Posted in Humor, Photography, Travel, tagged brussels, Brussels Belgium, Canon A620, mannekin pis on January 12, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Whenever I visit Brussels, I always visit the statue of the Mannekin Pis, the little boy who is one of the best known symbols of the city. On holidays and on some special days, the statue is dressed in various costumes and I am always curious to see if there is a new outfit. On this occasion, there was no costume, only a bouquet of flowers.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Photography, Portraits, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, costume, mannekin pis on September 11, 2014| 3 Comments »
One of Brussels’s notable tourist landmarks, the Manneken Pis, was wearing a different set of clothes today. The costume is that of the Red Knights of Belgium 1, the local branch of an international firefighters motorcycle club. According to a city website, “The costume was offered to honor the many firefighters, but also the American Red Knights, who vanished during the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on 11 September 2001.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Posted in Photography, Portraits, Travel, Urban, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, costume, mannekin pis on September 10, 2014| 3 Comments »
Whenever I am in Brussels, I always try to be sure that I see the Manneken Pis, the little boy who is one of the symbols of the city. Normally, he is naked and is peeing into a fountain, but on special occasions he is clothed in one of his many costumes. Yesterday, he was wearing an athletic suit, with what appeared to be a Belgian flag, and running shoes. The statue of the boy is not very big and I am also posting a shot of the alcove in which he is located to give you an idea of his size.
I will try to check him again before I leave and see if he has changed into a different set of clothes. If so, I’ll be sure to post another photo.
© 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, Art, Photography, Travel, Winter, tagged brussels, Canon A620, Grand-Place, mannekin pis 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.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Posted in Humor, Photography, Travel, tagged belgium, brussels, Canon A620, mannekin pis, mustache, prank 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. 
Close-up of Mannekin Pis with Mustache
© 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 