Tag: aviation

31 Oct

2023 Belgium Airforce Days

Belgium Airforce Days

2023 Belgium Airforce Days

Finally, an event for which we have waited so long, and this year, it was the 2023 Belgium Airforce Days.

Last year, we had the Sanicole Airshow, which was always a pleasure to visit. But this year, we had an Air Force base open for the public.
Thus, Airforce Base Klein Brogel was the destination to travel on the 8th, 9th and 10th of September.

I acquired a Spotters Day ticket for Friday the 8th, tailored for genuine military aviation aficionados.
These events are organized each year exclusively for a specific group.
Obviously, during these days, you’ll be able to take photos of aircraft and helicopters, which can be pretty special.

The second ticket was for the 9th of September because the Airbase was open to the extensive public.

Specials

For example, 2 Panavia Tornados from the German Air Force. The Tornado is one of my big favourites.
Of course, we could see more common fighter planes, but I had never seen one from the Portuguese Air Force. They showed up with the F-16 Falcon.
The fun factor was that one of their planes just made 100 flight hours compared to the 8000 flight hours of the Belgium Air Force F-16, FA-95.
This plane had its final hours this weekend and will retire afterwards.

2023 Belgium Airforce Days
2023 Belgium Airforce Days
Swedish Friends

During the Sanicole events, Sweden was at the party every year.  This year, we were fortunate enough to witness two vintage fighter planes at the 2023 Belgium Airforce Days. These were the Saab 35 Draken and the Saab 37 Vigen.

Saab 35 Draken was an interceptor fighter from the Swedish aircraft factory Saab. This fighter plane was operational in Denmark, Finland, Austria and Sweden air forces. Its first flight was on 25 Oktober 1955.

As a successor of the Saab 35 Draken, the Saab 37 Viggen was showing up. This aircraft was crafted with versatility, serving various purposes such as assault, pursuit, aerial defence, intelligence gathering, and instruction. Its maiden flight took place in February 1967.

In the gallery of November, you’ll see some photos of these beasts.

The weather

During this weekend, we were fortunate to have good weather. It was excellent.
On Friday, I was on the airfield from 09.00 to 16.30 hours. The temperature was 30 degrees Celsius.

Unfortunately, not all stands and exhibitions were open this Friday, making getting drinks or food difficult.
Of course, you have water and food with you during such an event, but with these temperatures. I did not have enough.

The organization made arrangements, but it was not close to where I stood.
I was completely done.
I decided not to go the next day due to the high temperatures.

Instead, I went sightseeing in Hasselt with my girlfriend, Sylvia. Later that Saturday, we had dinner in Genk.
Of course, it was still hot that day, but at least we could sit on a terrace in the shade with a cold drink.
The cities are worth it to look around for a day.

On Sunday, when we returned home, we passed the air base very close by.
Guess what?
We arrived at 11.30 hours to view the shows from the other side of the airfield! It’s a different view this time.
Awesome!

We finally went home, late in the evening, with many more photos too.

What’s next

After this September adventure, I have loads of photos.
I’ll show the best of the 2023 Belgium Airforce Days in November and December. At the end of the month, you’ll be able to see the complete galleries.

Please keep an eye on my social media channels and enjoy!!

You all take care for now!

31 May

All galleries are back online

All Galleries are back online

All galleries are back online.

It took a while to find all photos of the last few years, which I posted and showed in a gallery. But I made it.
The first galleries from July 2018 and onward are available again. Last year in October and November, something went wrong with my provider.
Attempting logins from non-existing users, galleries no longer available, actually a total website breakdown.
But all galleries are back online, and the 2023 May gallery is online too.

In the meantime

In the meantime, everything went on as usual. After having the site back functioning, I could go on as if nothing had happened.
I started making more back-ups of everything to make sure this is not happening again in the future.
Maybe I’ll change my provider and move to one with a cloud solution.
Anyway, that’s something for later.

Taekwondo

My son Edze is practising Taekwondo, and I’ve been asked to take photos during training sessions and tournaments.
Because of some privacy issues, I’m not posting them on my site and have them available for everyone but only for the Taekwondo participants.
Making indoor sports photos is something I’m not used to. So some experimenting is in order. I recently bought a new Fujifilm body. The X-H2…..
What a beast of a machine that is!!

The Fujifilm X-H2

I’ve been using the Fujifilm X-T3 for years and am very happy with it. Compared to the Nikon D7200 I bought in 2016, it is a fantastic camera.
I was orienting myself on a full-frame body, but in the end, it became the Fujifilm X-H2.
This decision was made because of the lenses I already owned for the Fujifilm bodies. To have more benefits from a full-frame body from Nikon, I also needed to look for other lenses with an F 2.8.
Of course, a full-frame body has advantages, but after reading some tests, I think the X-H2 will be fantastic to work with indoors.

And after doing some photography with the X-2H, I’m very impressed!

I’ll tell you more about the gear I use. Keep on the lookout 😉

What else?

This week I received the drone I ordered recently.
I’ll go with this bit of bird as some good weather is coming.
The drone has a 4K camera. I’m curious what that will give me.

Anyways, I hope to show some footage soon.

All galleries are back online, so look at my galleries and let me know what you think.

For now, take care and happy photographing!

08 Jan

ShiftyNL Photography getting shape

It takes time. A lot of time.
But slowly is ShiftyNL Photography getting shape again.

I mentioned what happened to my website in this post and this one

Galleries

I republished quite a lot in the last couple of weeks:

I tried to sort the galleries in the same way I posted them on my social media channels.
Quite a job to do that ;-), but Tumbler has been a good help so far to do so.

