Greetings from Brussels

Hello everyone. I first signed up to APUG over 10 years but posted very little. The time has finally come to reconnect and reintroduce myself. Back in 2010 I was more active on the large format photography forum as well as the rangefinder forum. I was living in Washington DC at the time and regularly printing colour and black and white in a community darkroom there. In the intervening decade I sold my Mamiya 6 (why?!) as well as all my large format kit, and began to shoot much less film than in the previous 10 years. I held on to my 35mm SLRs and never stopped shooting film completely but from 2012 onwards worked mostly in digital. Developing a passion for hill walking and mountaineering during this time, my little Ricoh GR Digital has accompanied into the mountain of Wales, Scotland, the European Alps, Japan and the Himalaya.

Now life has led me to Brussels, Belgium. My house here has a generous basement, part of which I intend to convert into a darkroom in 2022. Last week, on the local equivalent of Craigslist I noticed a Durst enlarger for sale up in Antwerp. I got in touch with the vendor, a retired professional photographer. I managed to get a great deal on all his darkroom equipment, which is now ready and waiting to install in my new space next year. So, while I may only be shooting a little these days, I’m looking forward to printing some of my better shots from the last 25 years. Being a new father, I’m not sure exactly how quickly: (a) I’ll be able to complete the work preparing the space; or (b) actually carve out much time for printing when the space is ready - I can live in hope though!

Anyway, it being such a long time since I did any darkroom work it seemed like the ideal time to jump back into this forum. In the new year, once the process is underway, I’ll try to start a thread showing the development of my home darkroom. Two shots from a decade ago that are high on my list for printing once I’m set up are these:

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Welcome back. Setting up the darkroom sounds fun. I'm trying to get into a backlog of negatives myself.

Welcome back!

I envy you a bit for your finding in Antwerp.
The best I bought from a commercial photographer in Antwerp were some Autopoles and a triple background roll-holder with chains. I had some difficulties to get them inside my large coupe car. A centimeter more and I would have had to push them trough the sunroof.

How is the situation now in Brussels, with the Rue de Flandre no longer the place to go for Apuggers?

Thanks for the welcome backs. I really lucked out with my darkroom find. The kit is in really good condition and, since I don't have a car, the gentleman was even kind enough to drive it down to me in Brussels last weekend! I might need a less complex timer though - the timer is a colour analyser. No doubt I can use it for my B&W darkroom but I think it might get a bit of getting used to. Even when I was doing quite a bit of colour printing, I never used a colour analyser before.

Since moving to Brussels in 2017 I've not really plugged into a photography scene here at all. Before 2011 I did a lot of street photography but in the decade since my lens has been normally turned at rural - especially mountainous - landscapes. These days most of my limited film photography is family portraits.

Welcome back, maybe we can grab a beer sometime !

Welcome Riverman, my late father was one of the British soldiers who liberated Brussels in WW2, and he told me what an amazing welcome the Belgians gave them.

ced said:

Welcome back, maybe we can grab a beer sometime !

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Certainly! In my travels over the last few years (including a stint living in Washington DC) it has always been good to meet up with other photographers locally over a beer or two!

benjiboy said:

Welcome Riverman, my late father was one of the British soldiers who liberated Brussels in WW2, and he told me what an amazing welcome the Belgians gave them.

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Thank you. I can definitely believe he would have received a magnificent welcome. There are many traces of that time in Brussels' history in and around the city. I live pretty close to the tram stop 'Churchill'. There is also another stop, 'Montgomery'.

Welcome back ! I'd be happy to share a beer or two when I come there! Brussels is one of my favorite cities.

Laurent check me up (before) you intend coming to our end of the world. Send me a private message for my email.

Riverman said:

Thank you. I can definitely believe he would have received a magnificent welcome. There are many traces of that time in Brussels' history in and around the city. I live pretty close to the tram stop 'Churchill'. There is also another stop, 'Montgomery'.

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Our army was actually desperate to leave Brussels once it was liberated, and the Belgians' welcome was holding them up from engaging the Germans in battle again.

Welcome back and good luck on the darkroom build!

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Welcome Home Riverman !

~ Ron
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