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The Sun Will Rise | Weekly Photo #42
I love to get up early and venture out when visiting new places so when I spent a weekend in Ghent back in 2019, I was up and out to capture the city during what turned out to be a beautiful sunrise.
As I sit here in the UK during some incredibly uncertain times, I know that for most people right now, photography is far from the top of the agenda. I get it and I feel the same. But, while there are many people being impacted by this unprecedented global event and there are far more important and practical jobs which are being done by many heroes all over the world, I do feel that positive distractions are incredibly important for everyone now more than ever, and I for one am grateful for all of the content creators out there continuing to provide these welcome creative distractions including my favourite photographers and YouTubers.
Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/6th Second | f/7.1 | ISO200
I first shared this photo in a recent article I posted titled On Location Photographing a Sunrise In Ghent. This is the view looking down the River Leie from St Michael’s Bridge in the historic city of Ghent in Belgium. Although there is no clear focal point in this scene, when I first crossed the bridge during the day I knew this view with its fantastic reflections was one I had to revisit and try to photograph during my planned sunrise shoot the following morning.
After taking a photograph of Saint Nicholas’ Church during the blue hour, the sunrise exploded into the sky, casting these beautiful colours across the scene. With the tripod set up, I decided to go as wide as possible for this shot to get as much of the reflections into the foreground as possible so on to the Fuji XT2 I attached the 10-24mm lens set to 10mm.
Although there are some strong compositional elements such as the long, sweeping lines created by the river bank and the detail in the reflections creating a strong foreground, there isn’t really a main focal point which lets the image down somewhat. A taller building that stands out like an ornate clock tower would have been perfect on the right hand third but we can only capture the view we see. What I feel does work and helps here is the way the light is well balanced across the scene as the sky on the right lighting up the buildings on the left help make sure the light isn’t too strong on just one side.
I will be using some of this time during social distancing to process a few photos I have yet to get to and write a few blog articles that have been on the back burner. I will continue to post my weekly photo posts during this outbreak which I hope will be a small but welcome distraction and although it seems a long way off yet, as the title says, the sun will rise again.
Stay safe.
Trevor
This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.
On Location Photographing A Sunrise in Ghent
In the Summer of 2019, my family and I visited Ghent, Belgium and during our stay, I snuck away for a few hours to capture a beautiful sunrise in the city’s historic district.
I have been sitting on this post since last year, never quite getting around to publishing it but at last, it is finally out in the wild.
In the Summer of 2019, I travelled to the city of Ghent in Belgium with my family to explore what I consider one of Europe’s best-kept secrets. Since falling in love with the chocolate-box city of Bruges during a trip the year before, we were left wanting to see more of what Belgium has to offer.
I won’t be covering the entire trip in this post as I have already done so in a previous blog which you can find here: On Location | Photographing Ghent. Instead, this post will talk about my early morning shoot during which I was lucky enough to capture a beautiful sunrise across this fine city.
Although this trip to Ghent was a family city-break, I still made a point of getting a sunrise shoot in by heading out early on my own to try to photograph the city while looking its best, during the best light and with fewer people around. Getting out earlier gives me a few hours to explore the deserted city, photograph away and have the best compositions to myself.
Contrary to my daytime setup where I had with me the smaller Fujifilm X-T30 camera, for this shoot, I took with me the larger XT2 workhorse which I use for my main landscape/cityscape work. Normally, I wouldn’t have so much gear with me when on a city-break but as we travelled to Ghent by car, I had the luxury of taking as much camera gear as I wanted.
Photographing a Sunrise in Ghent
Before visiting Ghent, I researched the city for photo ideas and had spotted a composition similar to this looking across the bridge towards Saint Nicholas' Church, so, when I arrived in the city, I headed to this spot first. I wanted to incorporate the ornate streetlights that lined the bridge so I looked around for the best composition as I waited for the sky to get a little lighter but wary not to wait too long just in case the lights were turned off before I had the shot in the bag.
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 2.6 Seconds | f/11 | ISO200
From the other side of the Bridge and with my wide-angle 10-24mm attached, I managed to capture a few more shots, including this view down the River Leie just as the sky came alive with these fantastic sunrise colours. This stretch of river and between St Michael’s Bridge and Grasbrug is one of the most picturesque areas of the city and where I spent most of the morning with my camera soaking in all of the history during these peaceful early hours.
Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/6th Second | f/7.1 | ISO200
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 25mm | 1/3rd Second | f/11 | ISO200
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 0.5 Seconds | f/11 | ISO200
Once done on the bridge, I wandered down to the water’s edge. Having noticed how the disorderly buildings looked as they lined the river and with the 10-24mm lens still attached, I had a go at photographing them front-on and capture some of those great reflections at the same time. Although the light in the sky was amazing, it was all coming from behind the buildings so I had some dynamic range issues to deal with in post-production but the excellent XT2 dealt with it well and I was able to recover a lot of detail from the underexposed buildings. I also struggled to align the composition properly because the building to the left of the clock tower is leaning to the right making the entire scene appear wonky so the final image isn’t quite as good as I was hoping for but I know there is potential there if I visit again, maybe at the other end of the day so the light hits the front of the buildings.
Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 11.5mm | 1/12th Second | f/11 | ISO200
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/8th Second | f/7.1 | ISO200
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/17th Second | f/7.1 | ISO200
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 36mm | 1/400th Second | f/3.6 | ISO200
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 31mm | 1/1700th Second | f/5.6 | ISO200
Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 17mm | 1/400th Second | f/8 | ISO200
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 30mm | 1/340th Second | f/8 | ISO200
When the last of the sunrise colours were gone, I spent some time wandering back along the river and around St Michael’s Bridge taking more photos during the morning golden hour. I had a great time capturing the city while continuing to play with the lead-in lines and reflections along the water’s edge.
If I had one regret after the shoot, it’s that I didn’t take any long exposure photos during this sunrise. In reality, if I had attempted to spend the time to set up the kit, get the filters ready etc, I might have come away with nothing so it was probably the right decision and given that the city is such a short drive from Calais, I can always come back to this charming city and try another time.
It wasn't too much longer before the best of the light was gone which was my cue to leave and meet my family for breakfast at the hotel feeling pretty happy I had a few good shots on my memory card.
I hope you enjoyed this On Location photo travel blog and please get in touch if you have any questions.
Cheers
Trevor
A Blue Hour In Ghent | Weekly Photo #22
This week’s photo is a blue hour image shot from Saint Michaels Bridge during the blue hour in Ghent, Belgium.
St. Michael’s Bridge is considered one of the most romantic spots in Ghent. It’s a beautiful setting by the river with cobbled streets and has some great views of the surrounding architecture and majestic churches.
Fujifilm XT2 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 2.6 Seconds | f/11 | ISO200
I consider Ghent, one of Europe’s biggest secrets as it doesn’t seem to be as well-known as its smaller cousin, Bruges but in my opinion, this city in Belgium is definitely well worth a visit. I have already written my travel blog covering this trip where you can learn all about some of Ghent’s most popular places. You can find the article here: On-Location Photographing Ghent.
Photographing Ghent during the Blue Hour
Although this trip to Ghent was a family city-break, I still made a point of getting some sunrise cityscapes in by heading out early on my own to try to photograph the city while it looks its best with fewer people and good light. It gives me a few hours on my own to explore the deserted city, photograph away and have the best compositions to myself. I can then head back to the hotel and meet my family for breakfast so we can carry on with our day together.
Before I visited Ghent, I researched the city for photo ideas and had spotted a composition similar to this looking across at Saint Nicholas' Church so when I arrived in the city, this is the first place I went. Upon arrival, the way the streetlights lined the bridge caught my eye so I knew I would feature them but it was still pretty dark so I went about preparing for the shot while I waited for it to get a bit lighter. I wanted the cobbled street and streetlamps to lead the eye up, into the frame towards the church which would act as my main focal point.
Once composed, I adjusted my aperture to get enough depth of field which also helped me capture those cool starbursts created by the streetlamps and once the blue hour had kicked in I went about capturing the photo.
Happy I had the photo in the bag, I went on my way to capture a few more photos during this little bit of “me time” I had. I was lucky enough to take a few good photos during this early morning session so I plan to write my last post about my trip to Ghent covering the entire session and showcasing the photos I took, so look out for that article in the future.
Once all of the best light was gone, that was my cue to leave and meet my family for breakfast at the hotel.
Until next time.
This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.
On Location Photographing Ghent
In August 2019, I visited Ghent with my family and took my newly purchased Fujifilm X-T30 so this article is part travel blog and part gear review with some photos of the city thrown in for good measure.
Ghent, Gent, Gand, whatever you call this city, one thing is certain, this city is a great place to visit and quite possibly Europe’s best-kept secret. Travellers heading to Belgium for a short break usually head to Brussels (Belgium’s capital city) or Bruges, which is a small and very charming chocolate box city around 45 minutes from Ghent but judging by most of the people I spoke to about my upcoming trip to Ghent, it would normally be followed by the question “Where’s that?”.
Having already visited Bruges in August 2018 and had a great time, my family and I decided to spend another long weekend in Belgium, this time visiting this beautiful medieval city. As we live in the South East of England, Belgium is such a convenient place to visit as it’s only a short drive to the Channel crossing and around 90 minutes’ drive once we had crossed the English Channel. In total, a 4-hour door to door journey. Not too bad at all.
