Maarten Boerma wrote to say, "I live in the Netherlands. At the moment there is a very beautiful exhibition called Belgicum in Antwerpen, Belgium, of the Belgium photographer called Stephan Vanfleteren. He is famous photographer in the Benelux."
There are a number of fine projects on Stephan Vanfleteren's website, including (under "Recent Projects") a whimsical sequence from a bicycle race. These two pictures are from a series on hobos in the United States. According to the website, "Vanfleteren works as a freelance photographer for the weekend supplement Zeno in the newspaper De Morgen [The Morning]. He also works for international magazines and invests a lot of time in personal projects." Well worth exploring for those outside Benelux who don't know his work.
______________________
Mike (Thanks to Maarten)
http://shorterlink.com/?JYUV3O
Similar selfportrait in the train from John Vink.
Posted by: Andrei | Saturday, 20 October 2007 at 12:06 PM
it ain't as good as the belgian guys one., and by a long way....
Posted by: Robert Phillips | Saturday, 20 October 2007 at 06:38 PM
Gallery with bicycle race is actually here: http://www.stephanvanfleteren.com/gallery_flandriens/
Posted by: Gord | Saturday, 20 October 2007 at 08:41 PM
Gord,
No, the sequence is at "Recent Projects"--go there and wait for the flash. It looks like a static frame at first but it's actually a sequence of numerous pictures.
Mike J.
Posted by: Mike | Saturday, 20 October 2007 at 09:12 PM
Thank you Mike, it was worth a look just for the flying dog but having followed the link I have now changed my mind on what to buy on eBay this weekend!
I was going to spend too much on a 21mm prime for my 35mm SLRs which would only be used once in a blue moon. Having seen Vanfleteren's wonderful home page portraits I'm now going to get a cheap 6x6 MF camera and have another go at mastering the square format.
Cheers, Robin
Posted by: RobinP | Sunday, 21 October 2007 at 03:43 AM
That first photo is one of the most amazing shots I have ever seen.
Posted by: yunfat | Sunday, 21 October 2007 at 08:58 AM
charlie d,
An utterly appalling lifestyle (I would just die if my child had to live like that), but it makes for fascinating photography. This work has something of the impact that Koudelka's "Gypsies" must have had when it was new and fresh.
Mike J.
Posted by: Mike | Monday, 22 October 2007 at 03:03 PM
I bought Stephan's book 'Flandrien' after it was featured in UK weekly British Journal of Photography in June. The book is tiny - a hardback and about 4" square. Some photos are run across the spread (and IMHO the page gutter spoils them) some are printed with lots of white space. After getting over my initial disappointment at the small size I enjoyed this intimate volume. All captions are listed at the back of the book, only page numbers accompany the photos. I'm already wondering if I can cross the Channel and get to see (and photograph) some continental cycling....
Posted by: Simon E | Wednesday, 24 October 2007 at 08:15 AM