Nights in Bayeux
A couple of shots captured during the lovely, soft light of blue hour, in the small French town of Bayeux.
A few years ago, we took a trip to France, and one of the things we wanted to make sure to do was visit Normandy. It’s a beautiful area and there are several towns that looked interesting, but we settled on Bayeux and spent a couple of nights there. Of course, I hit the streets with my camera as much as possible, because shooting in foreign cities just makes me happy. It wasn’t crowded at all, which is great for me, and I was able to wander freely and shoot quite a bit. I just have a thing for street scenes, and doubly so when they are European. These two were captured on my wanderings. Nothing particularly spectacular about them - just everyday spots under the soft light of twilight.
Sunset in Bayeux
Bayeux, France is a nice little town in Normandy - a great base for all the area has to offer!
We came across Bayeux, France by accident when planning our trip over there. This was last summer (I have mentioned that I am a bit behind, haven't I?) and we were taking a family trip through London (quickly) and then on to France. There's so much to see in any country really, and France is no different. When you are planning a trip, it's easy to think "we are going to see EVERYTHING", but reality is often quite different.
Anyways, one thing for sure on our agenda was a weekend in the Normandy area. Call us tourists if you want to, but we really wanted to see the American Cemetery there (and we did). But all the guide books offered so many choices in terms of what town to stay in that we ended up just picking Bayeux based on proximity and size. It looked like it was pretty close, and it was a decent-sized town. I knew I would be driving, and we wanted to be reasonably close. Turns out it was a great choice.
One of the quaint little streets by our hotel in Bayeux. We ate at one of those places.
We arrived on a Friday evening, later than expected. We had started that morning in London. We hopped on the Eurostar from St. Pancras International Station, which took us in about 2 hours straight to Paris, after passing through the Chunnel (which is fun). In Paris we had to take a taxi to a different train station and then get in line and buy tickets for the smaller train that would take us to Caen. In Caen, we had a rental car waiting. Well, waiting is not totally accurate. We ended up having to wait for a couple of hours to get the car, hence the later arrival in Bayeux.
Sometimes the light gets all awesome, and you can't find a good spot. It happens.
I was tired but undaunted, and after getting settled in and having a meal, I wandered the streets for a few while the rest of the family wisely chose to take it easy. It's tiring to spend 12 hours traveling by way of two taxis, two trains, and a rental car, but the show must go on. Or more specifically, there were photos to be taken, so I went to take them.
As you can see, the sunset ended up being pretty stellar, but being unfamiliar with the town I was stuck wandering the streets without a high vantage point to shoot from. Oh well, at least I got some shots, and at least I was in France doing it!
Bayeux Cathedral
As part of our little family trip over to France, we wanted to make sure and visit Normandy, and specifically the American Cemetery located there. We did, and it was a touching tribute to so many that lost their lives during the invasion. As the weather was terrible that day, I didn’t grab too many pics there, but I have some that I will share at some point.
But one thing I did spend some time shooting was the town of Bayeux, which is where we stayed. We had read online that it was a great base for exploring Normandy, and though we didn’t roam too far, it is definitely a well-positioned town for that.
I love to shoot in small European towns (and large European towns...so yeah I like to shoot anywhere in Europe I guess!) and Bayeux is just very charming. I wandered the streets as much as I could there, and found some great spots.
One place in particular that I just loved was the Bayeux Cathedral. I’m a huge fan of architecture, which you probably know by now, and this cathedral is gorgeous, inside and out. I captured many shots of the fabulous exterior during blue hour one evening, and made a plan to return the next day to (hopefully) shoot the interior.
So the next afternoon (a Saturday afternoon) I arrived but sadly (for me, not for the couple) there was a wedding in process. So I sat in the far back, and watched. It was beautiful, but it’s sort of weird to be watching a wedding between two people you don’t know, especially when you weren’t invited. :-)
Of course, I am not one to give up on my plan to shoot the place, but I knew I had to be stealthy. So I waited and plotted my strategy, which was to fire my brackets handheld whenever they fired up the music. Thankfully, the couple seemed to like music, so I got off plenty of shots during the songs. But of course, I mostly aimed UP so as to capture the majesty of the place without the wedding party being in my shots. I figured they already had a photographer! :-)