Portfolio

Recently I added some Portfolios too.

Please follow the links to have a look or just follow the menu on the left.

Security

Another, still continuing process, is the security of the website.
I mean, you can read a lot of hackers messing up a lot, lately. Really, I do not understand what the fun is in doing that.
Together with my provider and a lot of self-study, I think I’m getting there.
Obviously, it is all part of ShiftyNL Photography getting shape again.

Home, ShiftyNL photography getting shape
What is next?

Correct, keep working on my content and find the time to add new photos.
With regard to my 2023 planning, I have some work to do as well.

Obviously, if there are some, I’ll visit some airshows again.
Aviation is one of my biggest hobbies. Always has been.

Nature, wildlife and their secrets and beautiful creatures are, of course, very good runner-ups.

So, plenty for ShiftyNL Photography getting in shape, again.

Please read my Privacy Policy over here.

And if you find that some photos, not my own, should be removed please send me an email!

02 Jan

Happy New Year

I might be a little bit too late with my best wishes but it’s better late than never.
So here you go, Happy New Year!!

2022 passed by so extremely fast that I really have to sit down and think about what happened last year.
Feeling the same way?

Stormy and difficult year

For me, it was a very stormy and difficult year as well.
My brother passed away as you might have read in this post.
It was June 5th 2022.
Although he did not see it that way, he lost a battle he never could have won.

The website

Obviously, as you could read in my last post, I’d need to build up my website again. That’s what happened for sure!
It totally crashed and I still don’t know why.
On the other hand, it gives me the opportunity to start a new clean site in a bit different way.

What’s next?

First of all, I have a few days off this week. A good start of a Happy New Year, right?
Obviously restoring my online galleries and getting one special post back online.
I’d post that after the passing away of my brother last year.

After that, it’s time to get back to work and of course, grab my camera again.
So stay tuned and please follow me on my social media accounts!

On the left bottom of the menu, you’ll find the links to all of them.
One of them is Facebook.

Take care and again, Happy New Year and may all your wishes come through.

The picture used above is designed by Hannazasimova - Freepik.com
25 Dec

A new beginning

Well, maybe you noticed or didn’t, but I’ve been out of order for a while.
It was time for a new beginning.

For some reason, my site crashed, and I could not post any photos or posts.
We tried everything with my hosting provider, but we still don’t know what happened in the last few weeks.
I noticed they had quite some tickets going on. Due to all the hacker news lately, I guess it had something to do with that.
But they did an excellent job! Very happy with them.

A fresh start for my website

Anyways, it allowed me to set things straight and start over with the website.
Creating the Galleries and Portfolio in a new way.
Especially the naming of the photos, which actually was a mess. Nothing wrong with a new beginning.

A new beginning

The photo above was one of the photos which had to be published in December.
Unfortunately, this didn’t happen.

But keep an eye on my site again. I’m back online.
Galleries and Portfolio and what else will follow soon.

Posting on social media

I’ll start posting again on my social media platforms as soon as possible.
That has been my goal for the last four years, and I like to continue doing so.

Holliday greetings

For now, I wish all of you happy holidays and an excellent 2023.
Make these days worth sharing with your friends and family.

You all take care!!

22 Jul

Never forever a goodbye

This is a repost of a sad moment in 2022, the passing away of my brother Johan Sjoers.
The original post was published on July 22nd 2022.

never, forever, a goodbye

Never forever a goodbye,

Never forever a goodbye.

Today it’s July 22nd. Your birthday.

We’ll celebrate this day, the day of your 53rd birthday.

You’re no longer with us. A few weeks ago we had to let you go. In the morning I’ll eat sunray.

I want to make the most of the day.

Giving, without wanting anything in return.

To live, because I’m not afraid.

“I have taken it, accepted it and made the most out of it.”

The disease

June 5th, 2022

We did visit you the day before in the afternoon. I helped you to get back in bed, upstairs, even though there was a bed in the living room.

You were fighting yourself, keeping control of everything. As always.

3 years ago you were diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

Boom….. The world is upside down for you and us.

Accordingly, surgery, chemotherapy, and a series of radiation treatments follow.

After a while, all seemed ok. Finally, recovery and picking up life again and the joy.

But no, fate decreed otherwise.

You felt it coming from afar. Something wasn’t right.

Again, visiting the hospitals, looking for solutions.

Surgery on the liver. Unfortunately, the disease had already spread too far.

No more options, other than chemotherapy and or radiation treatments.

You decided to go for quality instead of being sick of a treatment.

For another year and a half, You were with us.

You did everything that was possible, together with your family, children, grandchildren and friends.

Always stayed positive.

We have also learned a lot from that attitude ourselves.

Amazing how strong you have been.

It’s Sunday evening, the 5th of June when the phone rings.

We were getting ready for bed in our caravan.

It was 21.40 hrs.

The end

You died peacefully, surrounded by your dear girlfriend, your children, Twirre the dog, Tibbe and Jeske, the cats.

Due to your disease, you have been so tired the last few weeks.

As your big brother, and when I hugged you for the first time ever, you told me.

Your big brother who was always so far away.

Over the past year and a half, we have caught up with time.

Always too little time but intense moments when we were together.

Finally, you were able to let go.

It’s all right, little big man.

L’ultimo re lives on and will always have you in his heart.

You’ll not be forgotten. Never, forever, a goodbye.

I love you. I always have and always will.

Never forever a goodbye.

I’ll see you on the other side.

⚔️

L'Ultimo Re

Here is a link where you can find a story about my brother doing one of his greatest passions.

Not possible