- Tell us a little about your background – what path led you to becoming a photographer, and to doing what you’re doing today?

I have followed quiet a traditional schooling with a focus on classical languages in high school and modern literature at the university. But I have always enjoyed more to express myself through photographs than through language. As a little boy in the 1980'ies I had already a Kodak Instamatic 133 and we also had a darkroom in our home where my mother developed our films. So, after university I enrolled at a photography academy in Brussels and ever since I am trying to develop visual stories which work at the intersection of photography, sociology and a poetic vision of reality. Gradually I also came to learn about the art of the photobook. I like to think that in a photobook it is possible to blend some characteristics of cinema with photography, literature and sociology. I like to think of the photobook as cinema on paper.

- Can you tell us what the project ‘The passenger’ is about?

Like most of my projects, The Passenger is also about exploring my own country which is Belgium. I like to go into the field with my camera to capture what is going on, to capture how my country is being transformed under global capitalism. I like to capture how the traditional way of life is disappearing and how the population is becoming very diverse. For "The Passenger" I have focussed on the neighbourhoods of railway stations. The transformation of these places is quite spectacular since everywhere railwaystations are becoming fully automatized, with less human interaction. At the same time, railway stayions still attract many types of people who make use of these infrastructures in many different ways. Perfect location to capture the signs of our time. At the same time "The Passenger" is also an exploration of my own imagination. I adore cinema (neorealism etc) and photography (the first Magnum generation, Robert Frank, ...) of the 1950'ies and I like to test if it is still possible to represent our world in that "old fashioned" way.  It is important for me to do that because it is about preserving the humanist message of these post war artists. 

- Can you tell us a bit more about your process and way of working?

I am working very, very slowly! I am reading a lot and I am watching many films and in the meantime I try to make a kind of melting pot in my photographs with all kinds of ingredients and ideas that I am assimilating. But, over the years I have learned not to think to much when I am shooting. I just try to capture what I deem to be necessary. I have learned to allow my instinct to interact as well. I am shooting my images over many years and once feel ready, I try to make some dummies for a possible book. After that it becomes a collaboration with a graphic designer which is always very pleasant and enriching. Also in this part of the process we take all the time that is needed.

- Tell us about your first camera? 

It was a Kodak Instamatic 133. I can still remember its smell and also the smell of the film cartridges.

- What does a typical day at work involve for you?

I am not a professional photographer. I would never be able to live from the kind of photography that I am developing. I have a fine office job. When I am a photographer, it is not about work but about enjoying freedom.

- Which other photographers, artists or creative people are you loving at the moment?

There are always so many. Always the great classical photographers: David "Chim" Seymour, Robert Frank, the Italians like Gabriele Basilico and Guido Guidi, filmmakers-photographers like Wim Wenders, Chantal Akerman, Johan van der Keuken, David Perlov ......But I also very much like totally unknown artists that I am following on Facebook like Piere Defaix or Frederik Cornelis. Their work is as magnificent as the work of the photographers of the canon.