Belgian "language border" area

[PeterLeyssens]

Hi,

I started a photography project and, looking for a project, I decided to document my road to work. Sounds boring, but I happen to live near the Belgian "language border" on one side and I work on the other side. For those unfamiliar with the peculiar situation in my country: we have 3 regions: Brussels is about 10% of the population, has its own region and is bilingual. Flanders is about 50% and we speak Dutch. I work in Wallonia, which accounts for the rest and where the official language is French. The border area that I pass through is quite pretty, with lots of nature, charming little villages and old style, though abandoned, industry.

Here's a few that I'd like to share with you. The rest can be found in my gallery. All done with my week old LX3. I hope they are okay on your screens: temporarily, I have to do all my edits on a netbook computer. Aside from not being practical, the screen is really bad, too. I expect some may be too dark

Peter.

 

[wbrandsma]

Very good Peter. Which particular region you are from? I can still remember the tensions in the Voeren region in the eighties which was also well covered in the Netherlands.

I find it so interesting how Belgium differs so largely from the Netherlands while you are my neighbors. And I do prefer Belgium.

 

[PeterLeyssens]

Hi Wouter,

Very good Peter. Which particular region you are from?

I live in Leuven, just east of Brussels, and drive to Waver, which is south of Leuven. The provinces of Brabant have nice rolling hills. I'm originally from Antwerp which is nearly as flat as the Netherlands, so I love the variation the hills give.

I can still remember the tensions in the Voeren region in the eighties which was also well covered in the Netherlands.

Don't mention the war :ROTFL:

I find it so interesting how Belgium differs so largely from the Netherlands while you are my neighbors. And I do prefer Belgium.

Oh, but I like a good bit of the Netherlands from time to time, too. I usually don't "prefer" countries, because each one has its good and bad sides.

Looking at the photos on my work PC, I do notice that some are too dark, as I'd feared. My netbook screen does very strange things with B&W tones, which makes it very hard to correctly guesstimate the curves. Now, these versions were meant as a quick hack anyway. I'll make better ones later when I have installed my real PC (we're in the middle of planning a renovation of our house and looking for an appartment to live in during the works). The purpose is to make digital negatives and to print these using alternative techniques, probably starting with Vandyke Brown and moving on to carbon later.

Thanks for your comment. I appreciate your work and it's nice to see you seem to like mine


Peter.

 

[pollobarca]

Peter,
I worked nights in Zaventem airport during the late eighties and have eaten and drunk
in Leuven often. I've always liked Bruxelles and visited (for "work") often during my 26 years with DHL. My daughter was on an Erasmus in Leuven too,2 years ago.
Some nice pictures here, Hope to see some of Leuven too. I particularly like the road picture and the last one. I too have a computer problem, only laptops in my household although now I can latch up to the telly. I do have a monitor but I'm not so sure on its colour, and I cant do much with the laptop video cards.

all the best

paul