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Posts Tagged ‘brussels’

Brussels moon

Posted in Art, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 15, 2014| 3 Comments »

It rained most of the day in Brussels, but finally the skies cleared a little in the evening and the moon was visible from time to time, peeking through the clouds. I enjoy walking through this old city at night and observing the interplay of the light and shadows.

It’s a fun challenge to try and capture the effects of light at night with an older point-and-shoot digital camera and I am always looking for solid objects against which to lean to steady myself.

This was my most “artistic” shot of the evening, an attempt to balance the effect of the weak light of the moon with the artificial lights that illuminated this statue.

statue_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

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Back in Brussels

Posted in Architecture, Art, Landscape, Photography, Urban, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 13, 2014| 8 Comments »

I am drawn to the colors and shapes and patterns in this image of the roof of the Brussels City Hall, one of the iconic buildings of the central square of this beautiful city.

I am back in Brussels for a brief business trip and have not yet had a chance to shoot any new photos. I took this shot last year in mid-January, when the city was covered with a light coating of snow. This year, it looks like it’s a bit warmed and I was shocked to see some sunshine yesterday, the day of our arrival. In my experience, the skies are usually gray and cloud-covered and it is unusual to see the sun at this time of the year.

I hope to have some new photos of Brussels soon, work permitting, which you should be seeing for the next few days.

roof_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Macro with point-and-shoot in Brussels

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 14, 2013| 8 Comments »

It’s been gray and rainy almost all this week in Brussels, so many of these shots feature raindrops. When I am away on a trip for business, I generally carry only my point-and-shoot camera, an old Canon A620.

This trip I decided to experiment with the macro mode and see what kind of shots I could get. I was pleasantly surprised with the results and even managed to get some insect shots, despite the fact that I had to get really close to them, compared with the macro lens that I normally use. I never had to worry about harsh sunlight—I never saw any the entire trip—and mostly had to shoot a a high ISO and an almost wide-open aperture.

I did get some shots of the buildings in Brussels, which looked almost monochromatic in the gray light, but will post some of those images when I return home from the trip.

beepink1dropsflyleaf_dropspink2

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Night in Brussels

Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged , , , on January 18, 2013| 1 Comment »

On my final night in Brussels for this trip, I made one last walk through the city. Despite the frigid cold, there were still a lot of pedestrians stopping in the Grand-Place to take photos or to visit one of the numerous bars and restaurants in the area. Some of the previous times that I was in Brussels, the buildings in the square were illuminated, but the were pretty dark this time.

I balanced my camera on my stocking hat to stabilize it for this first photo, which you can probably guess was a pretty long exposure. I like the way the different lights in the scene turned out differently, with varying strengths and colors.

The second photo is one of Mannekin Pis, a statue of a little boy that is one of the symbols of Brussels. Sure, it’s a touristy thing place to visit and the statue certainly doesn’t rate high in terms of art. However, I usually try to stop by and see him, because sometimes he is wearing one different outfits for different occasions.

Tomorrow I’ll be home and will probably return to posting mostly nature shots in my blog.  It’s been an interesting experience the last few days trying to orient myself to photographing different things in a completely different environment.

night_blogmannekin

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Smile from Brussels

Posted in Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged , , , on January 17, 2013| 3 Comments »

Walking around in Brussels, I came upon this stone statue with a smile that simply drew me in. There is a kind of mischievous glint in the eye that matches the smile.

I hope that you’ll smile too when you see him.

statue

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Tintin Art in Brussels

Posted in Architecture, Art, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged , , , , , on January 16, 2013| 4 Comments »

One of the cool things about walking around in the old area of Brussels near the Grand-Place is that you can unexpectedly come across giant murals on the sides of buildings illustrating scenes from the Adventures of Tintin.  This series of comic books was created by Belgian artist Georges Remi (who wrote under the pen name of Hergé) and was one of the most popular European comic series in the 20th century.

Here are photos of a few of those murals that I took in September, during a previous trip to Brussels. I really like the colors and the style of the illustrations and the way that they were integrated into the buildings on which they were painted.

TinTin1TinTin2TinTin3TinTin4

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Frozen city flowers

Posted in Flowers, Macro Photography, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

Brussels is still blanketed with a light coating of snow. The outdoor areas of the restaurants on the Grand-Place, the old city square, are deserted, but they continue to be surrounded by flowerboxes full of hardy flowers, like this little pansy. My eyes were drawn to this splash of color in a sea of grayness.

The little point-and-shoot Canon that I have with me has a limited zoom range, but it does have a macro mode that lets me get pretty close to my subject. I have tried to capture simultaneously the colors of the flower and the sense of winter. I did find the ice to be particularly difficult to render in a realistic way, probably because of its reflectiveness.

pansy1pansy2

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Brussels pedestrians

Posted in Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 15, 2013| 2 Comments »

What do you do when you wake up early in the morning in a hotel in a foreign country and have the desire to take some photos? If the weather were a bit nicer, I might have gone for a walk in the city, but it was bitter cold last night and snow has fallen, so instead I took a few shots looking out my window.

My room overlooks one of the entrances to the Central Train Station in Brussels and there are interesting lights and colors. The fresh snow is already covered in footprints, although not many pedestrians were yet visible when I took my photos. I particularly liked one sidewalk area that goes off to the side of the station and the two shots I’m posting show pedestrians walking in this area. The photos have kind of an urban vibe that is new to me. I’m starting to understand a bit what attracts some photographers to taking photos in the city.

Who are these people? Why are they up and about at a time when most others are still sleeping? I’ll never know their stories, but I have captured their images on this frigid Brussels morning.

