being a photographer

2023 Calendar

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2022 has been another exceptional year, with great light, lovely people, some exciting new equipment, and a huge variety of work – almost more of it than could be fitted into 365 days. I’m still loving every single job all the way from planning to delivery, still learning something new each time, and still improving my craft.

My calendar for the year ahead, featuring the pick of my images from the last 12 months, has been printed and I have started to distribute copies to friends and family. As a thank you to all my clients, as I’ve done in previous years I’m sharing the selected photos publicly here, with brief descriptions and technical details.

Cover

At an exhibition of my neighbourhood street portraits in Schaerbeek, 24 September 2022. People loved finding faces that they recognised, and sometimes their own.
Nikon Z 9, Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 S lens, 1/250 sec at f/2.0, ISO 1600

January

A runner in the Brussels 20 km race, 29 May 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 300 mm f/2.8 lens, 1/750 sec at f/4.0, ISO 1600

February

Studio portrait of a young girl against a white backdrop, Brussels, 11 January 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/8.0, ISO 64

March

‘Noir’-style studio portrait of the young Belgian actor, Gianni Guettaf.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4 lens, 1/1000 sec at f/2.4, ISO 64

April

Percussion workshop for primary schoolchildren, Ixelles, 28 April 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24 mm f/2.4 lens, 1/250 sec at f/2.4, ISO 800

May

Tomato farmer Kris De Weerdt in his greenhouses, Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-Waver, 28 October 2021.
Nikon D850, Samyang 14mm f2.4 lens, 1/250 sec at f/4.0, ISO 200

June

Child playing in the grounds of a Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB) housing complex in Molenbeek, 26 March 2022
Nikon D850, Nikkor 85 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/6.7, ISO 64

July

Swedish secondary school graduate, Brussels, 22 May 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 85 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/8.0, ISO 64

August

A young friend and her newborn baby, Brussels, 25 May 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4 lens, 1/180 sec at f/4.8, ISO 400

September

Folk dance participants, Brussels, 30 October 2021.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 24 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/2.0, ISO 6400

October

Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB) resident, Molenbeek, 26 March 2022.
Nikon D850, Nikkor 85 mm f/1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f/2.8, ISO 800

November

Bassist Denis Van Der Brempt playing at a jazz jam, Loonbeek, 20 May 2022.
Leica Q2 Monochrom, Summilux 28 mm f/1.7 lens, 1/250 sec at f/1.7, ISO 2500

December

Girls at a demonstration

Girls on a demonstration, Brussels, 20 March 2022.
NIKON D850, Samyang 14mm f2.4 lens, 1/500 sec at f/6.7, ISO 1100

Why you should ask your photographer for a contract

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I get every one of my clients to sign a contract. Some people are surprised, until I explain that the contract’s main purpose is to document my commitment to delivering their photos within a reasonable time and at the agreed price. Here, I’ll take a look at the main points that should be covered in a photographer’s contract.

Who, what, where and when

My contract begins by setting out my name and address as the photographer, and the name and address of my client. It explains briefly what I am going to photograph, where the shoot will take place, the date and the start and finish times.

It’s helpful for both parties to have these details down in black and white, in order to avoid any possible confusion.

Price

The contract should clearly state the agreed total price for the services to be provided, as well as the payment conditions – when a deposit needs to be paid, and when the balance is due. I also include a clause covering what will happen if, by agreement with the client, the shoot lasts longer than expected.

The goal here should be to remove any possible uncertainty or ambiguity about the price.

Licence and copyright

The contract should explain clearly when, where and in what way you may use the images that the photographer delivers, and what rights he or she retains. In my case, clients have an unlimited licence to use the images I deliver as soon as payment is complete. They are not permitted to sell the images, but they can print, distribute, and share them online, or make them available to others to print, distribute and share online, without having to pay anything extra.

I retain the copyright to the images, and the standard version of my contract gives me the right to use them myself. As I usually explain to clients, showing my past work is absolutely essential for winning new work. All the images on this website are displayed with the clients’ permission. Understandably, some clients do ask for complete privacy. I am always ready to respect their wishes at no extra charge, and amend the standard contract to reflect this.

Delivery

The contract should also make clear what the photographer is going to deliver, and how and when delivery will be made.

I deliver JPEG files – light ones for web and screen, and heavy ones for printing – using a file transfer service. In the contract, I commit to delivering within seven days of the end of the shoot, though in practice I almost always deliver within 48 hours and, by arrangement, even more quickly.

This is a point that is always worth checking. Just yesterday, I photographed a couple who told me that they had waited six weeks to receive their wedding photos, and I have friends who ended up waiting six months for theirs! Whether the photos are from a wedding, a corporate event, or just a portrait session, such delays are totally unacceptable, and I doubt these people would have entered into ageements with the photgraphers concerned if they had known in advance how long they would have to wait.

2021 in review

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2021 was another roller-coaster ride for my photographic practice. After 18 months with virtually no corporate contracts of any kind, events and team shoots finally picked up in the autumn, only to come skidding to a halt again in December with the Omicron-induced cancellation of many end-of-year parties. At least I was able to keep the studio open for portrait work throughout the year, unlike in 2019.

Pre-Covid, corporate jobs accounted for around 55% of annual turnover. In 2020 that fell to just over 10%, but by the end of 2021 it was back up to 30%. In March 2020, I had adjusted my online marketing to focus exclusively on portraiture, and portrait work kept me busy throughout 2021 – 75% of it in the studio.

At the beginning of October, I raised my price for all on-location work to €150 per hour of shooting (post-production retouching included), but left the price for studio sessions at €100 per hour. Happily, this adjustment met no resistance from clients, who seemed to understand the rationale for the change.

Clients supported me in other ways, too. Many left positive reviews on my Google listing or on LinkedIn, and repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations accounted for over a quarter of annual turnover. And 80% of my clients gave me permission to use the images I made for them to promote my services on my website and social media profiles. I understand the 20% who asked me treat their photos as confidential, and have of course respected their wishes. But since showing his work is really the only way a photographer can demonstrate his abilities, I am enormously grateful to the majority who allow me to do so.

My French-speaking clients increased again as a share of the total, and are now about 50/50 with the English-speakers.

Finally, I noticed a couple of trends that are probably due to changes in people’s working and childcare patterns brought about by the pandemic. First, I saw a significant increase in the proportion of clients who initially contacted me by telephone. Second, Wednesday has for several years been the day on which people contacted me most – over 25% of all enquiries. This proportion had already fallen in 2020, but in 2021 Wednesday became the least popular weekday for finding a photographer, with the largest number of enquiries coming in on Fridays.