made your mark on a Belgian photographer you've never met, I can only imagine what an amazing influence you must still be to those close to you. 

Beautiful Chaos

By Bert Stephani

As soon as we agreed to take "everyday life" as our theme for this issue, my mind started spinning with ideas and concepts. None of them worked, there was always something missing. And then it hit me: everyday life doesn't thrive within the confines of a concept. So I just let it rip. 

Since I discovered mirrorless cameras, I've pretty much always carried one with me. And lately I started wondering why I used to make tons of those real life intimate images and now I hardly ever make any. Are the kids too old for this now? Aren't their enough interesting things happening in my life? Or even worse ... did I loose my mojo? Although these reason may carry some validity, it's not that. You see, I was stilling carrying a camera everywhere, I just stopped using it to photograph every day life.

I revisited my archive from a couple of years ago to investigate how I made those great family pictures in the past. I definitely had more winners back then, but only because I took way more pictures. Quality should always be the goal for a photographer but sometimes quantity helps to achieve quality. It's rare when all the stars align in such unposed pictures: the perfect moment, great light, a good background, ... And when it happens, it only lasts for a split second. 

The say: "the best camera is the one you have with you". But that's not true ...

THE BEST CAMERA IS THE ONE YOU HAVE IN YOUR HANDS
(with a full battery, an empty card, without lens cap)

Take a Hike

BY BERT STEPHANI

As the kids get older, it's getting harder each year to do something together with the five of us. Holidays yes, sharing a great meal, sure ... but conflicting schedules, abilities and interests don't make it easy to find something we all enjoy for a full day.  So whenever the stars all align and we get to do such an activity, I enjoy it greatly. Last week a friend took us for a day hike to the High Fens.

When we arrived it was bitter cold and the puddles were coated with a tin sheet of ice. But the landscape was breathtaking and we had it pretty much all to ourselves. As the day went on and the miles passed under our boots, it got warmer and at the end we even enjoyed that spring feeling. 

I'm sure the hike was pretty challenging for a 10 year old, rather boring for a 13 year old and way too easy for a 15 year old. But the fact that all of us are willing to compromise a bit in order to enjoy it as a family means the world to me. 

This hike was a present to me from my kids and my girlfriend. It was also a reward for me by the guy who's trying to get me back in shape. I've been working out, changing my eating habits and optimizing my routines under the watchful eye of Bert (good name) for close to a month now. I still have a long way to go and a lot of hard work in front of me. But this hike showed me that I've already improved a great deal. 

It feels great to enjoy hikes again and it's even greater with the support of my family. 

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Reclaimed

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BY BERT STEPHANI

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I'm supposed to have a slow morning before I'm flying back home but instead I was up at 4 am and now I'm on my way to the desert, outside of Dubai. It's a last minute opportunity that I just can't pass on. The night before I was invited to join a team from Gulf Photo Plus for a trip to an abandoned town in the desert. They are doing some filming to promote their upcoming Photo Week event (check it out, our buddy Kevin Mullins will be one of the teachers there). 

The camera is with me, but basically I'm going simply because I like being in the desert. The first remains of the small abandoned village don't bring the sadness that I usually get in deserted places. It doesn't disturb me and it doesn't seem to disturb nature either. It's just there, peacefully and calm.

On the edge of the settlement a small mosque glows in the morning sun. I sit down on the wall that surrounds it and can't help thinking that it is more spiritual place than any active religious place that I've ever visited. 

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I sit there for almost an hour and I look back at an amazing trip and an amazing year. I look forward to become a better photographer, a better boyfriend, a better dad, a better man. And I look inside to see what will drive transition. 

Inside ... loneliness, sadness, frustration and insecurity orbit around me but can't quite get traction. My gaze turns outside and just like these buildings I accept the flow.

It's time to head home, face demons and embrace angels. 

Happy New Year everyone, I'm looking forward to see what 2018 will bring for KAGE. In case you were wondering: most of the pictures in this story were shot with the GFX50S with the GF63mm lens. I used the panoramic crop mode for these pictures and for a couple of pictures I used the X100F in 16:9 mode and cropped them a bit tighter in post to match the GFX shots.