The Art Discussion Group is this evening meeting Belgian photographer Rik Van Colen, who is also a member of the Malta Photographic Society.

The artist will answer questions about vision, concept and technique and discuss aspects of some of his work.

Van Colen was awarded the President’s Award for the highest number of points in the 50th National Photographic Competition and Exhibition organised by the Malta Photographic Society at the Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier, Valletta last December.

His work City Gate Dreams features a suffused foreground and a dreamy sky in the background which create a touch of magic and mystery to the solid breach in the wall with the sensational three-legged bronze horse set on a plinth within the bastion walls.

Renzo Ex Machina

Renzo Ex Machina enhances the Parliament building in the monumental lift and sharp upward angle chosen. The atmospheric light over the building sets the mood.

Saint, Roofs, Rigs is a close-up of a backview stone statue of Our Lady illuminated in high definition by mitigated light against the roofs of Cospicua and the rigs behind Corradino. The golden light on the statue taken at roof level and the warm artificial lights on the rigs make this work unusual and quite impressive.

All these images were considered winners by the judges.

Van Colen was born in 1965 and raised in the village of Sint-Joris in Belgium. He found love on a Maltese beach and has been living here since 1994. He works as a port equipment technician by day and a photographer and an artist all week. He always had an interest in the arts, and even did a blue year of film school a few decades ago. Over the last few years though, photography gradually became a much needed means of expression. At first he used a compact camera and then upgraded to an interchangeable lens system.

He feels that his education and inspiration are more important than the equipment. One place where he found both of those assets was the Malta Photographic Society, which he joined in 2014. The education and encouragement from that community, and many others, has led to some degree of success in national and international competitions, which culminated into winning the President’s Award (overall winner) at the 50th National Photographic Competition.

Thus far he has preferred slow photography: going somewhere at just the right time and using long exposure techniques to transmit the feeling of being there to the viewer. However, the future is wide open.

Photography for him has become a way of life, a personal means of expression but also a way to find community – a community which is growing ever larger by joining other structures and encouraging others to find the beauty that photography brings to life.

The meeting is being held at Misco Office (first floor), Fino Building, in Notabile Road, Mrieħel, at 7.30pm.