Part 2

Getting back to my writing place was essential since I also wanted to write this second part down.

This time it all starts with the fascination for the spotters. (they are the people who search for different airplanes and capture them in photos). I have seen people on TV who wanted to take pictures of airplanes and invested a lot of money to have good materials. Since they naturally wanted to have the best image quality. I never saw myself waiting for a take-off or landing place of airplanes just to take a photo of it. But now I must admit, I felt the passion and adrenaline to capture that moment when the airplane fell out of the sky.

Other photographers from Germany and other countries were waiting patiently for the take-off to take place, with special camera equipment to get a higher picture angle! With binoculars in their hands, they watched the skyline to be able to catch the view of an airplane getting nearby. There was also a very young guy with his dad present. He was more than ready to take some pictures of the airplanes, using his telelens. I asked him what he did with the photos he took that day, this was the start of a very nice conversation.

He told me he was still too young to drive a car so his dad was his private chauffeur so to speak. His dad came from Olen (Belgium) all the way to Kleine Brogel to capture these moments. The son told me he had a very strong fascination for F16 airplanes and that it was his dream from a young age to be able to fly an airplane like this. He tried to chase his dream by entering the military flight academy, unfortunately, he is colorblind. Because of that, his dream stopped immediately when he didn’t get approved in the entrance examination. Only 50 people were able to get selected out of the exams. Only the best would survive the tests and enter the cockpit of the airplane. But his fascination for planes is too strong,  he decided to take pictures of the planes he once dreamed of flying in. The pictures he captures are for his own use and didn’t share them on social platforms to show off his work. It was not necessarily the passion for photography but for the airplane itself that made him wear this heavy camera around his neck and drive to different places just to be able to take photographs of the airplanes.

Seeing him getting excited when we saw a little flash of the airplanes flying by, made me excited for him as well! Hearing the crazy noise of the plane engine with only a few meters distance, and seeing them rushing by with high speed gave me a boost of adrenaline. Check out some images I took

Receiving the happiness from all the people around me and seeing them looking at their pictures with pride was a great thing to see. It is just nice to see people getting excited about their passion and really go for it. The young guy was just taking pictures for their own use since the real goal was that but he just wanted to get as close as possible to the plane. He considered studying high-level mechanics to have the opportunity to work on the F16 planes which he adores to be able to do.

The moral of the story: We live now and sometimes it just doesn’t work out how we planned/dreamed it. Having self-confidence and believing in yourself are two key elements. Things happen in life for a reason. There is a path for everyone, when we keep believing in ourselves, we for sure get where we want to go or to what life has in store for us!