In July, I took part as a photographer in the World Body Painting Festival in Seeboden, Austria. That’s an event with over 20.000 participants, 180 bodypainters from 40 countries, stretching over three days. Now I got the pictures sorted out, in time for entering their photo contest.

Lady from Riga wearing labour intensive makeup (right). There are similarities to Bodypainting and Formula One racing, which go beyond the fact that they both seem more popular in Europe than in the US:

OK, so a lot of money move hands between various players in F1, whereas the World Bodypainting Festival collects both professional and amateur performers in one big family. The day starts at 09:30 where the painting teams who don’t yet have a pilot … ehh model, meet up with the models who don’t yet have a painter. At 11:00 the painting starts, and the artists have six hours to paint their models. When the models are painted, they get judged in front of a jury, after which they go on the catwalk to be admired by the audience.

I took part as a photographer for the second time, but definitely not the last. There are some outstanding works of art being created on living canvas, to be admired by the general public.

Parts of the audience (like my daughter) choose to get painted themselves, whereas others (like myself) concentrate on taking pictures and enjoying themselves.

If you wish to see more, click on one of the photos on this page and you’ll be taken to a site with my 91 best pics from this year’s festival, spread out over three web pages (linked at the bottom). Those pics can then be clicked on once more for a larger version.