On paper

First of all, Happy new year to everyone! As I wrote in my previous journal it's gonna be an exciting one for me and I hope it will be for you too!

So this journal is dedicated to the newest addition to my inspirational library. There is something I have to tell first before going to the actual magazines and books though...
So the studio moved a few weeks ago and thus the library had to move as well. Because this new location is a bit smaller than the previous one I wasn't able to move the massive bookcase itself. Which means that the pile of Vogues, fantastic magazines and photography bibles had to get a new place...

It became this tiny tiny old table. Below the table is a small wooden cube with my most precious magazines and books (like the McQueen book, Love Magazine and the Lagrange books).

And the tabletop is covered with the rest of the magazines and books. I tried to neatly stack it, I swear.

The newest additions.

First one is The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman. I am a fan of his blog. Not only because of the photography, but also because of the fashion. I knew the book exsisted and looked it up before on sites such as Bol.com or Amazon, but never really intented to buy it. Then I stumbled upon this copy in Bruges a week before Christmas. Ding, bought it.

GLAMCULT, an independent style paper. 

I have a few of these. They're free and spread all over the country at different kind of locations. It used to lie on a table at the lobby of the Fotovakschool, but I also found two copies at SPRMRKT and I found this last one at Lantaren Venster a few weeks ago during a school assignment. I'm never seeking for it and trying to get every issue, but when I do find one I'll gladly take one with me.

Rinko by Kishin Shinoyama and Rinko Kikuchi.

After lurking around for more than an hour at Selexyz Donner in Rotterdam and wanting to go home I stumbled upon this Japanese book. I have never heard of neither Rinko or Kishin before, but the photography was really intriguing nevertheless.

The actual reason I went to Selexyz however, was to treat myself with a magazine haha. I had a hard time picking a magazine because the section with magazines is HUUUGE. In the end I bought Wonderland and Dazed & Confused. I liked the content of Wonderland a lot and the cover of D&Z caught my eye right away (the editorial inside are bloody amazing).

This is one of those magazines which I recommend to anyone who's into portrait- and/or fashionphotography. Noi.Se Magazine. Looove it.

And ofcourse XXML by Marc Lagrange which I bought at the exhibition.

At the moment there are no books on my wishlist. I went to the Slegte in Bruges a few days ago and managed to walk away with no books! There simply wasn't anything interesting for me.

Actually there is one book on my wishlist, but it isn't released yet and I have no clue what exactly the content will be either. But since it's Lara Jade's upcoming book, I'm sure it'll be worth buying it.

And now I'm going to open a magazine and feast my eyes on Wonderland! Or maybe Dazed & Confused, or Lula or an old Vogue, or....

Viorella

'XXML' by Marc Lagrange

The enormous poster outside of Maison Lagrange

Yesterday I finally got the oppertunity to visit Marc Lagrange's exhibition 'XXML'.
It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Lagrange's work, so I just had to visit this exhibition in Antwerp.

Lagrange held this exhibition not in his own studio in Antwerp, but in a luxurious big historical building in the Quellinstraat in Antwerp, renamed 'Maison Lagrange' for the occasion.
All four floors and the seperate coach house were used as exhibition spaces.

The exhibition showed a selection of 20 years of Marc Lagrange's photography, including some work that has never been shown before.

What I find the most suprising is that some photos were exhibited several times like one of my favorites Bonne the face, but my other favorite The Bird was nowhere exhibited and only viewable in a set of postcards! It's obviously a tough selection to choose from 20 years of work, but I imagined that least The Bird would be selected.

There was an announcement that Marc Lagrange himself would come to the exhibition to do a booksigning yesterday. That pretty much is the reason why I really wanted to go yesterday to the exhibtion and no other day. Getting the oppertunity to meet the master himself and get your book signed is fantastic. I am very privileged to now own a signed XXML book (the small version by the way, not the big one!).

All in all it was a great day. I can imagine that people would want to go twice to this exhibition because it is stunning. The mansion is a perfect location for a luxurious exhibition like this. Everything about the whole occasion breathes style, luxury and class.

Millionaire Woman, hanging at the stairs between floor 3 and 4

I came home with a gorgeous book, a set of postcards and a lot of inspiration (and a delicious apple-cinnamon muffin, but that's not really related to the exhibition, is it?).

I would highly recommend everybody to visit the exhibition. The exhibition in Antwerp runs until December 19th and is open everyday except for Mondays and Tuesdays from 11AM->6PM.
More information can be found here.

There is also an exhibition at Mark Peet Visser Gallery in Den Bosch. This one runs until December 15th. More information can be found here.

An interview (in Dutch) Marc Lagrange did with Cobra.be about the exhibition and his work.

Viorella

To do's and delays

There are a billion things I need to do but whenever I'm done with one... Three new things to do appear. It's a never ending list.

One of the things which had to happen was relocating stuDIO VIO. It took a couple of days, a lot of purple paint and my sore feet. But the result is amazing.
Despite that this room is smaller than the original stuDIO VIO, I have more possibilities. I can even use it as a natural light studio. I'm really happy with that.

I updated my website here and there as well. Take a look! A reminder to myself is that I need to update my blog more often... Especially since I got rid of the news-section on my site.

And between the moving and updating my site I went to Viona's Victorian Freak Circus last Halloween along with Lydia. I have yet to finish those pictures as well.
The event itself was amazing. I had high expectations for the day (hey, it's an event by Viona after all!) but I never expected such an intimate yet great event like this. Fantastic!
On Viona's site you can already view a photos taken during the event (not by me).

Another thing which is definitely on my to do list is visiting Marc Lagrange's exhibitioin XXML. I am a huge fan of Lagrange's work. Here you can find more details about the exhibition and the (sold out already I believe!) XXML book.

Viorella