a little love for Marley… and that title should help my SEO!
The Best Cat in the Whole World
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Category Archives: 2012 January
Open Space @ The HUB
The HUB Brussels is an amazing, innovative co working space right around the corner from me. I’m often tempted to grab myself a desk there but can’t quite justify it … a lot of my editing is done later at night and I have a perfectly good space at home. It’s always nice to have an excuse to spend some time there though, which is what MediatEUr‘s open space event offered me on Friday. So two posts in one really – some open space action and some HUB vibe. Here’s the full flickr set
Away game
Busy, fun weekend. We (rugby team) had an away game in Heusden-Zolder on Saturday - a small place in the middle of the Limbourg region. As we left Brussels, it was pouring with rain and absolutely freezing meaning none of us were feeling very pumped but the closer we got to Heusden the bluer the skies and it ended up being pretty perfect! I bought my camera along to snap a couple of team shots and then it struck me that it would be fun to shoot all the changing rooms and club houses of the places we play at… they are all fairly unique. I’ve missed half of them this season, so I suppose that means I’m condemned to playing at least another year if I want to catch all of them!
Band shoot with Ziggy today but I haven’t even loaded those yet so that’ll have to wait.
Daytripping in Charleroi
Most people know of Charleroi as the Brussels “Ryanair airport” (ie – an expensive 45min Ryanair-owned coach ride into town) … in fact, Charleroi is the largest Walloon and third largest Belgian city (just over 200,000 inhabitants) but struggles economically (27% of the population earn less than €10 000 a year compared to 17% nationally). The infrastructure desperately needs updating, and the mix of empty rundown buildings and flashy neon lights is pretty grim. It was once a busy mining town which goes some way to explaining all of the above and which also accounts for the hordes of second and third generation Italian families that pepper this area of the country. I headed there last Sunday with Emilie & Ari for a little shooting session… a few more on this flickr set
House guest
Henri in town this weekend – his fee for surfing the couch was to pose a little.
That building opposite Midi
I’m guessing everybody in Brussels (or who has ever visited) knows this building – it’s bang opposite the entrance/exit to the Gare du Midi, right by the taxi stand/spot-where-you-smoke-your-last-cigarette-before-boarding (well, not me, not for the past 5 months anyway 
) … I’m not sure everybody thinks it’s as cool as I do though, so here’s my attempt to convince.
Flagey Church
Cold evening on Place Flagey. The lights in the church looked welcoming but I’m really not trying to make any big statement here!
Mr SMART
Julek Jurowicz is a bit of a celebrity in my circle. He co-founded SMART – a non profit organisation which handles contracts for artists and other people working on short contracts. Thanks to SMART people like me don’t have to pay through the nose or suffocate under a pile of paperwork in order to work independently. They also publish helpful guides, provide trainings and fight for the rights of those on short term contracts. It’s not perfect – there is still a fair amount of paperwork and my salary is not always paid quite on time…but all in all, it’s a great idea/help that is being rolled out in France and will no doubt spread further. Julek is ridiculously busy and has been doing this for 20 years but still lights up when discussing the latest fight with the national employment agency involving artists’ right to subsidies. Sam the dog is the office mascot.
2012 it is
Happy new year! I hope it’s a good one (and that the Mayas had it wrong). Back in comfy Brussels after a really nice xmas – I may have to stop wine and food in 2012 though!
A selection of shots from the Lot et Garonne and Dordogne – everyone should visit (and when they do, stay at my parents B&B!). I also managed to catch up with François & Aurélie who were xmassing nearby… we picked a half way spot on the map and ended up in La Roche Chalais where the one restaurant will stuff you to the gills for 12 euros – what more could you ask for?