stephani

Now What?

BY BERT STEPHANI

So we finally got off our asses and kicked them in gear, but now what?

I can’t talk for anyone else, I can only talk for myself, but I’m not too impressed with what I produced in February. For some reason, it feels like I’m done with the more traditional documentary stories that have made up the bulk of what we’ve done in KAGE. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always be documenting life but at this point I don’t know if the short photo story is the way to do that for me anymore. Maybe I’ve worked in this style for too long, maybe it’s the pressure of a project at an inconvenient time, maybe I’m just getting old. Whatever the reason, it’s time to explore other ways of storytelling, other types of stories.

Here are some colour shots that didn’t make the project:

Some observations and thoughts:

  • I might need to give my pictures more breathing room and give them time to speak to me. The whole instant thing is deeply ingrained in my way of working and I need to get away from it.

  • I would like to work less chronological and literal. I’m not a news photographer, I want to share more personal, complex and nuanced concepts.

  • Wow, you guys rock. I’ve seen truly amazing images on Instagram from those who joined us in this project.

  • For the past 15+ years I’ve been carrying a camera pretty much all the time and I need to keep doing that. But I also need to plan very specific photography outings to immers myself completely in making work without combining something else with photography.

  • It was great to be forced to shoot through this project. Often it’s a matter of just getting started and something will happen. Frustration got the best of me a number of times during last month for not creating anything that I really liked. While I need to push myself to create, I shouldn’t be so harsh on myself if the muse doesn’t show herself immediately. I just need to thrust the process.

  • It’s too soon for conclusions but that’s fine. Let’s keep shooting and see where it will take me.

Some black and white images that didn’t make the stories:

As a collective, we are not sure where we want to go next. We’ll see but we are interested to hear your comments. How did you experience this project?

(Blown) Away

BY BERT STEPHANI

The weather has continued to be sub par lately and we’ve been longing for spring. A couple of storms came through our little country and wreaked havoc but that couldn’t stop the two of us to escape for a little cycling trip to Holland.

This is what our garden shed looked like after storm Eunice passed through. We suffered some other damage but luckily nobody got hurt.

We rented a cosy cabin in the Dutch countryside to just be away for a couple of days. Despite the very strong winds we still brought our bikes to hopefully go out and explore.

On day one we managed to do a 35km ride through wind and rain. The parts against the wind were like cycling with flat tires and stuck brakes. The parts with cross wind in the open country proved to be hard to stay upright, but I felt like a pro cyclist when the wind was in my back.

A very challenging obstacle

On the second day, the winds were still crazy but for the first time in ages the sun was out. So we went for a long 72km ride.

On the third day we had obligations back home so we couldn’t stay long. But we couldn’t leave without a last short ride.

The last 3 kilometers of the ride were against that crazy powerful wind again (for the cycling fans: I was pushing between 250 and 300 Watts to reach only 12km/h). By the time we got back to our car the rain came back with a vengeance to mark the end of this little trip.

And this also marks the end of my #kage202202 project. I’ll probably let it all digest a bit and follow up with what this project ment to me.

Gold

BY BERT STEPHANI

So, what gear do you bring to the Under 18 Belgian Athletics Championship? What about a slow medium format camera and a short(ish) manual lens? At least that’s what I did: GFX50R and the Mitakon 65mm F1.4.

But the real reason I was there is that my girlfriend’s eldest daughter participated in the pole vault competition. Because I knew I wouldn’t have good access, I also packed my X-Pro3 and dusted off the XF50-140 to document one of the best days of her life. Before the big day, I gave her my best advice: crush the competition … and boy, she did just that! With a series of beautiful jumps, she went over 3.40 meters, improved her personal best and won the Belgian championship.

Above you see the the sequence of the jump that sealed the deal. It’s art in motion but the picture that we like even better is the one below of the most relaxed smile we’ve seen on her face in ages. The pressure of high level sports is a very heavy burden to carry for a teenager. But when the stars align, it’s all worth it.

Photography on Two Wheels

BY BERT STEPHANI

When the pandemic first hit and we learned what a lockdown is, I was suddenly robbed from the ability to roam and explore. I don’t necessarily think that my “explore pictures” are my best, but it’s where I find inspiration, motivation, locations, ideas en calm. That’s why I invested in a gravel bike. It’s fast enough to bring me to new places and travel decent distances, yet slow enough to be able to look around, interact with people and let my mind drift. I’ve already made good use of the bike: I ride it to shoots that don’t require to carry a lot of gear, I did many location scouting trips and it’s been a great way to work on my project about the borders of Belgium. But I think the bike has even more potential for my work. It’s not just a mode of transport, there’s something about experiencing the world on two wheels. I find myself forgetting to take pictures often and I’ve been experimenting with many different ways to always have a camera ready while on the bike. I haven’t fully cracked the code yet, but I’m working on it. Last week, I rode quite a bit, in different circumstances with different goals. It isn’t easy to get much time on the bike in these winter months, trying to juggle family and two jobs.

