My Kuregem-series in the Financial Times Germany. It is up to the authors what they do with your pictures. Of course they wanted to give a negative image to this neighbourhood, and in that way my pictures fitted great to their piece. It's a pity to say, but by making these strong doomy, negative pictures of Kuregem, at least troubles in this neigbourhood got a lot of attention, and things will be getting better soon.

Today I did my first assignment for The Press (de Pers) a Dutch daily. They sent me to Kuregem (Anderlecht) in Brussels. Public opinion is this being a very dangerous neigbourhood. And just after 20 minutes some guys had a nice chat with me, trying to convince me that all the negative media-attention is subjective, until some other guys surrounded me, and started  to touch my gear. At the exact same second a policecar stopped by, the guys reclamed they're innocent, and the police called me stupid to walk around here with my camera and stuff. After that they gave me a lift by car, showing all drugs-related parts of Anderlecht, and even the parts where they don't even get out of their car, awraid of being attacked. This series was ordered by de Pers, and later on used by newspaper Trouw, Financial Times and more. So I have to thank the police two times. For saving me and my gear, and for the guided tour. The title : war zone Brussels doesn't help public opinion to change their view on Kuregem and safety, but at least it took a lot of attention, which made politicians get into action again.