Ronny Gabriels Photography

Last Saterday, the BTCS was in Leuven for their second city demo. That means that the streets of Leuven were filled with the loud roars of the race cars participating in the BTCS (and some in the Belcar Endurance Series) this year. It’s always fun to see these cars outside their natural habitat, the racetrack. This year was no exception. There was quite a lot of people there from all around the country (and surroundings). I did have the idea that only a small portion of the participants had showed up, but even then, there were enough nice cars to make the trip worth it. Especially the new VW Scirocco GT was a very nice newbie in the pack.



Renault, Volkswagen, Porsche, KIA, BMW and Lamborghini were present including some of the major sponsors of the BTCS and Belcar Endurance championships.



KIA even brought their most famous driver, Koen Wauters, to do an autograph signing. He was not the only one of course. Other drivers included Steve Van Bellingen, Bert Longin, Marc Goossens, and many more.



So now that we got a glimpse of this year's cars, the wait is on for the first race of the season on the 11th of april in Zolder. We may just be in for a great fight for both championships this year.


For more photos see: http://ronnygabriels.smugmug.com/Public/Racing-Season-2010/BTCS-City-Demo

On Sunday, Antwerp harbor was the site of a gorgeous sunset. Sadly I was in the car and without a camera. Although I felt a bit of a warm glow seeing it's beauty, my inner photographer died a little bit.
Yesterday, I got my revenge.  I went out to shoot a panorama of the Antwerp skyline and in doing so stumbled upon a sunset rivalling that of Sunday.  Not quite as perfect, but hey, you can't have it all. The photos here are from about twenty minutes after the sun disappeared behind the horizon and were taken on a location that I drove after my panorama shots were taken.

This picture was taken on an outdoor walk with my dad.  The house you see in the background is an old house built as part of the old drifter's colony, in Dutch "landloperskolonie". This was probably the house of a high ranking officer because "the colony" was treated more like a prison than a shelter or refuge. Since the official status of "drifter" is no longer recognized in Belgium, the buildings there first became a real prison and now I believe they are a place where children hold agriculture camps (or something).

The fact remains that these houses are still beautiful and worth photographing.  Now actually this picture is not a very good example of that since the dominant subject in this picture is the sky.  I like this photo very much just because of the fight between the sky and the house for dominance.  The house as this seemingly tiny thing against the mighty sky and the sky is pulling out all the colorful stops just to show how beautiful it can be.  The sky obviously wins, but it gives this photo a third and maybe more important subject in my opinion which is humbleness.  Even this big house can be made to feel small when you measure it against nature.  If size matters, nature will always win ;-)

This is not by any means the best shot I've taken of a sunset, nor the best I've taken of a house in the open plains, but I like it because it goes just that little bit deeper than just what shows up visually.

Finally some new photos on the site and this time they are from a shoot I did in Antwerp a couple of weeks ago.  The idea was to shoot the Antwerp justice building at dusk. It was something I wanted to do for a long time since I drive by that building every day and it is, in my opinion, one of the iconic buildings in Antwerp. Another reason for the shoot is the fact that I’m making a series on Antwerp for a photography store that shows different scenes from Antwerp in not the most obvious way. I think the justice building is not only a good subject at dusk, but the hyper-modern face of the building shows of the contrast between the old historic side and the new modern side of Antwerp.



A little “tourist” information about the justice building, "Justitiepaleis" in Dutch. The building was designed Richard Rogers, the man behind designs as Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Millenium Dome in London.  It was opened officially on the 28th of March 2006 and is considered one of the most important architectural highlights in Belgium of the 21st century. 



I love the building but I have to say that it’s a bit of a challenge to get a good shot of it. The most accessible side of the building is on the Bolivar place in front of the building and in this shoot I limited myself to that vantage point.  You can get shots from behind the building, but that’s much more difficult because most of the space behind the building are highways and private grounds.  It won’t be the last time I shoot this building, but I have to say I am happy with the result of this shoot.



You can find the album on my site here. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park is one of those things that has been shot a million times before.  If you go to any search engine and type in "Delicate Arch" you will get thousands of hits.  What you will also notice is that most of these hits show you the arch from its best known side, which is right in front of it with the mountains in the background. The reason I like my rendition is the fact that it's still clearly a picture of Delicate Arch, but not from a side or in a composition you have seen before often. Now of course, there is a little story behind this shot.

When we arrived in Arches National Park last year, the shot I really wanted was actually the very well known shot with the mountains in the back at sundown.  The vantage point for that shot however was a 1.5 hour hike up the mountain. Now normally that wouldn't have stopped us for a minute, but after two and a half weeks of hikes in National Parks, that night we decided not to go up and instead go to the upper viewpoint on the base of the mountain. We were tired and even the walk to the viewpoint proved harder than we had anticipated.  But we got there, with very heavy winds seemingly trying to blow us back to the parking lot. We stayed there to watch the sunset and I took a number of pictures of the arch. At first I was a little disappointed and I tried to zoom in with my long lens to get the arch to fill the frame, but by doing so, I noticed that a lot of people were up there "spoiling" the picture.  So I decided the blur those people out by taking some shots like you see above. And I have to say it worked.  We talked about maybe heading up to the other vantage point the day after, but we never got there due mostly to fatigue. I have to say that actually I wasn't sorry because the drive of "I really have to get that shot" was gone. The shot I really wanted, I never got, but the photo I got, was much more original! So all I have to say is, don't get too hung up about a particular shot you want. You might be surprised what other opportunities lay just on the other side of the mountain.

