About us
How it all began, partners, volunteers, npo
In 2014 our festival president Carine Van Gerven, as a photographer, visited the international photography festival L’Eté des Portraits in Bourbon-Lancy, a small village in the French Burgundy region. This photo festival, which was first organized in 2004, has since built up a solid international reputation.
How it all began
Carine
Van Gerven
… visiting l’Eté des Portraits
in Bourbon-Lancy
Carine was so impressed by this beautiful event that she started dreaming “This must be possible in my home town too…”
Back home, she gathered a group of enthusiastic colleagues and sympathisers, and with the support and cooperation of the Overpelt municipality and CC Palethe, Lens op de Mens – Poto Festival Pelt was born.
Meanwhile the 5th edition of what became the Intenational Photo Festival Lens op de Mens in the city of Pelt is up and running. We are very grateful to L’Eté des Portraits for the inspiration we got from them and for everything we learned from them. We like to see them as a kind of “sister festival”.
In recent years, photography has played an increasingly important role at Palethe cultural centre in Pelt. With in-house photographers, a monthly photography circle and several annual exhibitions on various themes, Palethe has built up a fine tradition. Palethe thus became the birthplace of Lens op de Mens – Photo Festival Pelt.
Our partners and staff
‘Lens op de Mens’ unites nature and culture and, even in its first edition, thereby put Pelt on the Belgian and even European map. Lens op de Mens – Photo Festival Pelt npo is subsidised by the Flemish Government, the municipality of Pelt and the National Lottery. Together with CC Palethe, the npo beroepsfotografen.be, npo Studio, BREEDBEELD, Lensculture and many helping hands, we make Pelt the place to be for everyone involved with photography.
The npo beroepsfotografen.be and vzw Studio (both national associations of professional photographers) have a large network at home and abroad. As a partner for amateur photographers in Flanders, BREEDBEELD can’t be missing. The idea of launching an international photography festival in Pelt was enthusiastically received by them and many of their members. For the fifth edition, we are happy to welcome them as partners again.
Big thanks also go to CVO Cursa, Qrios, GO Next Level X, WICO Campus Overpelt, npo De Klimroos, Dommelhof, Pelle Melle, Koor en stem Limburg, Province of Limburg, photo club Digipelt and Fotoclub Houthalen for the collaborations in all kinds of fields.
Vizualizator is an international photography festival in Belgrade, Serbia, focusing on professional photography with an emphasis on documentary photography. The festival is a multidisciplinary event that brings together institutions and individuals from different cultural, educational, media and art fields. Ahead of the third edition of Lens on Man in 2020, a close collaboration with Vizualizator emerged through the exchange of exhibitions. Our president Carine Van Gerven gave lectures there, participated in debates and acted as a jury member. She presented her “Tableaux vivants” there in 2021. As part of Vizualizator 2023, board member Jos Verhoogen exhibited his internationally awarded series on birth photography in Belgrade. Vizualizator president Svezdan Mancic organised a discussion evening on Artificial Intelligence in Pelt 2023 and is a welcome guest of our festival.
In 2019 we were visited by Janet Haines from the Royal Photographic Society – RPS from the UK. She was very impressed with our photo festival and was very interested in future collaboration. In 2020 she was succeeded by Carol Olerud and Jeroen Dorrestein as our contact persons within their Benelux Chapter. We are delighted that RPS became an important part of our festival since the 2021 edition. The RPS Benelux Chapter Print Exhibition was featured as one of our guest exhibitions in 2021 and 2023. On Sunday 21 September 2025 RPS will organise a lecture and workshop by Carla Kogelman.
The special exhibition They fight for us too in 2023 could only come about thanks to the fantastic cooperation with the national professional associations of photographers of Ukraine and the Czech Republic, UAPP and APFCR. With our special thanks to Jan Pohribný and Igor Malijevský (APFCR) and Olga Kovalova, senior project manager, and Mstyslav Chernov, general director of UAPP.
Lens op de Mens and the FEP – Federation of European Professional Photographers – have been working closely together for many years, exchanging know-how on the organisation of photography competitions and exhibitions.
Lens op de Mens selects photographers for guest exhibitions from among FEP members who have achieved the highest qualifications.
In 2025, we will show the MASTER QEP panel I am Tuva by Norwegian photographer Cecilie Hatløy.
For the 4th edition in 2023, we were allowed to use the premises and grounds of the Vakschool, the former site of TIO campus Wico. Our great thanks go to the company Custombuild and Van Roey Vastgoed for this.
All the buildings on the site have now been demolished and Custombuild have started their Wado project there. Only the oldest part of the school, the A-block, remains and will be renovated and given a new function.
Until then, under the impetus of Lens op de Mens, the A-block will become a creative hotspot for Pelt, where exhibitions, lectures, workshops and more can take place. In the summer of 2025, you will be able to admire the photographic work of British photographer Chloe Rosser at the A-block
We also thank the following companies for their special support and cooperation: Totch (photo prints, banners, canvases, etc.), Milo Profi (photo prints), Colorfields (ChromaLuxe), Shoot Magazine, Guido Schepers from Zupp (designer of the website), Chris Tierney from Infrablue (competition module), Profel, DVV insurances Pelt-Lommel and brewery Mølder and Coöp.
The support of the local catering establishments was also very welcome: Banana Split, Het 8ste Sacrament, ‘t Pelterke, ‘t Pittig Baguetje, Da Manu, Fresh, Tafeltijd, Peltri.
However, Lens op de Mens could not exist without the help of our many volunteers, who contribute to the festival with tasks large and small, but above all with great enthusiasm.
Be sure to come back in 2025 for the 5th edition of Lens op de Mens. We welcome you to our beautiful city!
Non-profit organisation
On 14 july 2020 Lens op de Mens – Fotofestival Pelt was officially recognised as a non-profit organisation with company number 0750.633.312.
The board of the non-profit organisation is composed as follows:
Carine Van Gerven, president
Johan Brouwers, vice-president and chairman of the competition jury
Rudi Theunis, secretary
Sonja Sleurs, treasurer
Hilde Stevens, curator
Jos Verhoogen, board member
