Jimmy Kets explains how photojournalists can choose to dramatise (or not) the Brussels Lockdown (Dutch video)

As you can imagine, Brussels wasn't it's happy self today, so we sent one of our in-house photographers over there to see how a city can be shaken to it's core in such a short matter of time. (Every monday they send one of their photographers to a place that's been in the news.)

[00:15 - 01:05] Brussels, Nieuwstraat (a very popular shopping street, which often looks like this)

We're here at the Nieuwstraat in Brussels. It isn't very busy right now, because the shops are closed. Let me show you a (photographers) trick: when you use a telelens, you can 'flatten' an image, so all these people are 'compressed' into the image. (picture at 00:45) This makes it seem like there's nothing wrong. Now let's cross the street. (picture at 00:55) With one picture you can instill a sense of fear, with the other you can make it seem like there's not a cloud in the sky. The media can be a dangerous thing.

[01:05 - 01:32] Brussels (not really sure where, I'm not from Brussels)

An empty street with empty Christmass stalls (little wooden shacks that sell Christmass-y drinks and food), as if Brussels is completely deserted, while only a few seconds before there was a lot of activity here, like any other normal weekday. Should I choose to be manipulative, and would want to create a sense of fear, I could show you an empty street. On the other hand, I could show you another picture, as if to say: "We're not scared of terrorists, come see for yourself."

[01:32 - 02:12] Brussels, Central Station

We're here at Brussels, Central Station; there's a military vehicle parked here, and you could create a very menacing picture by dropping to your knees and using a frog's perspective. (picture at 01:49) This way, the vehicle dominates the picture, makes it look huge, which isn't very inviting at all. On the other hand, if we take a look at the complete scene, it almost looks ydillic. It looks like they're shooting a scene for a movie.

{02:12 - 02:46} Brussels, Grote Markt

The sun's shining through beautifully, the Christmass tree in the background. Again, everything looking very ydillic, almost like a postcard (picture at 02:20). And on the other hand, this can be very dramatic. A few seconds ago, there were almost no people here, but now I can make it look like the 'Grote Markt' is full of military. But if you ask me personally, I don't feel like there's something wrong here.

(If I made any spelling errors, please excuse me; English isn't my first language. And if you guys have any other questions, I'll try my best to answer them!)
Text via reddit.com/user/clstrfck

Video via meester Henk ( via bokeh.digitalrev.com via De Afspraak via Canvas.be)