Tuesday - Night Gravel Ride

I threw my bike in the back of the car before driving my girl friend to her workout. While she did her workout, I did mine. I didn’t plan of riding offroad but my curiosity took the better of me when I encountered a nice gravel track. In April I have an organised night gravel ride planned with friends, so I figured I might as well get a feel for riding in the dark through a forest.

It’s pretty crazy how perception changes in different light. With just a frontal bike light it’s a lot harder to read the trails. But on the other hand, it gives a completely different experience on familiar ground.

I usually plan a route for my rides but more and more I just get lost and see where I end up. By now, I know pretty much all the usual roads and tracks in our area but when I allow myself to get lost, I still encounter new spots.

Darkness at the end of the tunnel.

Thursday - Wet Gravel Ride

Thursdays are usually reserved for photography, but sometimes I squeeze in a longer ride too. I wanted to do a longer gravel ride but the weather really sucked. The terrain was terribly slippery, muddy and wet. But still, it was fun to be out on my own in nature.

I’m still blown away by how this bike feels at home on just about any terrain, although mud tires would have helped here.

Once I’m pedalling I find it hard to stop but I’m learning to squeeze the brakes every now and take a picture. After all, enjoying the landscape is more important than average speed.

The Vlooyberg tower made famous in Flanders by the hilarious tv show Callboys.

No need to say that my bike needed a good wash after this ride. But cleaning and maintaining my bike is like meditation to me (at least when I’m not confronted with unexpected repair issues).

Saturday - Touristic Ride

On Saturday I went for a ride with Kim, my girlfriend. She has an electric city bike which makes us stay on paved roads or nice gravel (although we had some spectacular muddy exceptions). In summer we avoid the more touristic routes but at this time of year theses routes are usually calm and we always discover some nice new places.

Not quite Dark Hedges

After all the wet, grey days it was so nice to be riding in the sun although it was still chilly.

One of those places that I didn’t know existed despite having been on the parallel big road hundreds of times.

There’s still a lot of work on Belgium’s cycling infrastructure but I like how we’ve been getting more smooth gravel roads along rivers.

Sunday - Indoor Training

To top off last week’s cycling, I did a ride on the cycling trainer on Sunday. In the future I want to ride longer and further but my shape isn’t that impressive. With a couple of longer rides planned in the spring, I’m trying to get a bit better by doing some structured training. In some way I enjoy these workouts in the garage but not nearly as much as a real ride. I don’t care for personal records but the simple truth is that the better I’m in shape, the more I enjoy the ride and the more energy I have left to photograph.

The turbo trainer has been a great help to keep cycling in the dark cold months.

A structured workout. Those red things hurt.

I don’t ride for the numbers but I find that they keep me motivated.

Time for a shower, let’s hope there’s some nice rides next week too.

Just wondering, are there any other cycling photographers in the KAGE community? Let me know in the comments.

all images shot with the X100V

Birds, Birthdays, Basketball and Bad Weather

BY BERT STEPHANI

I’m not necessarily proud of the images i’ve shot so far for this project, visually there’s nothing special. But I am proud of the fact that so far I’ve been able to withstand the Instagram-temptation. By that I mean the urge to create pictures that I know will get easy likes. I know plenty of techniques, locations and subjects that I could use to make work that grabs the attention. But that’s not what I want this project to be. For me it’s not about showing off, it’s about introspection. If the stars align and I’m in a great location with fantastic light and a stunning model, I’m sure going to shoot that. Those picture-friendly moments do happen after all. But life isn’t a long uninterrupted string of perfect pictures. That doesn’t mean life isn’t interesting. I’m very grateful for the sudden appearance of spooky birds, getting the family together to celebrate a birthday, watching my daughter hit a threepointer and experiencing the drama of a rainstorm.

All shot with the X-Pro3 and the 33mm F1.4, except for 2 images with the 16mm F1.4 just to switch things up a bit.

Eclectic

BY BERT STEPHANI

Sometimes, you just need to pick up the camera and start pressing the shutter button. I’m slowly starting to trust the process. It will always lead to something, even if it’s just knowing that you are on the wrong track.

6:37am - First picture of the day, just after I got up.

2:21am - actually THIS was the first picture of February ;-)

6:46am - Before the rest of the family wakes up, I really enjoy taking a bit of time for a coffee and myself.

I spent pretty much the rest of the day at my desk, like most days in the last 2 years. Nothing special, very little to photograph. I’m ok with it, not for the rest of my life, but at the moment it’s all good.

The biggest event of the day was my son’s 19th birthday. Due to restriction he didn’t really get a proper 18th birthday but we tried to make up for it this year.

I usually try to make a portrait of loved ones on their birthday. Kobe didn’t feel like posing for a portrait, but agreed to a quick silhouette shot.

