A Blue Hour In Ghent | Weekly Photo #22
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.