A bit of this and that from Brussels
Well, I am back with a monster post about Brussels today!
I do love Brussels. It's a beautiful city that is famous for chocolate and beer - two things I absolutely love. Plus, it has some amazing sights to see, and of course to photograph. Deep, rich history, fabulous architecture, wonderful street scenes and cafes - it's got it all. So you see, it's a bit of a heaven for a guy like me. :-)
notre dame de la chappelle - a fabulous church just outside the central historic district - and well worth a visit!
Behind the altar in the brussels cathedral - one heck of a fabulous church, let me tell you!
I consider myself lucky that I have been there a few times in my life thus far - and I hope to return as many times as possible. It's just a great city. I would love to live there, but then again, I would probably turn into a 400 pound alcoholic. So there's that.
I have been there twice in the last few years - obviously with a camera and an aggressive schedule to shoot everything I possibly could - and have come home with a lot of images of this wonderful town. Now, I usually like to do my posts centered around a certain theme, event or location. That helps my orderly OCD brain feel more organized, and it just sort of makes sense to me...plus it's fun to relive those moments via a collection of photos.
grand place, which is the main town square in brussels - and the one I consider the most beautiful I have ever seen!
a different take on grand place, during a wonderful sunrise. Look ma, no tourists!
and this is the main building in grand place - the rathaus - which is great fun to shoot!
see what i mean? great architecture!
just a different view of the spire at the top of the rathaus.
But like my recent post about Dublin, today's collection of photos from Brussels is really what the title says - a little bit of this and a little bit of that. They don't necessarily all belong together. The only real thing they have in common is that they were all taken in Brussels. They weren't even all taken on the same trip there, much less the same day.
i absolutely love this place - i had a couple beers there one night - awesomeness!
i turned that last photo into a painting using topaz impression - great fun!
Here's how this came to be a blog post (and the same goes for the recent Dublin post): I normally dive into my Aperture library with the intention of processing pics from a particular spot. Often that gives me 5-10 pics which I use to create a blog post about. But sometimes I dive into the library without a lot of time on my hands, or without any real "target" so to speak. So that means I may end up processing 1 or 2 pics and then having to leave it for some other time. Eventually, these finished pics pile up on my desktop in a folder (we'll call that folder "Brussels" in this case), and at some point I realize I better just share them, because I am not processing according to a theme. So, here you go. You get a big, fat Brussels blog post! It's kinda fun, really.
Does that make any sense at all, or have you just decided that I am nuts because I can't stay on a subject? Blame that on the ADD I guess. :-)
a passageway just off grand place - couldn't resist firing through here!
and once again, I used topaz impression to convert this scene to a painting - fun!
I love graffiti - except on my house - and found this while wandering some of the back streets near grand place.
sunrise in grand place - the best time to be there because you can have it all to yourself.
And to be clear, the above has happened a LOT. I have - no kidding here - 22 folders on my desktop right now that are each of a different spot. I also have another 5 folders that contain images tied to an article I am trying to write for the blog, along with a document that contains the actual written words I have frantically typed during those fleeting moments of inspiration. I say "trying" because I often start writing something, but feel like it needs to bake a bit before it is ready to be shared (not to mention that I need to edit ruthlessly, and revise, revise, revise - I tend to be wordy when I write, methinks). What this means is that I have probably 100 or more pics already processed and sitting there just waiting to be uploaded to the confusing mess we call the internet.
Some day they will make it here - when they are ready. Theme or no theme!
this place has so much beer!! yummy!
just had to jack with this one a little - it's fun!
Well, anyways - here's my big, fat Brussels post. I hope you enjoy the photos and my mad scribblings about how they got here. It's almost fun (ok, it's actual fun for me) to write these things down, and of course you already know that I love to process and share my pics. It gets me pretty fired up to be able to share all this stuff. I just love it. So thanks for taking the time out of your busy life to click by here today and check it out. And if you read this far - congratulations! LOL
a cafe along the rude du bouchers
and again i culdn't resist turning this into a painting
cherry blossoms and graffiti - interesting combo but it works for me!
this cafe is near the mannekin pis - the famous statue of the little boy who just couldn't hold it any longer.
and - you guessed it - I used topaz impression to turn this into a painting (again).
