A while back I got invited to be a speaker on the TEDxUHasselt and talk about my Disposable Project. I found it an honour and a great way to work on my public speaking so I said yes. However, due to circumstances that happened the last few months, health wise, family-matter wise, the move, busy period at work due to less colleagues etc. I slowly got the feeling I bit off more than I could chew. It’s not in my nature to cancel things or say no to things but the feeling got stronger and due to all that happened I wasn’t able to put all the effort in prepping this talk than I wanted but also needed to. After a lot of deliberating I finally decided to withdraw so they had the time to look for someone else. It was a hard thing to do but I felt really relieved afterwards. Sometimes you just have to take a few steps back and regain your wits.
Once I informed them of my decision they mentioned that there would be a possibility for me to give a demo / lecture on the wet plate collodion process, if I wanted to. Well, why not! Great way to still be there and contribute in a field I am familiar with , so no huge preparation needed besides the obvious material prepping. I am very happy I did it the way I did, it was a wonderful day, met great people, heard very interesting stories, shared some cool-photography things and just had fun! Also one of the first gigs I did on my own, without Bart, as he had to work. It was a long day but a fruitful one 🙂 The talks were great, some talks were fantastic and inspiring. Some of the speakers:
Charles Spence (UK), the head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University and talked about Pleasure and Pain.
Peter Perceval (BE), a Belgian writer, director and producer. He revealed why the world needs funny people for innovation, based on recent developments in neuroscience.
Thomas Spaas (BE), not only a lawyer specialising in Belgian and International taxation, he is also co-director of the Belgian Bitcoin Association. He focused on the regulatory aspects of Bitcoin in general and on providing legal support to the association and its members.
Yves Tieleman (BE), a Project Manager at Group Machiels, leading the research, development and demonstration of the Enhanced Landfill Mining concept and the Closing the Circle project.
These were the speakers that stood out to me but I missed the last round of speakers due to having to finish varnishing the plates. There were more speakers from the UK, India and the United States.
Special thanks go out to Maxim Renaerts and Wouter Vanoppré for making it happen for me. And another special thanks goes out to the man from the kitchen staff who, on the end of the day, surprised me by loading all of my gear on a 3-story high-carrying wagon so I didn’t have to drag everything piece by piece back to my car. You made my day! If you want to know more about the speakers that day etc. have a look at their website.
Photography Contrastique - Alternative Photographic Processes 
Wow that’s really awesome Indra. Special that you got to share your work, and to be inspired by other peoples contributions…………..for me, I have learned much just seeing your setup visually, and to know that someone else in the world has a car that looks like mine……….when its loaded on a mission or for weekends working at my gallery, I am the only one who can fit into it. 🙂 And yes it gets a real pain loading and unloading…..especially after an exciting action packed adventure, and dealing with people is wonderful but draining…at least I find it to be so..and I love people. As I have no garage and I would hate any of my photography gear to be stolen………I get home tired and unpack the car and its the last thing you feel like doing. The bounce in your step you had that morning packing it has gone somewhere else. So yes the man who helped was an angel. Brilliant things you do Indra……..thanks again for sharing.
Congratulations!!!
Great work, Indra!!!
Thank you Jesus 🙂