Olivier Bekaert

Born Monday 2nd of April 1973 in Gent (Belgium). As a kid I wasn't much of a reader. I watched the pictures of my favorite Tin Tin comics over and over again. Now i'm treating the books of my favorite photographers (Garry Winograd, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Lewis Baltz...) no differently.. a good habit.

In 1993 I finally got a school degree as a car mechanic, but realized soon after that " I don't want to be car mechanic".

September 2000, started an evening photography class for 6 years at St-Lucas Academe in Gent. The academe was a 4 minutes walk from my home.
At the age of 30 I declared "I want to be a photographer".

2013, I realized that it will take a whole lifetime to be a good allround photographer.

I work with a Leica M7, M6 camera and shoot on Kodak T-max film. I always have a camera with me.

I travel alone just to take pictures. With nothing in mind i go for walks or make a road trip an stop at everything that captures my intrest.

I wait months to develop my films in the kitchen. Selections are made from a digital contactsheets (Flatbad scans). From only a final few negatives a print is made.

You can learn a lot from looking a the contactsheets of another photographer... that is why i show my contacts.