Press and art photographer Jean Jacques Soenen (72), who initially studied shipping, died in Ostend. The sea and the maritime sector remained a grateful subject for various media, exhibitions, publications and his photo gallery.
After a lingering illness, Jean Jacques Soenen died on 26 June 2024, surrounded by his loved ones at home in Ostend. He was born in Westende on 30 July 1951 and grew up in Nieuwpoort. After secondary school in Nieuwpoort and Ostend, he became an apprentice officer-deck at the Higher Maritime Academy in Antwerp (now Antwerp Maritime Academy). Among other things, he sailed on the school ship ‘MS Eeklo’, a bulk carrier of the former Belgian shipping company Union Belge d’Entreprises Maritimes (UBEM).
In the mid-1970s, he rolled into the profession of freelance photographer as an autodidact. He worked for various media and photo agencies. Alongside daily current affairs, he produced an impressive oeuvre of artistic images. In these, the sea, the maritime sector, people and buildings of Ostend played a major role. He participated in numerous exhibitions and published several books with his own work.
Gallery Studio
After his retirement in 2014, he opened ‘Galerie Studio’ in the heart of Ostend together with his wife Els Verhaeghe – who is also a professional photographer. This grew into a meeting place for photography lovers. You will find both modern work and a unique collection about Ostend whose oldest images date back to 1862.
His last biggest realisation was a book on fifty years of St Paul’s celebrations in 2023. In it, he had forty friends of founder and pub owner Iwein Scheer speak. It became an impressive story about Scheer and how this small-scale party grew into a full-fledged city festival. In the process, Jean Jacques Soenen and Els Verhaeghe showed over a hundred unique photos and posters from their rich archives.
It was always fun moments with this brilliant, humble professional
Everyone who worked with Jean Jacques Soenen, including the writer of this article, got to know him as a warm and driven colleague who had a particularly perceptive eye in life.
Antwerp-based maritime photographer Pit De Jonge also has fond memories of his Ostend colleague. “A very long time ago I worked with Jean Jacques when I started at Photo News in Brussels. We had memorable times at the first editions of Flanders Technology, royal visits to amusement parks and so on. Later, we often worked together in Ostend at the ‘Ostend for Anchor’ event. They were always great moments with this brilliant, humble professional,” he says.
Heart of Ostend
The farewell service will take place on Thursday 4 July at 10.30am at Polderbos Crematorium in Ostend. “Afterwards, everyone who loved JJ is welcome to raise a glass to him and reminisce, with a laugh and a tear. Where better to do that than in the heart of Ostend, from 4pm at Iwein’s on Pauluspleintje,” writes his wife Els Verhaeghe.
The editors of Flows wish Jean Jacques Soenen’s family and friends much strength in this loss.
