After a career of more than 30 years in the research of textures (25 years as a textile stylist and 5 years as an interior design architect), Didier Engels has shifted towards photography. As a self-taught Belgian photographer, he started his photographic work DRY DOCK and KAAIEN in January 2015. After a first successful exhibition, Didier will dedicate his time to capturing the colors and freezing the moments in this unique universe of docks.Since his childhood, Didier Engels has liked to stroll on the docks of the ports. At age 20, he experiences docker life at the port of Zeebrugge, and this port affinity will never leave him. He discovers the phenomenal maritime traffic that fascinates his eyes: ships used by sea salt, freighters washed by the tides, or containers patinated by sea spray. Many unique colors and raw materials allow the photographer to release all the beauty and power of their symbolism. Inspired by this maritime universe, he creates a series of abstract photographs from which he draws beauty from boat hulls. Bright and past-colored photographs that reflect the experience of these ships that have been returned to port or stored in dry dock. Didier Engels then goes back to his first memories as a docker and makes a series of photographs from the docks of the port of Antwerp. He finds in the containers the perfect witness of his obsession for colors, preferably patinated, and for subjects laden with history. Sedimentary textures, faded colours, oxidized marks; it is in this territory that Didier Engels evolves.