Posted in Architecture, Christmas, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged Canon SX50, Christmas, Christmas 2016, Christmas market, city hall, Rathaus, Vienna Austria on December 15, 2016| 2 Comments »
My short trip to Vienna, Austria is rapidly coming to a close and I want to leave you with this image of the entrance to the outdoor Christmas market at the Rathaus (City Hall), the tall building in the background.
Best wishes to all for a “Frohe Weihnachten,” German for “Merry Christmas.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Architecture, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, city hall, Grand-Place, mannekin pis, moon on January 17, 2014| 3 Comments »
The city was mostly deserted when I took a walk through the center of Brussels at 5:00 this morning, my last day in Brussels for this trip. It was a little eerie to visit some of the major tourist sites in the moonlight and to be mostly alone.
Mountains of bulging trash bags and folded cardboard were piled up outside the businesses as I made my way through the cobblestone streets of the pedestrian area. The buildings of the Grand Place were as beautiful as ever, though I didn’t really care for the series of off-and-on lights that illuminated them (and they made it tough to get a proper exposure). I finished up my early morning stroll with a visit to the Mannekin Pis, the little boy who is one of the symbols of Brussels. Occasionally I have seen him in one of his many costumes, but this morning, he was au naturel.
Despite seeing again some of the famous landmarks, my favorite subject this morning was the moon as it lit up the clouds in the sky. I tried to capture some of the feeling in the first photo, where the moon shows itself in between parts of the roofs in a downtown house.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Landscape, Photography, Travel, Urban, Winter, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, city hall, night photography on January 16, 2014| 6 Comments »
I really like the different types and colors of light in this shot of a portion of Brussel’s nightime skyline, taken from an overlook near the city’s Central Train Station.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Art, Landscape, Photography, Urban, Winter, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, city hall, snow 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.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Art, Landscape, Photography, Travel, tagged Canon A620, city hall, night photography, Rathaus, Vienna Austria on April 25, 2013| 4 Comments »
On my last full day in Vienna (at least for this trip), I decided to take some photos of the city as the sun started to set.
This is a shot of the Rathaus (Vienna City Hall), just after they turned on the lights to illuminate the building. I did not have a tripod with me, so I braced on or against various objects in an effort to steady myself. I may post a few more night shots of Vienna later (if I am not too sleepy or wake up really early), but thought I’d share this one right now.
My trip to Vienna was brief, but enjoyable. I got a lot accomplished work-wise, but had enough free time to really enjoy some amazing spring weather.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, city hall, Grand-Place, tower 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
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Architecture, Christmas, Photography, Travel, tagged Canon A620, Christmas, Christmas market, city hall, Rathaus, statue, Vienna, Vienna Austria on December 13, 2012| 5 Comments »
My time in Vienna is drawing to a close and I thought I’d post a few more of my favorite photos from the Christmas market.
Stands selling hot spiced wine are often areas where people congregate. One of them was set up on a path flanked with statues and I like how the first photo shows a statue peering down over the stand. What would he think of the scene in front of him?
The second image shows one element of the Christmas decorations. I like the colors, shapes, and the lines in that photo.
The third shot was taken looking up at some of the towers of the Rathaus (City Hall). I braced myself against the wall of one of the booths to steady myself for the shot and you can see part of the booth in the foreground. I like the effect of this extreme angle (and I always love shots of buildings lit up in the evening).
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Photography, Travel, tagged blue skies, brussels, Canon PowerShot A620, city hall, gold, Grand-Place, shadows 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.
Posted in Photography, Travel, tagged brussels, Canon A620, city hall, city scenes, mannekin pis 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.
Mike Powell 