December 14th, 2007 at 12:34
(Amsterdam)
I didn’t write for a long time. That was because I was ill and stressed both at the same time (not a good combination;) ). Now I feel very good again and will tell what happened in the last weeks.
Three weeks ago (the weekend of the 23th November) I had my very first exhibition in Luxembourg. That was a nice experience to see how people react to the pictures that I’ve took in Haiti. Many people told me that my pictures touched their feelings, that motivates me a lot to continue next year with my work.
The weekend after I was in London to see the exhibition of the students of the London College of Communication - Master program. I also talked with Paul Lowe, the director about doing the Online Master. He told me that he wants to have me in his program but suggested to do the full-time course in London starting in January 2009. So I though about it and I finally decided to accept this offer. So I have now one gap year where I will work on personal projects and than I will move to London, that will be great!
Yesterday I took the IELTS exam (international English test that is needed for the College in London) and I’m crossing my fingers that I will get the grade I need.
This is my last day in the Noor office and I am really sad. I don’t want to go back home already, it was definitely a too short period of time to spend in Amsterdam.. But I need to look forward! In 2 weeks I will already be in London to assist Philip Jones Griffith for more or less 6 weeks. This will certainly be an amazing experience as well…
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November 17th, 2007 at 01:16
(Amsterdam, Haiti)
I’m applying for the Online Master in photojournalism at the London college of art and therefore I made a selection of my 12 best Haiti pictures. Have a look here
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November 17th, 2007 at 00:41
(Amsterdam)
I love Amsterdam and the live here. The two weeks passed by so fast. Many things happened… It was never boring, not one single day…
I finally found a new place to stay. Tomorrow I will move to an appartement of two Indian guys. They seem to be nice and are interested into photography. I have my own room there (tiny, but okay).
The last two days I was allone in the office of Noor. Lotti is on holiday in Chile and Claudia was in Paris at Paris Photo. But it was good, I guess I managed the office quite well 
I even sold some pictures.
I’m very tired and not in the mood to write too much.. But everything is fine, so no worries…
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November 13th, 2007 at 20:21
(Amsterdam)
I just spent a crazy weekend in Amsterdam. My landlord threw me out of his house because he started to get feelings for me and didn’t want me to go out that often and spend time with friends.. So I had to go back with the police to get my stuff. So I was a homeless on Friday evening Fortunately a friend of mine let me stay at his place over the weekend. Yesterday I moved to another friend of a friend and I can stay there until I found a new place to rent…
So my weekend was everything but not boring
My work in the Noor office is fun. I’m in charge of selling pictures and stories, answering request of magazines and editors, creating parts of the newsletter, keeping the archive up to date, … In fact I replace the associate editor who is in holiday at the moment. So i don’t have to do boring work as scanning, …
Last week I went to the lecture to David Burnett and the presentation of the book of the World Press Master Class. It was very interesting and I met some new, nice people. It’s great here in Amsterdam, it already feels a bit like home… The great thing is that you never feel like a stranger because the people in the streets speak more English, German, French and other languages than Dutch.
That was the story of my crazy time here so far. I let hear from me soon…
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November 4th, 2007 at 19:57
(Amsterdam)
Everything is exciting here. I love the city and the people, I feel very good!
On Friday I started my internship with Noor, it was great. I really like my collegues and I have the feeling that I will learn a lot in the next 6 weeks! I will let you know about my work there later…
Yesterday I walked around the center of Amsterdam and got my first impression of this city; it’s a wonderful place, I love the architecture, the old buildings, the people (very international here!),… And everywhere you go the smell of marihuana is not far It’s a crazy place, but I’m sure I will love it!
Today I went out with Keith (the man who rents me the room in which I’m staying) on his motorcycle. He has a Suzuki GSX 1400. We drove on the motorway and reached a speed of 200km/h. That was an amazing feeling.. We went to a little village with many windmills and visited one (very impressive!) and afterwards he showed me a place near Amsterdam that’s just magical. Also a little village, but with special people in it. Only artists and poets,… (I guess about 40-50 people live there). They have a church, but changed it into a bar inside where many concerts take place at the weekends. When you are there or just walk around their village you feel like in another world. I will certainly go back there next week (and take my cam with me, I didn’t take it today because we went on the motorway with the motorcyle.. I was a bit scared). Afterwards we drove to a big deserted place where Keith let me drive the motorbike.. That was great, it was the first time in my life that I drove a motorbike myself. I looove it!! He will teach me how to become a good driver..
So that were my first experiences here in Amsterdam.. I’m very happy about beeing here and I’ll enjoy it a lot…
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November 4th, 2007 at 04:07
(Amsterdam)
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November 4th, 2007 at 04:05
(Amsterdam)
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November 4th, 2007 at 04:01
(Amsterdam)
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November 4th, 2007 at 03:58
(Amsterdam)
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November 1st, 2007 at 16:33
(Amsterdam)
It’s a long time ago that I didn’t write anything anymore. Many things happened since I left Haiti. I will try to make a short resume.
When I came back from Haiti I felt kind of weird. I missed and still miss it a lot and plan to go back next year. The Haitiens have a special way of life and I got used to it that fast that I needed some time to feel at „home“ back in Belgium.
The whole month of August I worked in a bakery in Eupen to earn some money for my next trips and camera equipment. At the beginning of September I went to the „Visa pour l’image- fesival“ in Perpignan, where I met some very interesting people and photographers and showed my work of Haiti around to get feedbacks and critics to know how to improve for my next trip. I also spoke to Claudia, the manager of the new photo agency Noor and asked to intern for them in November and December.
After that my school started again. It felt strange to go back to a normal daily life after I experienced so many things this summer…
In October I got a positive answer from the Noorderlicht photo festival. This summer I applied for their Euroclasses of documentary photography and then was taken. So I spend my weekend of the 12th October in Groningen, Netherlands and had a great time there with the teachers James Withlow Delano, Pablo Bartholomew and the 11 other participants.
The week after I got an answer of the Iroundbound workshop (with the teachers Donna Ferrato and Philip Jones Grifftihs) that said that I was taken there too. So I decided very spontaneous to fly to New Jersey the week after to attend this workshop. We spent 5 days and 6 nights together in the loft of Donna Ferrato in Newark, went to the Eugene W. Smith award in New York and of course took a lot of photographs I had a wonderful time there, spoke a lot about photography, learned a lot, made a new edit of my Haiti-work together with Philip,…. I met some amazing people and got friends from many different places in the world. That’s also a reason why I like photography that much. You make friendships all over the world.. It doesn’t matter where you come from or how old you are..
In the end Philip asked me if I would like to assist him next year in London. Of course I said yes. It’s not 100percent sure but if everything goes well, I will probably become his assistant at the beginning of 2008.
That was my summary of the last couple of weeks (or months). Right now I’m writting this, I’m in the train on my way to Amsterdam where I will start my internship with Noor. I will stay there for 6 weeks and work 4 days a week for them in their sales office. I’m very excited about that and look forward to start tomorrow.
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