07-JUN-2005
Wings aloft, Brussels, Belgium, 2005
A sword-wielding angel protects Brussels from his perch far above the city's old fish market, as wings of another kind leave disintegrating contrails in the evening sky. Because the angel was mounted on a very high column, I used a medium telephoto focal length of 160mm in order to make the size of the sculpture equal one third the length of the jet contrail behind it. If the statue were any larger in the frame, the contrail would be cramped for space. On the other hand, if the angel were any smaller, the contrail would overwhelm it. That’s why I recommend telephoto zooms over fixed telephoto lenses. We can easily fine-tune the scale of our subject to make it work best with the size of its context. The scale relationship between statue and contrail also determines the size of the triangle created between the flow of the wing, the leg, and the contrail. This triangle defines the incongruous relationship between the mythical wings of an angel and the wings of jet aircraft that etch the sky with their contrails. I also tilted the frame to run the contrail dynamically from corner to corner, energizing the angel in relationship to the thrust of the gradually disintegrating contrail behind it.
17-JUN-2005
At the Gate of the Goat, Kinderdijk, The Netherlands, 2005
Kinderdijk features nearly 20 windmills, built around 1740 to drain water from reclaimed land below sea level and pump it into nearby rivers and canals. It is the largest concentration of windmills in the world. I built this image around the relationship between the whimsical sculpture of a goat mounted on a hay bale near Kinderdijk’s entrance, and several of the windmills deep within the complex. Standing a good distance away from the goat, I used a long telephoto focal length of 319mm to get both the goat and the windmills into focus, yet also pulled them much closer together within my frame than they actually appeared to be in reality. The expanse of water between them also becomes narrower, and the long lens cuts through the mist to define the detail on the sails of the windmills. The reclaimed land itself is a verdant mass of green, which I emphasize by stressing the color of the grasses in the foreground and repeating them in the middle ground as well. The backlight abstracts both the goat and windmills, creating a timeless image of this place, which was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 1997.
15-JUN-2005
Brabo Fountain, Town Square, Antwerp, Belgium, 2005
This image demonstrates the ability of the telephoto lens to compress multiple layers of an image into a dynamic perspective. I used a medium focal length of 264mm from a fairly close distance to integrate the incongruous detail of the bizarrely tarnished bronze figure, the spouts and droplets of water hanging in the air, the flags billowing from poles before the city’s town hall, and the façade of the town hall itself. The image throbs with energy – a bronze goddess supporting the massive platform of the fountain above her, the arching streams of water, and the waving flags in vivid primary colors, all of it flattened into a single plane.
08-JUN-2005
Place de Brouckere, Brussels, Belgium, 2005
In 1872, a design competition was held to encourage construction of architectural value around this busy Brussels square. Today, the winning designs have fallen victim to time and commerce. It is more lucrative for the building's owners to promote a Coke than to cherish Brussels' past. The sign is mounted on the top of a tall building. To be able to get this perspective, I had to stand at least a full city block away from the building. Yet I also needed to emphasize detail to stress the elegance of the deeply shadowed pediment and to compare the dynamic swoosh of the Coke logo to the perfection of the pediment’s classical triangle. The only solution is a very long focal length. I used the full length of my 432mm zoom lens to stress this detail. I then cropped the picture to retain only the bottom of the sign and the pediment of the building, using only the top half of my original image. This means that I would have had to use a focal length of 864mm to make this same image in an uncropped version. (I also had the option of using my “digital zoom” feature, which would have eliminated cropping the image later. However I never use that “digital zoom” feature because it just crops the picture in the camera, significantly degrading image quality. It’s always better to crop a picture in Photoshop, than to crop it in the camera!)
15-JUN-2005
Mother and Daughter, Temse, Belgium, 2005
I used the classic portrait focal length – approximately 105mm – to make this naturally candid portrait of a Belgian mother and daughter. I wanted the image to reflect an intimate, thoughtful moment in time, with each of the subjects appearing relaxed and unaware of the camera. The daughter is softly illuminated by window light, while the mother’s profile is in shadow. We were luncheon guests of this Belgian family, and I made this image while sharing a conversation with them and several other guests. The mother answers a question, while her daughter, who is still learning English, is patiently trying to absorb the answer. Working from about 10 feet away, the 105mm focal length makes it seem as if I was five feet away. But I was not in their face, and they were able to concentrate on the conversation instead of reacting to the camera. Without a telephoto lens, it would have been very difficult to make this natural an image.
15-JUN-2005
Town Crier, Temse, Belgium, 2005
This fellow stepped out of the 19th century to welcome us to the small town of Temse. I made this portrait of him from a distance, using the full length of my 432mm zoom because I wanted to use its shallow depth of focus to soften the contemporary building in the background as much as possible and reduce its prominence in the image. I later converted the color portrait to black and white, taking him even further back into the past. The black and white image removes the vivid colors of his uniform as well as a reflection of the blue sky in building's window.
14-JUN-2005
A crack in time, Ghent, Belgium, 2005
This clock, on the tower of Ghent's old post office, peeks between the bricks and stones of Ghent's 12th century guildhouses. It is one of Ghent's most visible landmarks. I made this image from about 200 yards away, shooting through an opening between two medieval Flemish guildhalls on Ghent’s riverside promenade. The ancient brickwork of those buildings was deeply shadowed, but because the clock tower was so high, it was still catching the last rays of the setting sun at 9:40 pm on a long June evening. I used a medium telephoto focal length of almost 200mm to frame the golden face of the clock tower within the darkened brick facades of the guildhalls. It enabled me to bring three buildings together within the same image that were three blocks apart in the real world.
09-JUN-2005
Maison du Roi. Brussels, Belgium, 2005
The Maison du Roi, once the administrative center for Flander's ruling Spanish kings, is now home to the city museum. It is just one of the ornate 400 year old structures surrounding the Grand Place, at the core of the old city. I photographed it on a cloudy morning, using backlight to abstract the tiny figures that seem to be dancing around its spires. Because these figures were so small and so high above me, I used a 240mm medium telephoto focal length to make this shot.
10-JUN-2005
Antiques Market, Place du Grand Sablon, Brussels, Belgium, 2005
Shoppers at Brussels' Place du Grand Sablon Weekend Antiques Market make good photographic subjects in themselves. This woman's hand gesture speaks of decision-making. She seems to have just stepped out of the painting behind her, which also makes use of hands. I was standing about 20 feet away from this scene, and used a medium telephoto focal length of nearly 200mm to make the photo. Although my point of focus was on the woman’s gesture, the painting is sharp enough to register detail as well. The depth of focus at 200mm from that distance was substantial enough to define the painting in reasonable detail.
19-JUN-2005
Into the night, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2005
A small boat seems to hesitate before a bridge over an Amsterdam canal, as if its passengers were anticipating their passage into a world of shimmering gold. This image speaks to me of the lure of travel and all its possibilities. It also refers to the color palettes of the great Dutch painters who once lived and worked in this city. To make it work, I eliminated the top of the bridge, which was cluttered with distracting railings, cars, bikes, and trucks. I wanted as quiet and intimate scene as possible. I isolated the boat, the arch, and just enough textured water, reflecting various intensities of gold. The telephoto lens is an essential tool for isolating content and simplifying composition. The boat and arch were a long way from me, so I used a long 310mm focal length to compose the image in this manner. I focused on the boat, making everything sharp from the foreground to where the water begins to soften just after the arch. Normally, I do not center my subjects, but in this case I did so to intensify that feeling of hesitation. I wanted this image to draw this moment out forever. That is one thing still photography can do very well.