Early morning pedestrian in Brussels

Early morning pedestrian in Brussels

Brussels pedestrians

Brussels pedestrians

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Sparrows in the center of Brussels

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged , , , , on January 14, 2013| 6 Comments »

I have been photographing so many birds recently that one of my first thoughts upon arrival in Brussels yesterday was to look for birds. I did manage to get a few shots of some sparrows in a small park near the Central Train Station, the neighborhood in which my hotel is located. However, I quickly realized that the 4X zoom of my little Canon A620 is a limiting factor in getting close enough for a decent shot. I also know that at 7.1 megapixxels, I can’t afford to dramatically crop the photos.

I’m happy with these two images. I captured the first sparrow on a snowy evergreen bush. Snow may not be special to many, but my part of the USA has seen only a very small amount of snow this year. The second sparrow is perched on the railing surrounding the plants and is looking into them. I think he was singing so much that the bottom part of his beak is blurred.

I haven’t yet been able to identify these sparrows, but I wonder if they are different from the ones that I typically see in suburban Virginia.

Sparrow in Brussels

Sparrow in Brussels

Sparrow on a fence

Sparrow on a fence

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Cold Sunday in Brussels

Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged , , , , , on January 13, 2013| 12 Comments »

It was almost 60 degrees (15 degrees C) when I left home, but it was well below freezing when I arrived in Brussels this morning. Although I usually try to stay awake when I first arrive, it was so dark and gray that I decided to take a nap first. Eventually the sun came out and I went for a little walk in the city center, though the cold and wind drained the power quickly from the batteries of my point-and-shoot camera and made it a little uncomfortable.

Last fall when I was here, I posted some photos of the main square of the city, the Grand-Place. The light was so beautiful today that I decided to post another shot of one of the buildings on that square, the city hall building. The perspective lines are distorted, but I think you can see how beautiful the building is. I am also including a photo of the bell tower of one of the churches here. It is considerably less ornate than the buildings on the Grand-Place, but I find it equally captivating.

City Hall in Brussels

City Hall in Brussels

IMG_1828

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Mannekin Pis with a Mustache

Posted in Humor, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , on September 7, 2012| 2 Comments »

I know that periodically the statue of mannekin pis in Brussels is dressed in a variety of different outfits throughout the year. However, yesterday he seemed to be wearing an unauthorized additional item—a mustache. 

Mannekin Pis with Mustache
When I took the photos, I didn’t even notice the mustache, but it was very obvious when I reviewed my shots. The is some writing on the mustache that suggests it is a prank done by a design studio. It is a little hard to figure how they pulled it off, though, given that there is a very obvious video camera pointed right at the statue. Over the years the statue has been stolen a number of times, according to Wikipedia, and the one that is on display is a replica. The original is in the Maison du Roi on the Grand-Place.

Close-up of Mannekin Pis with Mustache

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Scenes from Brussels Part III

Posted in Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , on September 7, 2012| 3 Comments »

I had a chance to walk around Brussels a little more yesterday and wanted to post a few more photos before I head back to Virginia today. Most of the photos are from the Grand-Place, the central square of the city and I have tried to capture some of the wonderful details of the buildings there. The last two shots are of the Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral, a really beautiful church that I was able to visit.


© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Scenes from Brussels Part II

Posted in Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on September 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The light was dropping lower in the sky as I stepped onto the cobblestones of the Grand-Place in Brussels, causing the gold decorations on the buildings to glow and adding interesting shadows. The sky too was beautiful, a brilliant blue with a few puffy clouds. It is a little overwhelming when you’re in the square surrounded by the guild halls and the spires of city hall—everywhere you look there are interesting details (and that’s not even counting the people passing by).

My time is a bit limited this morning for this posting, so I’m including just a few photos that I especially like from last evening. (I may have the chance to post some more photos tonight.)  I also would note that I am using a Canon A620 point-and-shoot camera with relatively modest capabilities, rather than my normal DSLR. There were definitely times when I would have welcomed having the ability to zoom in a bit closer, but some of the results are pretty good and it does force me to move around to try to frame the photo better.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Scenes from Brussels Part I

Posted in Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on September 5, 2012| 7 Comments »

I’m in Brussels, Belgium for a few days for work and have been “encouraged” by Sandra of Another Perspective Photography to post some photos of the city. So I stood up my co-workers for dinner tonight and went off on my own to shoot a few photos of the sights of the city in walking distance of my hotel. This first batch is an assortment of photos of various subjects. I plan to do a second batch with photos of the Grand-Place.

No trip to Brussels is complete without seeing the statue of Mannekin Pis, the little boy peeing into a fountain (or what some might call the “wee lad”). There seems to be a great deal of uncertainty about what exactly the statue commemorates. Wikipedia lists five different legends and there are almost certainly more. I’ve enclosed two photos, one of which is a close-up. The latter photo is specifically for Sandra, who specializes in taking photos of babies, often in an unclothed state.

The other photos show a few views of the city. The tall steeple in several of them is the city hall building.

I realize these are touristy type shots, but thought some others might enjoy some scenes from Brussels.

Mannekin Pis

Mannekin Pis Close-up

View of Brussels

View of Brussels through a fountain

Interesting clock in Brussels

Unidentified church steeple in Brussels

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Beautiful Building in Brussels

Posted in Landscape, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , on September 5, 2012| 5 Comments »

The Grand-Place in Brussels, the central square of the city, is a wonderful location, full of ornate buildings and teeming with people at almost all hours of the day. UNESCO considers it a World Heritage Site and it was voted the most beautiful square in Europe in one survey, according to Wikipedia.

I find the buildings in the Grand-Place, though, to be a little too ornate and overly decorated. As I stood in the center of the square and looked diagonally toward one of the side streets, though, I caught a glimpse of this building. It is simple and elegant and much more to my taste.

Building in Brussels

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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