If you missed my “On Location” post covering a previous trip to Bruges I took in 2018, you can find it here: On Location Photographing Bruges.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/640 Second | f/2.8 | ISO160
What photography equipment did I take to Ghent?
This is a photography blog after all. Not long before heading to Ghent, I had retired my Fujifilm X-T10 and purchased the X-T30 as my lightweight alternative to the XT2 workhorse I tend to use on shoots. On this trip, I took both cameras but I only used the XT2 once during a sunrise shoot and used my X-T30 during the day as I thought it would be a good opportunity to really get to know the camera and put it through its paces. Although I didn’t take all of the gear out with me each day, below is the list of kit I took on the trip:
Fujifilm X-T30 Body
Fujifilm XT2 Body
XF10-24mm Lens
XF18-55mm Lens
XF55-200mm Lens
I mentioned above that I had recently retired my X-T10. In fact, I do still have it and one of my daughters decided to use it as her main camera while we were in Ghent. She shot with the 35mm F2 lens on the camera and came away with some fantastic photos of her own.
A little bit about Ghent
Ghent is a port city in the north-west and Flemish region of Belgium situated about an hour’s drive from Brussels and 45 minutes to Bruges. Dating back to around the 7th Century when it’s first two Abbeys were founded, the city flourished to the point that in the 13th Century, it was Europe’s second-largest city north of the Alps, second only to Paris. Now a university city boasting museums, churches and a charming stretch of river, this city has a great mix of historic and modern cultures.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/420 Second | f/4 | ISO160
Instead of documenting our trip chronologically, in this post, I will cover some of the places we visited with some photos and useful information along the way.
Gravensteen Medieval Castle
First up is this charming but brutal looking Gravensteen Castle located along the River Lieve. Also known as the “Castle of the Count”, this 12th century stone castle has all of the usual medieval features you would expect such as a moat, turrets and arrow slits. Built originally as a fortress, over the years it has been used as a courthouse, prison and strangely, even a cotton factory.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/500 Second | f/6.4 | ISO160
If you decide to venture inside the castle, you will find the inside rather bare so I recommend the audio tour. It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek and a little lengthy so allow extra time as you wander the castle but it is the best way to learn all about its history.
Rooftop views of Ghent from Gravensteen Castle
We visited the roof of the castle which provides some great rooftop views of the city. As you can see below, I used some of the arrow slits to frame some of the city’s other buildings.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/850 Second | f/3.6 | ISO160
Along the River Leie (Lys)
Ghent’s city centre is located along the River Leie and it is such a charming stretch of river and between St Michael’s Bridge and Grasbrug, it is particularly popular with the best of the chocolate box architecture. As we wandered around the city, we really enjoyed walking along both the River Leie and offshoot stretch of water names River Lieve (indeed the names are incredibly similar). Parts of the river had a kind of Amsterdam feel with colourful flower baskets and bikes leaning up against the rails.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 22mm | 1/1700 Second | f/4.5 | ISO160
Using the Fujifilm X-T30 as a travel camera
As we wandered around, I was glad I chose the Fuji X-T30 as my “walkabout” camera. This small camera that packs quite a punch was equipped with the standard zoom 18-55mm lens which, when combined, felt nice and light whilst capturing some super sharp images. I also had an incredibly light backpack as I decided to only take one other lens with me from the hotel. Using the X-T30 takes so much friction out of the photography process as the tactile controls and manual dials mean I can compose and adjust settings really quickly. With Fujifilm really upping their focus game with this camera, taking photos while walking about was nice and easy and my family didn’t have to stop too often while I was taking photos.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/1,000 Second | f/4 | ISO160
Saint Michael’s Bridge and Saint Michael's Church
The building of St. Michael’s Church started around 1440 and continued into the 16th century whereby 1566 two levels of the tower were completed. Due to religious conflicts, construction stopped until the 17th Century when in 1623 building restarted to repair and complete the tower. Although a design for the tower was proposed, funds dried up and the tower was never built leaving an odd-looking flat roof where the tower should be. I took a photo of the church from atop the Belfry of Ghent which you can see below showing the church and its flat-roofed tower. To me, it doesn’t look right at all as I am used to these types of religious buildings having impressively tall spires and not at all flat roofs.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/5th Second | f/4 | ISO400
Built-in 1910, the neo-gothic St. Michael’s Bridge is probably the most popular bridge in Ghent. Providing great views of this beautiful stretch of river as well as an iconic view of Ghent’s three towers, it’s arguably the best vantage point in the city. I cover the three towers further on in this blog.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/2,200 Second | f/4 | ISO160
St. Nicholas' Church (Sint-Niklaaskerk)
I mentioned above that Ghent has three towers that dominate the city skyline and St. Nicholas’ Church has one of them. This is the first church we ventured into as when we travel, we like to experience both the external and internal architectural details historic buildings like this have to offer. It was also a good opportunity to put my X-T30 through its low-light paces. More on that below.
