Walls in France: Great day at the beach

The other day I had the opportunity to tag along on a photo shoot by the world-renown Belgium photographer, Henk Van Cauwenbergh. He was photographing Justine De Jonckheer, the current Miss Belgium for his annual and very popular calendar. Henk and his designer wife, Catherine Op de Beek live at Mas La Boheme in Boulon and are friends with Bea and John-Paul Tossens who feature their work in La Petite Table. (Bea gave Jean one of Catherine’s lamps for her birthday.) Bea arranged with Henk for me to come on the expedition. Accompanying us were several others from Belgium, including Miss Belgium’s manager and others who would be photographed as well.

The shoot was in the Camargue village called by its inhabitants, “The End of the World”. Rightly called because once we reached the Camargue, we travelled about an hour on dirt roads before we arrived at our beach destination. The area is a collection of campers and creatively designed and constructed buildings. As with the video shoots I’ve produced, there is a lot of “hurry up and wait.” So we relaxed under a reed-covered shed while we waited for the afternoon light and the models had their make-up applied and got dressed.

I mostly stayed in the background while the party conversed in Flemish. They were all very gracious and would stop and explain things in English to me. After some preliminary photographs, Henk began the session for Miss Belgium. It included her manager dressed in a tux pushing a vintage motorcycle that Henk brought along. I was part of the two-person reflector crew that ran along to keep the lighting consistent as the models walked. It was VERY cool!

We then packed up and moved to a couple of nearby locations, where Henk photographed Catherine, who is also a model.

Over dinner at the Camargue bistro, Chez Bob (frequented by locals, rock stars, artists and royalty alike) Henk and I talked a bit about his photographic techniques; and waxed poetic about life and the value of change and taking risks. He then said to me, “You’re going to miss Provence.” I certainly will.