Pre-dawn in Grand Place, Brussels
Before the day begins in Brussels, Belgium
When I travel, I always try and get up before sunrise to get out and shoot, if possible. It can be hard, but it is always rewarding, and I always return with images that I am happy with. Especially in a big city, those early morning hours are perfect for capturing scenes that would otherwise be completely full of people.
Today’s photo is a perfect example of this. I was up and out shooting at around 5:30am in Brussels some years back. I wandered into Grand Place, their amazing and beautiful city square, and had it essentially to myself.
Any other time of day, this place is swarming with tourists, but way before dawn it was quiet, empty and perfect!
Delirium
Evening in Brussels and I am out wandering the streets with my camera…
Here’s a night scene I shot in Brussels, Belgium a number of years ago. I love the historic center of Brussels, right around Grand Place. It’s just so photogenic and beautiful. I love to wander those streets and fire away. Back then, I wasn’t as much into night photography as I am now, but still got out a bit and took some shots. Always a good time!
Grand Place at oh-dark-thirty
Grand Place in Brussels Belgium at sunrise. The loveliest town square in the world without another soul around.
Man, this was an early morning!
If you read my ramblings here enough, you have probably seen me mention my love of shooting at sunrise when I travel. I just think it's the best time to be out shooting. Usually it is quiet and peaceful and all the tourists are still in bed. That's a win in my book.
But sometimes it's SO HARD to get up.
On my last trip to lovely Brussels (a couple of years ago), I forced myself to get up before dawn one morning so I could get out and shoot Grand Place alone. I think it's the most beautiful town square in the world, and I wanted it all to myself. It was just a little hard to do since I had spent a couple of hours the night before in a pub right behind that lovely building.
Oh well, it was worth the effort! Thank goodness for auto-focus. :-)
Nightfall in Brussels
A moody interpretation of a street scene from one of my favorite European cities, Brussels...
It's not often that I am out shooting after dark. I'm not sure why, but it just became a habit at some point to pack it up and head home after sunset and blue hour. I especially love blue hour - and doubly so when I am shooting in a city - but there's something to be said about shooting after dark in a city as well.
Take today's photo, for example. This was one evening in Brussels a few years back, and I had been shooting for quite a while already. It was dark but I just kept going - which I am happy about, looking back on things, because I like this picture. I guess this was before I developed my habit of leaving at dark.
I used the interplay of dark and light to create a moody feel in this image. I prefer to leave some shadow (and thus leave a little to the imagination) in most of my HDR photos, and I think that night time in a city is a great place to do just that!
A bit of this and that from Brussels
Here it is - a monster post about Brussels, Belgium! It's one of my favorite places - hey, it's famous for chocolate and beer, so what do you expect? I've got 20 photos in here, so click in for a look and have a read too. I ramble a bit about how these posts come about too, in case you were wondering. Anyways, hope you enjoy the photo tour of Brussels! It's a wonderful place!
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).
Well thanks again for stopping by and hope you enjoyed the photo tour of parts of Brussels! It's an amazing city!
Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert
I would be more interested in shopping if all the shopping galleries looked like this one!
This is the famous shopping arcade in Brussels, Belgium!
I love Brussels - it's an incredible town full of amazing architecture. On my first couple of trips there, I was so mesmerized by their town square, Grand Place, that I am not sure I saw much else. I could literally stand there all day and just absorb the architectural awesomeness of the guildhalls that form the square. Trust me, it's awesome.
But when I returned a couple of years ago (and being interested in photographing as much as possible there, of course!), I did my research ahead of time and discovered this amazing arcade and luckily, it's just a couple of minutes on foot from Grand Place.
But on that trip, I was only able to get there during the daytime, and as such there were a lot of people milling about, which makes sense because it is a shopping arcade. People go there to shop. So I shot what I could, but I knew I wanted to return.
So late last year, I had the good fortune of returning to Brussels, and this place was very high on my list as a reshoot. I found a hotel that was a couple of blocks from Grand Place, and one morning I got up super early and got out to shoot while most of the town was still asleep.
It was still quite dark outside, and there were no people in my way, anywhere I went. It was great. I shot Grand Place and had it all to myself, and then wandered over here and grabbed the shots you see in today's post. Luckily there were some lights on in some of the shops, and they cast a great glow across the polished marble floors.