The next day was another home office day but I went for a little walk around the house at night to make at least some pictures.

An apple a day …

Yesterday was a big photo/video day. I had to shoot an intro video and an interview. And then I had to edit it in time for a webinar at night. And I was also in charge of the whole technical part of a multi camera live broadcast while making promotional pictures. It’s amazing what we can do with today’s technology. I sometimes complain about wearing so many different hats at once but at the same time I find it really exciting what we can do these days. When I started in television 25 years ago, this would have required at least 10 people, 2 trucks of equipment and a crazy budget.

If you look carefully, you can see that I always have KAGE on my mind.

Where am I? Where is this project leading to? I honestly don’t have a clue yet. And at this point, that’s fine with me. I’m just happy to be shooting, being inspired by the collective and seeing great work from you on Instagram.

Headless

This image, from Robert Catto’s essay Broken Threads was my starting point for this essay.

This image, from Robert Catto’s essay Broken Threads was my starting point for this essay.

Why is it that the head, and particularly the face, has so much importance in people photography? Convention states that the face should be the bright, in focus and get to be center stage in the composition.

A couple of Robert’s pictures of headless statues made me think about the importance that is generally put on the head/face in photography. While the rest of the body can tell the story just as well or even better. I’ve never been afraid to make a picture that doesn’t include the head but until recently I also never deliberately set out to not include the head in pictures.

So in the last couple of days I tried to do just that when taking pictures around the house.

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In the last few months, I’ve been also busy figuring out and creating a new body (pun not intended) of work. And one of the the aspects that I’ve been experimenting with is not including the face of the subject.

So what are your opinions on headless photography? Is it acceptable? Is it still portraiture?

DEFINITION 42 | DARKNESS DESERVES BETTER

BY BERT STEPHANI

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I’ve always liked the night, dark clothes, dark images.
The association between “black” and “bad” doesn’t exist to me.
In the shadows I find simplicity, peace and elegance.
The darkness shuts out the noise and makes time irrelevant.
Darkness deserves a better rep ...

DEFINITION 32 | THE PAGE THAT STAYED BLANK

BY BERT STEPHANI

Yesterday was my deadline for a new KAGE story. Yesterday was also World Photography Day. In the two weeks leading up to yesterday I was aware of both facts and determined to shoot a great story. So I took a blank (virtual) page and grabbed a(n Apple) pencil and ... nothing happened.

Usually the hard part of starting a new story is just to write those first few keywords down. But once that’s done, the rest flows into a finished story pretty easily. It still can be hard work, but it isn’t difficult, not really. It’s just a matter of forcing myself to get going and then do the work.

But this time, the story just wouldn’t come and believe me, I tried. I had some ideas, but they all seemed artificial and forced. So I just kept a camera close and shot whatever caught my eye.

For a moment I thought about investigating which story was hidden in the random images:

The dark tones reflect the cloud that hangs above us in these trying times. The obscured self portraits are a sign of insecurity and the clouds symbolise the fear of change. However I clearly look for light, light at the end of the tunnel. Not everything is lost, after all, the compositions express a desire for order and new structure ...

Bullshit of course. These are just images ... or is there more?

DEFINITION 024 | THE EXPLORER

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BY BERT STEPHANI

As a kid I devoured books about polar expeditions, climbing Everest and dangerous travels in the rainforest. Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his crew were my television heroes and I listened to the cassette tapes my aunt mailed to my parents while she lived in the Congo. I was destined to become a famous explorer. But as I got older there was the preparation of the basketball season that prevented long travels during the summer, work got in the way and then came a family that I just love being with way more than the highest mountain or the deepest abyss.

I still managed to see a nice chunk of the world and explore different cultures and places. During my twenties and thirties it bothered me sometimes though that I never completely released my inner Indiana Jones. But I also started to understand that my childhood heroes all paid a big price for following their passion, a price that I am not prepared to pay.

It’s very unlikely that I’ll discover a new dolphin species, be the first to climb Everest while playing a saxophone or swim across the Bering Sea in just a pair of Speedos. But like in sports, exploring doesn’t require you to be setting new records to enjoy it.

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During the lockdown I got restless and started to understand that I really need a healthy dose of adventure to stay sane. Luckily I rediscovered bicycles as a way to explore. In the early nineties I got hooked on mountainbiking. Back then it wasn’t about trails and bike parks, it was about the adventure to go places where a normal bike couldn’t go. It wasn’t about speed or distance (although I experienced plenty of both), it was a way to see something of the world, hang out with great people and it wasn’t bad for my health either (except for the crashes).

Somehow, I found all of that back in the last month or so (minus the fitness and adrenaline kicks). I started taking a camera with me on my rides. It makes me stop more often and enjoy the moment. I’m exploring again, exploring how to explore on a bike again.

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All images shot with the X100V