When in Belgium – An Interview with Yvo Noukens

Yvo Noukens

While much of the information about Belgium remains divided by the language border, one Belgian has started a new blog to promote his country to the world. Yvo Noukens, began his website, When in Belgium, to promote the beautiful lesser-known locations he’s discovered around his country to introduce them to tourists, expats and even locals. 

We asked Yvo about his new website, his interest in photography and his thoughts on Belgium. Here’s what he wrote for us:

My interest in photography was first sparked when we moved to Bournemouth, England in 2001. It was a nice and convenient way to keep in touch with family and friends back home – show them what we were up to and the places we visited. At first I was quite happy to produce some decent point-and-shoot pictures, but over time I got more demanding and tried to produce some pictures that were more than just OK. Especially when I got my first digital camera, which allowed me to ‘experiment’ a bit more without having to worry about spending a fortune on film rolls.

When we came back to Belgium, in 2005, I continued putting my pictures on sites like Picasa, Flickr etc. I was never quite organized though, and over time I must have started up 10 accounts on various sites. Sometimes it was easier to to do that than find out where I had put them if people asked me if I for a link to previously posted pictures.

Leuven by Yvo Noukens

So, to make things easier for everybody I had to get organized. After trying to maintain a proper website (too time-consuming) and trying out various blogs, I ended up with my yvosphotography blog, and I’m quite happy with it. At the moment I just love taking pictures, and while I think I’ve definitely grown from my ‘point and snap’-days, I realize I’ve still got a lot to learn. For now I just enjoy experimenting and practicing. Maybe one day I’ll decide to continue in one specialized subject, all professionals seem to advise this, but we’ll see what happens.

Last year a friend asked me if I wanted to join him to an Adobe Users Group get-together in Antwerp. One of the speakers said something that lingered in my mind for a long time. He said that for a (professional) photographer it was of course vital to have a website where people could see his or her work, but it was equally important to also have a long term project. Of course a career is a long term project too, but what he meant was that the majority of people that visit your website do so because they are looking for a photographer at that particular moment. The long term project will attract people that are not necessarily looking for a photographer, but if they like what you’re doing, they might think of you when they do need one.

I thought that made perfect sense. And I kind of liked the idea of a long term project besides the photography website where I posted photo’s with different subjects. And who knows, I may not be looking for business now, but you never know…

It didn’t really take me a long time to come up with an idea for my project. Before we moved to England, I was a language teacher for Berlitz and spent over 10 years teaching Dutch to expats. I was always surprised to see how difficult it seemed to be for them to find places to visit. They would have heard of Brussels and Bruges of course – and love it – but where do you go next?

I quite enjoyed suggesting to them where they could go spend a day or even a weekend and enjoyed it even more when, afterwards, they told me how much they liked strolling around in Lier or how they loved their shopping spree in Hasselt.

Lier by Yvo Noukens

So I thought I would take it upon myself to get Belgium better known around the world. It is such a beautiful country. OK, I do know that, in some ways, it is also the ugliest country (I have never understood what we find so appealing about building up every inch alongside every road – preferably in a revolting mix of styles, colors and materials), but if you’re willing to look a little beyond that, there is so much to see and do.

But I don’t blame the expats for not knowing – I blame us Belgians for not telling anyone! Ask 100 of us, and I’m sure 98 will tell you Belgium is a boring place with nothing to see and even less to do. We don’t seem to have any pride – or at least lack the will to boast about what we have and do. And we do a lot more than making excellent beer and chocolate!

So that’s why I decided to make ‘When in Belgium’ my long term project, and why I write my blog in English rather than Dutch. A post on the arboretum in Kalmthout probably isn’t going to attract busloads of foreigners – nor is that my intention. I just want to show people that if they are coming to Belgium, perhaps they could also have a walk there. Or in Tervuren. Or visit Villers Abbey. Or…

Kalmthout Arboretum by Yvo Noukens

We see a lot of promise in Yvo’s blog (we particularly liked the Kalmthout Arboretum post and have added it to our ‘must visit’ list) and we’re looking forward to more of his tips. Be sure to check out When in Belgium and for more of Yvo’s photography, stop by his photo blog.