Funny side note, when we were standing there watching the arch, Merel actually spotted a woman in her wedding dress posing under the arch. With the binoculars and long lens we saw that there was indeed a photo shoot going on under the arch of a woman in her wedding dress wearing no shoes.  We're not quite sure how she got there (and where, if anywhere, she changed her clothes), but it was a strange sight, a photographer, an assistant holding a reflector and a bride high up on the mountain that can only be reached by hiking up there. Some photographers have to really work for their money ;-)

Photography is a lot about comfort zones.  People shoot what they are familiar with or what comes natural to them.  But the best way to learn is often to leave this comfort zone and explore others fields.  With that in mind I’m announcing the “Day at the Races” initiative I will set out in 2010.  It’s basically an opportunity for you as a photographer to leave your comfort zone and shoot something you might have never shot before … car races. Upside is that you wont be alone to learn, but I and hopefully a bunch of other people will be there exchanging ideas and learning in the process. 

Why races?

Well, there are two main reasons.

1. Car races is something a lot of you have never even attempted and ideal for learning. Panning shots, high speed action and other techniques used in sports and wildlife photography are great skills to have as a photographer.
2. It’s an outdoor activity so you get to spend a day in the outdoors which is not only healthy but also relaxing (yes even with the loud cars going by ;-))

I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now so I feel comfortable giving tips from my experience. And although I’m not at all at professional level, I’m sure it can be a great learning experience and a fun one to boot. So what the “Day at the Races” will be entail is the following:

• A couple of weeks before a weekend of the BTCS or Belcar Endurance Series (which are racing categories in Belgium) I will post an invitation on my blog to participate in the “Day at the Races”.  You can just send me a message to say whether you want to participate.
• When there are a couple of participants, we will make the arrangements to get to the track (which will be either Zolder or Spa-Francorchamps) and I will provide details on how to get there and when.
• We spend a day shooting the races and learning from each other, exchanging tips, techniques and some good stories ;-)
• I will prepare a place for you to show of your best shots in the week following the event so you can show everybody how you did.

So why BTCS and Belcar?

There are a couple of reasons why I selected the BTCS or Belcar weekends.  First of all most of the BTCS and Belcar events are free, meaning that you don’t have to pay to get into the racetrack.  That makes it little easier when thinking of reasons to go. Furthermore, you have access to the entire circuit, including the paddock area, meaning you can go wherever you want. Most of the international race series are not free and most of the time you have to pay extra to get into the paddock. 

Secondly, the BTCS are touring cars which are kind of like cars you find on the road in a racing jacket.  The most important advantage of that is that the cars are not mind-bendingly fast. A big advantage if you are just starting with panning shots. The Belcar Endurance Series are faster GT cars, but since these races last longer, you get more time to get it right. So, keeping the phrase “walk before you run” in mind, we start with these races before going into the big leagues.

Thirdly, the BTCS and Belcar series are completely belgian organizations who mainly use the Zolder and Spa-Francorchamps circuits. In a race weekend, most of the time, there are several extra races and side-events to diversify the day a bit.  So it won’t be too boring even for people who don’t want to watch cars racing around a circuit all day.  (And for the ladies, Koen Wauters is one of the competitors in these series, and since you can get into the paddock … :-)).

When and where will these “Day at the Races” session be?

I will post an invitation on this blog a couple of weeks before a race, but you can take a look at the calendar for the 2010 season on www.btcseries.be and www.belgiangt.com (season starts in April and ends in October). I won’t be going to all races, but like I said I’ll keep you posted on what races a “Day at the Races” session will be held. By the way, I got three extra seats in the car, so if you don’t have a car or don’t want to drive yourself, there are options ;-)

What do I need?

What you will need is a DSLR camera (sorry but point-and-shoots just can’t make these shots) and a long lens (as long as you got, but I would say you need at least 200mm). If you are a Canon shooter, I have a 100-400mm lens you could try during the day. Besides that, I would suggest a monopod or tripod with ballhead, good walking shoes (especially for Spa-Francorchamps circuit) and since it is still Belgium a raincover or plastic bag to protect your camera from the elements.

What about me leaving my comfort zone?

I know, this is about leaving your comfort zone, but I’m not leaving anything. Right, so what I would like to propose is that if you like this initiative, organize one yourself for a discipline you would like to share with other photographers.

So keep your eyes on the blog for updates, but please let me know already if you like the initiative and are thinking of maybe joining.  Just for me to see whether there is interest in this type of sessions or not.