eddy verloes

Country where you live:

Belgium

City where you live:

Boutersem

Website:

http://www.verloes.com

Instagram:

http://www.instagram.com/eddyverloesphotography

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/eddyverloesphotography

Statement :

My series “Losing our minds” was taken at the beginning of the corona crisis: a bizarre, but extremely fascinating period. Man loses his mind because a stormy situation presents itself that is new and challenging for him. Fear tries to overpower him, he freezes, starts to reflect on the world and on the punishment that Mother Nature seems to send us. We have treated our Mother Earth too lightly, demanded too much of her in our egoism. Reflection is necessary.

I want this poetic-philosophical reflection to speak through my images in these corona times. In my series “Losing our minds” I consciously show only young people who are looking for themselves, for the meaning of life and the relationship between man and nature. It is sometimes difficult to draw the line between realism and surrealism, between reality and madness. Are those figures real or staged in my photos? Sometimes we as a layman have the same reaction: is this the real world in which we live or is this madness / surrealism? These are photos of ultra-Orthodox Jews who can enjoy their freedom in an unorthodox way in the storm (of their lives) and escape the lockdown.

My images however try to transcend the anecdotal and in that sense they not only reflect what is going on with the corona crisis, but they try to be a universal expression. They could take place anywhere in the world and not just on the Belgian coast where these photos were taken in one day and within one hour. The young people in my photos are of course a symbol of change / revolution / going against the tide. They symbolize spring that starts anew every year. Within these young people you see in my images “Einzelgänger”, those who only try to compete against society. Some idealists throw themselves completely and don't care about anything. Their slogan is straightforward. More than ever we realize through this crisis that man is a social animal and it is difficult to stay in his room. In group we are strong, we go for it and we climb the highest mountains. In this case: dunes of course.

Ultimately, we are so dependent on the forces of nature that we cannot help but be guided by the flow. I consciously placed "Statues in the storm" last because I think the symbolism is the greatest: people become statues, as it were, puny - sometimes pathetic - beings in the universe. The wandering man looking for his own way, reflecting how to deal with himself, the others and the earth.

Losing Our Minds

Zen at sea

Poetry in devotion

The sea watcher

Statues in the storm

Bio:

As a visual storyteller, Eddy Verloes creates a poetic and mysterious world in his mainly black and white photos that sometimes balance between realism and surrealism. He is always focused on the decisive moment and shoots with his soul, not with his camera. Some of his (street) photos are also spiced with a touch of humor and it's difficult to put him in a box.

Eddy Verloes studied literature, philosophy and arts at the University of Louvain (Belgium) and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i.B. (Germany). As a photographer, he studied at CVO Louvain (Belgium).

Between 2015 and 2021 he has published 4 photo books ("No time to Verloes", "Cuba libre", "Zeezuchten" and “Losing Our Minds/Buiten zinnen”) and has exhibited in several galleries in the USA, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Malta, Austria, Greece, Crete, Serbia, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. He has been selected several times for national and international competitions (LensCulture, Life Framer, All-About-Photo). In 2020/2021 he has already received more than 50 awards/prizes: he was the Belgian Winner of the EISA Maestro Photo Contest 2020, Vienna International Photo Awards 2020, selected for New York Center for Photographic Art, selected as one of the 25 Winners at the All-About-Photo Contest B&W, selected as one of the best contemporary photographers worldwide by the American site All-About-Photo, Winner of the Life Framer Photo Contest 2020 ("Civilization"), Travel Photographer of the Year 2020 (Best Single Image – People of the world), selected for the Life Framer Collection 2020, Winner Pangea Prize Siena Creative Photo Awards 2021 (Open Theme), Award Winner Malta International Photo Travel Award 2020/2021, 2nd Place MonoVisions Awards 2021 (“Photojournalism”), Finalist FOCUS Photo L.A. 2021, Los Angeles, Winner 16th Annual Black & White Spider Awards 2021 Beverly Hills (California), Winner Union of Lights 2021 World Photography Contest (Street & Lifestyle), 3rd Place Winner (Photojournalism) Monochrome Photography Awards 2021 London (UK), Winner 17th Pollux Awards 2021 (Open Theme -series) Barcelona (Spain), Finalist LensCulture Art Photography Awards 2022, Winner Chelsea International Photography Competition 2021/2022 New York (USA), Winner Fine Art Photography Awards 2021/2022 (Photojournalism) 8th edition London (UK), Gold Winner Muse Photography Award 2022 (Fine Art Photography - People) NY (USA), Gold Winner London Photography Awards 2022 (Black & White Photography -Religious), Finalist Siena Creative Photo Awards 2022.