Xboxes on a stroll

Finally back after a long period of… well, just no time for blogging. Luckily, that did not mean no chance to get out shooting (just almost no spare room for reviewing, processing etc.).

I took my X-cameras along on a full day of street photography in Brussels’ Marolles neighborhood, situated between the Law Courts of Brussels (the biggest building worldwide constructed in the 19th century) and the Brussels-South railway station. During the Middle Ages lepers were exiled to this area, where they were cared for by the nuns of Maria Colentes (Marikollen) – hence the origin of the area’s name.

In later centuries, the Marolles became a working class district, and in modern times even a laboratory for the construction of social housing. The neighborhood today is known for its social authenticity, as it houses a mix of generations and ethnicities.

Visitors and tourists will be attracted by the daily secondhand trade market on the ‘Vossenplein’ and by the many antiques in the surrounding streets. But if you venture a little further, there is much more to discover!

Not uncommon for street photography in general, I find this subject matter ideally suited to be captured in black and white. So these few selected shots got a good dose of Silver Efex Pro.

Gear notes: Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 & 60mm f/2.4;
Fujifilm X100

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Don’t forget the little ones…

Whenever you have the chance to photograph a richly decorated environment, make sure to leave some time to take another walk through the premises, this time focusing on interesting details and remarkable ornaments. These pictures will complete the ‘overall’ shots and will add to the appreciation of art and architecture.

Gear notes: D700, 24-70/2.8

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Castle +1

Time to go up the majestic marble stairway at the Val-Duchesse castle, and explore the first floor.

From the landing, a small salon leads on to a large and bright hall in Louis XVI style – the Baron room – complete with mirrors and chandeliers.

At the other side, the apartment of former owner Charles Dietrich now has become the ‘Presidential suite’.

Gear notes: D700, 16/2.8, 17-35/2.8

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Covering the base (part 2)

We continue out tour of the ground level at the Val-Duchesse castle (see earlier posts).

Our next stop is the Flemish Room. Typical for this dining room are the oak paneling extending into bookshelves and the fireplace with screw-shaped marble column, Delft ceramic tiles and a bas-relief on top. The stained glass windows here carry scenes from Lafontaine’s fables. Also note the intricate ceiling and the checkered floor.

The Flemish Room leads on to the majestic Gothic Hall, topped by an arched ceiling. A wooden winding staircase leads up to the first floor. The floor tiles feature a labyrinth pattern. The many decorations – sculptures, carvings, paintings, stained glass windows - feature scenes from the history of the priory.

Gear notes: D700, 13-35/2.8, 24-70/2.8, 16/2.8

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Covering the base (part 1)

Back with some more images from the Val-Duchesse castle shoot. We’ll start our indoors discovery tour at the ground floor.

The first room to explore is the Golden Room, a Louis XVI style salon, loaded with fine moldings, and featuring an impressive mirror over the marble fireplace. Above the glass doors, you find the monograms of Charles-Henri Dietrich (a Brussels banker and businessman who acquired the castle in 1903) and of Edmond de Vigne (the architect overseeing the restoration work in 1904-07).

Next comes the Dutch Room, decorated with typical blue rosette and chocolate-brown speckled tiles in Delft porcelain. The five stained glass windows flooding this room with daylight illustrate adages by Jacob Cats, a 16th century Dutch poet, humorist, jurist and politician. Also remarkable is the black marble fireplace with white marble geometric motives.

All the above overview images are the result of my (by now) proven exposure blending technique, combining 5 to 9 shots in post processing for a still natural looking HDR rendering.

More beautiful places to discover in follow-up posts!

Gear notes: D700, 17-35/2.8, 24-70/2.8

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The Duchess’ castle

On more than one occasion, I was offered the opportunity to shoot in exclusive locations that normally remain inaccessible to mere mortals: a good friend of mine has a very special gift for opening doors to such exquisite sites. This time, he brought us to the Castle of Val-Duchesse (Kasteel van Hertoginnedal), at the outskirts of Brussels, a famous site in recent Belgian and European political history.

Behind the gates…

The 18th century castle

The history of Val-Duchesse started in 1262, when Adelaide (Aleydis)of Burgundy, Duchess of Brabant, widow of Henry III, Duke of Brabant founded a priory for women (hence the “Valley of the Duchess” name). It was the first such  priory in the Low
Countries that followed the rule of Saint Dominic; Saint Thomas of Aquin is said to have been a guest there. The priory further flourished and gained considerable wealth thanks to the generous gifts of numerous royal persons and noble families. In 1650 a wall was erected to protect the diverse edifices of the priory.

