Shooting Days

This is one of the Shooting Days organised by BMA (Belgium Model Academy). The Shooting Days of 2014 will be hold at the same location.

We arrive at night. The roads are dimly lit and there is some fog. This was the first time that the shootings are organised in octobre (the last Shooting Days of each season are held in septembre). The week before i had to drive to Mulhouse (near the Swiss border) for an training, and i can't stay for a long period in my car. Ibuprofen will kill the pain, but after two or three grams i'm feeling woozy. I had to take painkillers for nearly the whole week. Normally i fully enjoy my vacation and the Shooting days, but not this time. Sometimes, i could barely walk during the day...

The "tonw" of Durbuy in the background, as seen from the graveyard

It's a typical village that caters for tourists: the main road is full of small shops and restaurants. Eating out is expensive and not so good. There is a "superette" in Barvaux.

There is no free parking in the small town. It's quite expensive: 1.60€/hour. It's not possible to park outside town, the roads are "main roads" (parking not allowed). At the end, the tourists will go to another town that is more cheap.

The small town is nearly empty during the week and full of tourists during the week-ends. There is not a single parking lot available, even at 1.6€/hour. Like all small towns (and Durbuy is a very small town...) the young people are leaving the city. The only cafe that caters for the youth is bankrupt and there is no pharmacy anymore (i know, i needed a shot of iboprofen...)

After a rest for the driving photographer and the models, we'll go on exploration. Our aim is to take pictures in the evening, when the street lights are on. The small town is quite boring during the day.

One of the main places of Durbuy (actually one of the only places in the city) is the anticlinal. Best time to go is in the evening.

Between the shootings, the photographers of BMA gave some information about model agencies, catwalk, mister belgium competitions and so on. The usual stuff. The models get a list of agencies (real ones) and information how to become visible as a model: registration on modelling sites, own facebook page as model (without any chit-chat and comments, only portfolio pictures and contact information). More modelling agencies are looking at facebook profiles when they are looking for a special type of model, and they will contact the models with the most professional portfolio. There are actually quite a lot of modelling agencies in Belgium, but we only need some 200 professional models. If you are not aware, you will end paying recurring registration fees without any hope of a real commercial shooting if you register at the wrong agency. Those fake agencies will ask you big money for a registration fee, for a catwalk training, for a photoshoot, while the aim of BMA is to provide those services for free.

After the shoot, the pictures are uploaded to the computer and the models discuss the poses. Thats why those shooting days are so important: you get a real feedback, and not some worthless facebook likes from friends and girrrls.

In the evening, we're goint to eat at “La Calèche”. Dining is expensive and not so good, but this is the only location where we can get free internet. The next days, we well go again to the restaurant, but only to pick up the internet signal at the door. I have to explain why i wasn't present at the rendez-vous in Duisburg. Like all french people, the french photographer could not speak a single word of english (nor german, of course) and the shooting with the german models had to be cancelled.

The local residents used the hillside to build caves where they cultivated mushrooms. We used to caves waiting for the rain to pass over and took some pictures there. It's more of a sightseeing sortie, with a visit of the canal locks and the Ile Moncin. There was a model swap in the evening, one Kevin is leaving, one is coming.

The photoshoot in Dusseldorf at the botanic garden near the university is organised by Scoutmodelbook, a german casting agency. Since the french photographer doesn't speak german nor english, i take care of the german models. They are all new to the job and they can't pose naturally. Its nearly impossible to get good pictures in only two hours: the models should come to Durbuy for a studio shoot, but that seem to be impossible. The german models got bored and didn't take care to look at the other models and learn how to pose. They talked to each other instead of listening to the photographer.

Halfway the shoot i need to take a little rest and some more ibuprofen and the models were busy preparing to leave. Actually, the shooting was just halfway, i had my computer in the car so the models could look at the pictures and check their poses, but the german models didn't seem very interested anymore.

There is one great tradition at the Shooting days. The last evening the models are allowed to go out for the night and the photographers will pick up the models in the early morning. However, there is no nightclub anymore, and the only disco is more than one hour drive away.