When one factory defines the village

Retro//Reflection - Issue #31

Once or twice per month I send out a letter with a handful of (my) photographs and share a bit of insight on the ‘why?’ or ‘how?’. As an enthusiastic photographer, anything goes.

Maybe you’ll learn something?
Or perhaps it will spark some inspiration?

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One cold winter morning on a day off from work I went to a small village, well more of a hamlet, in the South of Limburg called Thull. There’s nothing much going on in Thull - it only has about 150 residents I believe - except this hamlet has one huge export product: Alfa beer.

The Alfa brewery was founded in 1870 by Joseph Meens (then it was called Meens Brewery, and Alfa was their beer brand) and even to today it is one of the few independent breweries left in the Province of Limburg.

As with many beer breweries (at least in Limburg), it is located right in the middle of a village, so everywhere you look you can see something related to the brewery. So I thought I would have a look around Thull to see if I could capture some images that show how this well-known beer brewery¹ is located in its environment.

Just to be clear, this article has not been sponsored; I buy my own beer. Which, coincidentally often is Alfa brand beer ;-)

I walked around the buildings and through the little hamlet. I did not go for a (guided) tour or have a tasting (it was nine-thirty in the morning after all). Although I took a few “wide shots” showing most of the buildings, I also focused on the details. I quite like the shapes, textures and patterns I could spot all around.

I found looking through the trees to spot piles of beer crates and kegs quite amusing. Not something you’d expect when you walk around in a forest.

Not only could you see the brewery from all over town, you could also smell it. I guess if you live nearby a beer brewery, you kind a have to be okay with the typical smell of brewing.

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Editing the photos

Now when it comes to editing the photos, I already had in mind to use Fuji’s Nostalgic Negative film simulation, simply because of the history around this particular business / factory. Nostalgic Negative² suits the color tones of the buildings, the silos and the pipes. Also the slight overcast weather - the sun tried to peak through - helped a bit.

I editing the picked photos with minor adjustments in Capture One, mainly increasing the brightness and white point and bumping the vibrancy (saturation). On some images I added a bit of clarity, but only as a local adjustment with the brush tool to bring out some textures a bit more.

As you can see I did play around with various crops (aspect ratios); this is something I have been doing more lately (instead of sticking to the camera’s default 3:2 ratio).

In this post you only see a small selection of photos. Have a look on my website for the full set:

So I’m wondering: did you ever taste Alfa beer?
Or took photos of a brewery?
Do you mind the smell?
What’s your favorite aspect ratio?

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Worthwhile//Reads

Something to end this issue. Here are three (random) photography-related articles I recently read (on Substack) that I think are worth sharing!

∴Shooting for Print∴

From Inspiration to Illusion

Tweed Bridges

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That’s it for this issue. Thank you for showing your interest. Feel free to leave a comment, ask a question or tell me anything else that comes to mind. Appreciate it!

Until next time,
Ronald
ronaldsmeets.info

ps: this article/letter/post is free, because I’m not doing this to make a profit. Also, I don’t like subscriptions at all. However, if you do want to show your support, a coffee always helps me writing and posting here ;-)

1. Alfa beer is exported worldwide.

2. Capture One supports Nostalgic Negative, which should closely match the actual one in-camera: https://support.captureone.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002589937-Fujifilm-Film-Simulations