Part 1

I never saw myself as a storyteller. There was always the dream to study journalism, but I was more interested in mechanics. I had the opportunity to fulfill my dream of being a journalist, years ago, as a professional sports photographer in motorsports. However, I really want to tell this story…

My Vespa did bring me to…

I have been blessed with the amazing quality of my Leica M10 cameras, but to make my photography experience a real trip down memory lane, I wanted to change my move through the places that I like to capture on camera so much. My dream became real and I had the opportunity to buy a used Vespa 300cc. La Bella Italia…

I wanted to take my first ride to the American army base in Kleine Brogel. This is also the place where F16 airplanes are located. I passed a little open space with my Vespa and saw some people hanging around. It did look like a starting place for airplanes. There was an older person standing with his Vespa look alike and I asked if it was ok to take one picture of him. As you can see down below, he agreed, upon which we did start talking. He told me 6 F16 airplanes would leave in 5 minutes and one of the planes would be controlled by his son, who has been one F16 flight instructor, for more than 15 years, for the Belgian Army.

Here you can see the pictures during take-off, a special moment I wanted to capture!

With both my 90 mm Leica Summarit and 50 mm Leica lens in my hands, I was able to take pictures that capture the special feeling of this moment, to be able to see these planes take-off and fly so coordinately, you wonder how they are able to. Other photographers were holding 400mm, 600mm lenses.

During my conversation with the dad of one of the F16 pilots, he asked me if I ever saw a take-off like this and if so, if I took photos of it regularly. I told him: nope, it was all brand new to me. He asked me if I had some more time to see them landing? I couldn’t resist this opportunity. He showed me the way to a little place surrounded by nature where you couldn’t get any closer to the airplanes, they would fly by this place two times. I followed him through the nature of Belgian Limburg next to the F16 landing place. You get the first pictures below… it was just incredible.

I noticed the man wearing a safety vest and asked him why he did this.

Hé said: ” Every time my son is flying, and I know the timing, I try to be here. When I wear this vest, he knows I am here and salutes me out of his plane. It gives me goosebumps when I see them flying by at a speed of 300km/h. From the age of 15 he worked very hard to get this job and sacrificed everything for it! Seeing him make his dream come true makes me really proud of him.”

Below you can see in the pictures how the F16 pilot salutes his dad! I have to say, it also gave me goosebumps as well!

I never expected to capture these pictures. For me it was a very nice story about the love between a parent and his child, to create opportunities and believe in yourself. Never quit and chase that dream!

I watched the people with their Tele lenses and their high-speed DSLRs (12 frames a sec), I realized I did chase my dream, with my Leica which captures 3 pictures in 1 second. I took these photos single shot, manually focus, and only 90mm. I believe the pictures are sharp :-)…

The moral of the story: Never quit and work towards your dream!