Photo Day 2026 brings hands-on photography event to Genk, Belgium

If you want a one-day photo outing that feels useful before it feels social, Photo Day 2026 has a lot packed into a small ticket. On Sunday, May 31, 2026, Thor Central in Genk, Belgium, will host a full day of photography talks, hands-on demos and brand booths, with tickets set at €10 and including full access, a €5 voucher and a free ice cream.

The appeal is not just the price. Event hours run from 10:00 to 18:00, and the setup is built for photographers who want to try gear rather than just walk past it. Foto Robyns says the day will feature touch-and-try zones, workshop-style lectures, demo booths from Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm, and time to network with other shooters. Qrios is listed as a co-organizer, which gives the event a broader education-and-community feel than a standard shop demo or camera-club meet-up.

The speaker list is where the day starts to look worth the train ride or drive. Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove is scheduled to give a one-hour lecture on behalf of Canon Belgium about photographing Icelandic landscapes and volcanic eruptions, a topic that should land with anyone who has ever tried to balance weather, light and timing in the field. His own profile describes him as an award-winning Belgian-Icelandic photographer based in Reykjavík, with work centered on landscape, wildlife, drone and volcanic-eruption photography. That mix suggests a talk grounded in real-world fieldcraft, not just polished slides.

Carl De Keyzer adds a very different kind of gravity. Magnum Photos says he started his career as a freelance photographer in 1982 and became a full member in 1994, a trajectory that makes him one of the event’s most established names. Joel Tjintjelaar brings another specialty lens, with his profile describing him as a black-and-white fine-art, long-exposure and architectural photographer and educator. The lineup also includes Yves Schepers, Marije Dijkema and a live podcast recording with Kaat Celis, giving the program enough range to attract landscape shooters, fine-art fans and readers who like hearing how working photographers think.

The setting helps, too. Thor Central sits on Thor Park, a former mining site in Genk that has been repurposed into a technology and business venue, which gives the day a distinctly local backdrop instead of the blank corporate feel of many expo halls. Foto Robyns says it has been active in photography for more than 60 years, and this event fits that long retail-and-community lineage: a practical stop where the value comes from handling gear, hearing working photographers and spending a full day inside the hobby rather than just looking at it.