In the early 13th century, the building of this gothic church was started and continued throughout the remainder of the century. It also houses an impressive and quite famous organ built by the French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. There is a photo of the organ below and although I wasn’t aware at the time of its importance, I certainly remember how striking it was when I saw it at the time.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 30mm | 1/950 Second | f/6.4 | ISO160
While wandering inside the church photographing the ornate details and impressive architecture, it gave me an opportunity to test the low-light capabilities of the X-T30 camera. Using both the optical stabilisation in the XF18-55 lens and increasing the ISO, I was able to keep my shutter speed high enough to avoid blur whilst handholding the camera and retaining enough quality in the image. I would regularly up the ISO to 1600 or even 3200 and the photos still had low noise levels and were really quite good.
Belfry of Ghent (Het Belfort van Gent)
The second of the “Three Towers” I will feature in this article is the Belfry of Ghent which is the middle of the three towers in the photo below. It’s a 91-meter tall medieval tower constructed in the 14th century. Over the years, the Belfry was used as a lookout tower and more famously, the city’s bell tower that kept time for the locals for many years.
We climbed the tower, well, I say we climbed but we got the lift when we were about halfway up due to some little legs getting tired. As we climbed there were a few rooms to both rest and learn about the tower’s history. I took a few photos of the bells as we climbed but the real treat was when we arrived at the top of the tower. The views! You can take some great rooftop photos of the city including a nice view of the St. Nicholas' Church from the rear which you can see in one of the photos below.
One word of warning. It is single file around the top of the bell tower so there is not a lot of time to take photos before you feel compelled to move forward to avoid holding other people up. If you want to spend some time up there, you may have to walk around the top a few times to get all the shots you want.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 55mm | 1/500 Second | f/4 | ISO160
Saint Bavo Cathedral (Sint Baafskathedraal)
Last but not least of the Three Towers is Saint Bavo’s Cathedral which stands just two metres shorter than the Belfry of Ghent I wrote about in the previous chapter. Although construction began on this gothic church in 1274, subsequent construction projects took place throughout the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries.
Personally, I thought this church has the most impressive interior of those we visited. The ceiling and alter alone are just beautiful. I really enjoyed walking around playing with the tactile knobs and dials on my X-T30 camera locking in the settings needed to take pictures in the low light conditions. Again, I was really happy with how this powerful little camera performed.
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/3,000 Second | f/2.8 | ISO160
..and finally, the beer, trams and chocolate!
No visit to Ghent could be complete without visiting the many chocolate shops and drinking the local beer. We had some frequent pit-stops as we wandered around and the local beer went down a treat. If you ever visit Ghent, try the Leffe Blond. It’s my favourite and can also be purchased in the major UK supermarkets in the craft beer aisle.
As far as our kids were concerned, visiting the chocolate shops was probably their favourite part of the trip. They liked to wander into the shop in hope that they would be handing out samples. Of course, once we had tried every type of chocolate on offer, we had to buy some!! It was delicious!
While in the chocolate shops, I opened up the aperture on the camera as far as I could which allowed me to capture sharp images handheld in the low light and provided some nice bokeh too!
Fujifilm XT-30 | XF18-55mm | 33mm | 1/150 Second | f/3.6 | ISO160
Getting around on the trams is super easy and, in my opinion, more comfortable than the buses and taxis. It’s also free to travel on public transport when you purchase a Ghent Citycard making it both convenient and cheap!
I’m really pleased I took my Fujifilm X-T30, as this small, lightweight powerhouse of a camera never missed a beat and took some great quality photos. That coupled with the analogue buttons and dials I find so useful when changing settings on the fly, I was able to focus on taking photos rather than constantly fiddling with the camera’s menu. Battery life seems to improve as mirrorless camera technology moves forward and I was able to last almost all day on a single charge but I had a few spares just in case.
Why you should visit Ghent
Hopefully, you got a good taste of what Ghent has to offer from this article but it’s by no means complete. In the few days, we had to spend in this city, we saw and did enough to feel satisfied we had gotten under the skin of the city and didn’t leave feeling we missed out but there were, however, many other places to visit I didn’t cover such as the art museums and city parks but this time round we didn’t have enough time to get to them all. Maybe that’s a good excuse for another visit in the not too distant future!
On a final note, I mentioned earlier in this article, I had my Fujifilm XT2 with me while in Ghent and used it for an early morning sunrise shoot which I will be sharing soon in a followup post in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned for that. Alternatively, signup to be notified of all website updates here.
Cheers!!
Fujifilm XT-10 | XF35mm F2 | 35mm | 1/640 Second | f/3.6 | ISO200