It was well worth the early rise for getting to shoot this spot. I'm a big fan of architecture, and I always enjoy it much more when I can stand somewhere that is usually packed with tourists, and shoot it without a single person walking into my shots.
The amazing architecture of Grand Place
I love Grand Place - so much awesomeness in such a small place!
Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium is definitely a "must-see" place for everyone, as far as I am concerned. It's the historic town square of Brussels, and is so incredibly beautiful that you will be forgiven if your jaw drops the first time you see it. It's quite a sight to behold.
Truthfully, I feel the same way every time I see it. It's just incredible. It's not a large town square, but the incredibly detailed and beautiful facades of these guildhalls surround you on every side, towering over you yet not feeling intimidating. It's just awesome. You have to go there.
The only problem is that EVERYONE goes there. It's crowded at all times of day and into the night. So I did the only thing I could think to do: get up early and shoot it. I purposefully chose a hotel just a short walk away, and set my alarm for early enough to be there before sunrise.
I got an empty town square, except for a few random folks here and there. But it was basically deserted. You see, that's the reason I get up early in places like this. All the tourists are still asleep, so I can peacefully shoot away to my heart's content, and enjoy the stillness in a place that is not otherwise still. Well worth a little lost sleep!
A bar in Grand Place
Me, my camera, and an empty Grand Place!
On my recent trip to Brussels, one of my main goals was to get up early and get a bunch of shots in and around Grand Place (their historic town square) before it got all crowded. And believe me, that place gets crowded. Like, really crowded.
So I did just that, and I am really glad that I sacrificed some sleep that day. It was well worth it. I had the town square literally to myself. It was amazing. It's hard to describe how big of a deal that is, unless you have been there and seen it.
There were no crowds. There were no hordes of tourists. There was not really any noise. It was quiet, dark, and beautiful. I loved it.
So in addition to a bunch of wide angle goodness, I also grabbed some shots like this one. I love all the little bars and restaurants there...so much character.
The grand expanse of Grand Place
Brussels might be my favorite town in Europe - what's yours?
There is just SO much to love about Brussels, Belgium. It's an incredible city full of beautiful architecture, delectable chocolate, and more beer choices than you can shake an empty glass at. It really is fabulous, and I am thrilled that I got to visit there recently.
One of the many great things about the city is Grand Place, which is their incredible town square. As I said here before, I have no doubt it is the most beautiful town square in the world. You can't convince me otherwise - don't even try. :-)
I grabbed this super wide angle view of it one evening. I had been shooting, then got rained on and waited out the rain while sipping a beer in a nearby bar. Once the rain stopped, it was full on into blue hour and I ventured the 100 feet or so to this spot to grab this shot.
There's really no way (unless you can get above Grand Place I guess) to get a full shot of the square, as it is pretty tight in there and that main building seriously rises into the sky. But I can say that thus far, this shot is the one I have that does the best job of showing you the square. I hope I get to go back and try again some other time!
The facade of Brussels Cathedral
Do you love church architecture as much as I do?
There are few things I like more than shooting churches in Europe. I am not sure why I like them so much, but I really do. They just possess so much awesomeness. Obviously I am a fan of architecture, but it runs deeper than that. I'm a fan of the creation of these things and the skill it took to design them. Considering that most are hundreds of years old (or more), I find it incredibly impressive they could accomplish such things back then - and that they still stand today.
Look at the details in the facade. This wasn't just "stack stones one on top of the other until it is this high" or something that basic. It's sophisticated. It's complex. It's beautiful. There is so much attention to detail that it baffles me. This was done without the aid of computers or the machines we use now for design and creation. This was done by humans.
I'm constantly amazed at things like this. I can buy something these days that was designed, engineered and constructed with the finest raw materials, and I bet it doesn't last 5 years. This thing has been there for hundreds. Awesomeness.
And in case you missed it, the interior detail of the ceiling and more can be seen on this post from a little while ago.
The cathedral in Brussels
The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula
This is one beautiful cathedral, and I am very happy to have found it on my recent trip to Brussels. I passed through Brussels last year and despite shooting quite a bit of the town, I never actually saw this cathedral (or knew about it, honestly). I'm not sure how I missed it, but am glad that I corrected it when I was there a couple of weeks back.
It sits just a short stroll from Grand Place, which is the historic town square in Brussels and which was the subject of my photo 2 days ago here on the blog. I did a Google search and found this one, and then Google Maps let me know it was just a short walk from my hotel. Perfect!
