London Photo Show 2025 | Philippe Raevens
The London Photo Show is back! Six photographers of the Urban Photographers Club community will be exhibiting their latest work! As they sit down with Noemie Decaen to discuss their projects, it is our pleasure to (re)introduce them and their photographs to you!
Our second photographer is Philippe Raevens, a Belgian based photographer from Ronse.
He first became interested in photography at the age of 18, taking mostly holiday pictures and dabbling with some artistic exposures using film cameras during the late 70s.
His first love is landscape photography, and regularly travels to picturesque destinations, but ever since discovering street photography, he can’t get enough of it, which led him to participate in an international street photography project over the past year.
He is an integral member of his local camera club and has had his work featured in several amateur photography exhibitions within his city.
© Philippe Raevens
ND: What inspired you to curate this particular collection of photographs for your exhibition?
PR: I would like to present my photos for the exhibition as a series called “Late Night”. I think these four images work well together as there is a single person in each photo (except the taxi). These are individual people going out on a rainy evening in a big city. I love the colours and the splashes of night lights.
© Philippe Raevens
ND: Could you share some insights into the creative process behind these photographs?
PR: First of all, the photos were not taken in on single evening. It took me some time to look for inspiration for a continuing process to finalise this project. Most of the photos were taken with the lens wide open. This allowed me to let in a lot of light, but it also creates dreamy lights in the background.
© Philippe Raevens
ND: What emotions or messages do you hope viewers will take away from experiencing your exhibition?
PR: As my series of pictures is all about a story and also the aesthetic part (night shots with nice colours and backgrounds), I hope that the viewer can take this in their mind and think about it. I think a little of my photos in combination with jazz music. Yes: “Late Night” is from Dave Brubeck. Listen to it and look at the same time at the pictures, and dream away.
© Philippe Raevens
© Philippe Raevens
ND: How do you see your photography evolving in the future, and how might that influence your future exhibitions?
PR: In my street photography so far, most of the time, I tried to include “the moment”. Where something interesting happens, by preference something humoristic. I love to see a smile on the faces of the public. This serie is different. It’s more focused on aesthetic, light and colours. In the future I will probably look for something with more background, more context also. Matching colours with people more in a distance.
© Philippe Raevens
ND: What has been your experience with UPC in regards to this exhibition?
PR: So happy to have met Jovis and the other members of the UPC group! They gave me the possibility to expose my work in a big city like London, which means a lot for me. But even more, it’s about friendship and talking about our passion: photography.
© Philippe Raevens
© Philippe Raevens