About me
Born in 1979 at the coast of Belgium. I graduated as a Bachelor Elektro-mechanics in 2001. I started working for a multinational train manufacturer as a Concept Team Coordinator for 15 years. This job gave me the opportunity to work in foreign countries. Now I'm working for a bus manufacturer.
My aviation history
In 1990 I won an air baptism in a HS.748 of the Belgian Air Force at the airshow of Koksijde. Later that year the famous movie Top Gun was shown on the television and from that moment on I was intrigued by the military aviation.
The first part of the nineties my airshow season was just the International Airshow at Koksijde. Later Oostende and Ursel were added. In the second part of the nineties I started to buy aviation magazines were you could find the European airshows schedule. Soon I started to look which one was within my reach. So Le Bourget and Leeuwarden followed on the list. As the famous Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, with 1999 as a highlight with the celebration of 50 years NATO.
The new century brought some new friends and with the end of college and an own car, a new era in spotting began for me. Soon new countries in Europe were visited.
In 2005 I went for the first time to the US to visit the NAS Oceana airshow to see the last tactical demonstration by the F-14 Tomcat. But the 2006 edition of Oceana saw the very last appearance of the mighty cat so I returned once more.
Each time I was trying to find out where I needed to go to see as much or as exotic as possible. This was definitely succeeded in 2012 and 2013 when I had the opportunity to visit airshows, open days or media days in Czech Republic, Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Greece.
In 2014 a dream came true when I visited Japan. An incredible experience which has given me more than I hoped for. Spotting is in their culture so every base is easily viewable and photograph possibilities are magnificent.
In 2015 the list of visited countries grew even more as Australia and Malaysia were visited. The reason that I was able to attend these shows was because I had a temporary assignment for 6 months in Australia.
Nowadays I try find visited new places or hunt after planes that will soon retire.
My photography history
In 1994 I bought my first camera from my brother-in-law, a Pentax SF-7 with a 35-70mm and a 70-300mm lens. Soon I discovered that 300mm wasn't enough. So in 1997 I bought a manual focus 500mm. This gave me a nice reach although with the manual focus the results weren't always what I expected. That year I also went to my first foreign airshow, the Paris Air Salon.
In 2003 I bought a Canon EOS33 with a sigma 50-500mm. My experience in photography became higher and the number of airshow became greater.
In 2005 I also stepped into the digital photography era when I bought a Canon EOS300D together with a battery grip and a 18-55mm lens. But with this new equipment it was like starting all over again how to make correct exposed images. But after some time, learning from your bad images and reading a lot on the internet I found a good set-up for my gear.
In 2009 I bought a second-hand Canon EOS 20D as I found out that the 300D wasn't that quick as I wanted it to be.
Unfortunately, when on a city trip to New York in 2010, my 20D as my 300D broke down. I had to invest in a new body. Luckily Canon had introduced one of it's best 'amateur' cameras on the market, the Canon 50D. So the decision was easy and the 50D was bought.
In 2011 I changed my Sigma 50-500 with a Canon 100-400 because the results are so significant there was no doubt that the Canon lens is way better than the Sigma. In 2018 I bought a Canon 7D Mk II while my 50D is now my back-up body.
My photography history
In 1994 I bought my first camera from my brother-in-law, a Pentax SF-7 with a 35-70mm and a 70-300mm lens. Soon I discovered that 300mm wasn't enough. So in 1997 I bought a manual focus 500mm. This gave me a nice reach although with the manual focus the results weren't always what I expected. That year I also went to my first foreign airshow, the Paris Air Salon.
In 2003 I bought a Canon EOS33 with a sigma 50-500mm. My experience in photography became higher and the number of airshow became greater.
In 2005 I also stepped into the digital photography era when I bought a Canon EOS300D together with a battery grip and a 18-55mm lens. But with this new equipment it was like starting all over again how to make correct exposed images. But after some time, learning from your bad images and reading a lot on the internet I found a good set-up for my gear.
In 2009 I bought a second-hand Canon EOS 20D as I found out that the 300D wasn't that quick as I wanted it to be.
Unfortunately, when on a city trip to New York in 2010, my 20D as my 300D broke down. I had to invest in a new body. Luckily Canon had introduced one of it's best 'amateur' cameras on the market, the Canon 50D. So the decision was easy and the 50D was bought.
In 2011 I changed my Sigma 50-500 with a Canon 100-400 because the results are so significant there was no doubt that the Canon lens is way better than the Sigma. In 2018 I bought a Canon 7D Mk II while my 50D is now my back-up body.
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