I arrived late in the afternoon, because I checked for their closing time on the web. That's something I always do - try and plan your visit for shortly before closing time. There are usually much smaller crowds then.
But of course in this photo, you couldn't see anyone anyways since I was looking up. I love shooting architecture, and especially in European churches, and this one was just stunning. Be sure and visit when in Brussels, and remember it's close to Grand Place!
Blue hour in Grand Place
My last few weeks have been a bit crazy. I was in Glasgow (and have shared quite a few shots from there already) and then went to London (haven't even processed any of those yet). I was then home for a week, then back across the pond, this time to Amsterdam (I have shared a few) and Brussels (starting with this photo). Oh yeah, then I spent a day in Nashville. Almost forgot about that. :-)
So it is safe to assume that I have a lot of photos to get to, when I can find the time. Ah, time. Where do you go?
Anyways, before I start to wax poetic here on the blog, I better get back in focus and talk about this shot. This is Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium which is without a doubt the most beautiful town square in the entire world. I'm not kidding. Clearly I haven't seen them all, but I have seen this one several times and it freakin' dominates. It's a jaw-dropper the first time you walk into the square.
When I found out that Brussels was one of my destinations, I was pretty excited because despite it being somewhat small and having a compact historic city center, I find it to be one of my favorite towns in Europe. It's just beautiful. It's helped a little by the fact that they are famous for chocolate and beer, which are two of my favorite things, and both are incredible there. Ok, maybe that helps a lot.
But just standing there and looking at this site is something everyone should do. And if you can get up early enough to beat the crowds (and believe me, they are HUGE) then you can get a shot like this one. I think this was about 6:30am and though I saw a couple of people and a street cleaner while there, it was nearly all mine. It was awesome.
Manneken Pis
If you have ever been to Brussels, Belgium you have probably walked by this spot - or planned to. It’s one of the most visited street corners in that most lovely of cities. It’s where the Manneken Pis statue resides.
Have you heard of Manneken Pis? It’s the statue of a little boy who is urinating into a fountain. It’s incredibly famous - almost inexplicably so. It’s really not a big deal, but everyone goes to see it and you can buy all sorts of souvenirs of Brussels which commemorate this little guy.
So where is it in this picture? It’s on the far right side about midway up, tucked up against that wall. You can see all sorts of tourists milling about, and some posing for their picture in front of this famous little chap. He’s only about 18 inches tall, so be sure and look closely and you will spot him.
That’s it. That’s all there is to it. Thankfully it’s close to Grand Place, which is their famous town square, and in my opinion more deserving of its fame. That way you don’t spend too much time wandering away from stuff that is more beautiful.
But at least the locals dress him up from time to time, so when you arrive you may find him in some fancy outfit!
The Atomium
The Atomium is an incredibly interesting structure that sits in Brussels, Belgium. It stands 355 feet tall and was created for the 1958 World’s Fair. It has 9 stainless steel spheres, each 59 feet in diameter, and they are all connected with tubes, some of which contain escalators that allow you to travel through them. It’s pretty awesome, actually.
What the heck is it, you ask? It is designed to represent a cell of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times. Ah, science - what will you think of next?
It’s a worthwhile tour, though I recommend getting there somewhat early. I was there fairly early and still had a short wait, but by the time I finished (about 1 hour) it was getting pretty crowded. Also, it’s a short train ride from downtown, historic Brussels, so be sure and plan accordingly.
And hey - if you haven’t looked yet, this one appears on my list of Top Photo Spots in Brussels, which you can find here.
Here's the view from a distance:
Thanks for stopping by today and having a look! Hope you enjoyed this tour of The Atomium!
The heart of Brussels
A plaza or town square is like the heart of a city, and no place is that more true than in Brussels, Belgium. Their town square is called Grand Place, and Grand is right! It's an incredible display of wealth, architecture, and pure photographic awesomeness. I could literally spend hours just hanging out there, as many folks seem to do (in other words, good luck getting a shot of it devoid of people).
I caught this HDR image there while visiting Brussels earlier this year. Grand Place was the first spot I wanted to visit, and fortunately my hotel was a 5 minute walk away. I high-tailed it there as soon as I checked-in! Despite my desire to fire off lots of HDR brackets, it's almost as much fun standing around and people-watching there. Almost. :-)