The present-day castle in Louis XVI style was added as a residence for the prioress in 1780, under the rule of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria. Today the castle is owned by the Belgian Royal Trust, and operated by the federal department of Foreign Affairs.

The priory’s front side

Back side of the priory, towards the castle

Val-Duchesse has played an important role as a venue for major negotiations in Belgian and European politics after World War II. The castle was the setting for one of the great moments in European history, when in the autumn of 1956 six heads of state (from France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux) met to draft the text of the Treaty of Rome, leading to the foundation of the European Economic Community in 1958.

Also, over the years, countless ‘historical’ decisions have been taken by Belgian leaders meeting in the Val-Duchesse castle. These include the language legislation of 1962-63 (establishing four language areas in Belgium) and the federal government coalition talks in 2007.

The stately entrance hall

Upcoming blog posts will take us through some of the magnificent rooms of the Val-Duchesse castle.

Gear notes: D700, 24-70/2.8, 17-35/2.8 - Fuji X100

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But where are the books?

Back one more time to the Egmont Palace. This time we’ll have a look at the Library, a bright ground level room decorated in Directoire style. These days it serves as a venue for press conferences hosted by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

 
 
The third picture was shot with the camera help up high in the air on top of a monopod, triggered by a cable release, in order to reach an unusual vantage point.

Gear notes: D700, 24-70/2.8G, 24/2.8

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Mirror mirror on the wall

Care for another look inside the Egmont Palace in Brussels?

The spacious Hall of Mirrors runs along the front side of the Palace’s east wing and – in its current form – is the result of several restoration efforts. The parquet floor dates from around  1930, the side paneling in Régence style was renovated in 1971.

Need I spell out the photographic challenges? On the day of my first visit the sun was blazing through the windows; for my second pass I could benefit from an overcast sky. Once again the HDR approach came to the rescue: I bet you can hardly see which of the above pictures was shot on what day?

 
It’s near impossible to capture the true size and scale of such a rich interior. The image above (another HDR of course) was shot with my fish-eye lens and ‘straightened’ in post-processing. With such an extreme wide angle of view, extra care is needed not to include any fellow photographer or a casually left tripod or photo bag, directly or reflecting in one of the many mirrors. Fortunately, I ended up with only one intruder, one small enough to take care of using Lightroom’s spot removal tool.

 
There’s so many details to discover and capture here, just look at this small (?) salon at the far end of the Hall. But let’s not hang around forever and leave some for a next occasion, shall we?

Gear notes: D700, 24-70/2.8G, 24/2.8, 16/2.8, 17-35/2.8D

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Stairway to Heaven

Take this for a challenge: here’s a monumental and lavishly decorated stairway located inside a multi-dome hall. Polished marble and mirrors everywhere. Add a few statues and carved decorations, and a couple of antique tapestries. Lighting: a long wall of glass doors behind at ground level, above that on the first floor a row of windows. Beyond that, just a few bulbs inside in chandeliers, and one bright skylight way up in the back. Go figure!

 
Let’s take care of the angle first. Obviously you have to go wide, very wide, because there’s not much possibility for backing up. Keep in mind receding lines when tilting upwards, not to forget distortions and symmetries. Tripod and spirit level at the rescue.

The two images above were actually shot with a 16mm full-frame fisheye lens, and later de-fished and perspective corrected using Lightroom 3. I am quite pleased with the capabilities of this new software, and amazed how good the end result can be (especially if you wouldn’t have known from the beginning…).

 
Now let’s worry about the proper exposure. From harsh daylight to very dark corners: no way to capture that dynamic range even with the best FX sensors. So let’s go HDR, and take 3 to 5 shots with a 2EV exposure difference between them (on my D700, that means 5 or 9 ‘clicks’ as auto bracketing is limited to 1EV steps).

Exposure fusion in Photomatix Pro 3.2 for natural and realistic looking results. Extra care dealing with the color casts generated by different light sources. Global tone and contrast adjustment, perspective correction and some local brushing for adding (or removing) accents in Lightroom afterwards. Lots of patience behind my decent but anyway underpowered computer. And then a second pass to give all the images a somewhat consistent look.

I was taking these pictures surrounded by a small group of other photographers, all equally eager to take ‘their’ shots from the same ‘perfect’ spots, of course with no one else within the frame. And we had just two hours to cover the whole building (well, at least the areas we were given access to).

So when a few days later I was offered to come by for a second pass, I decided to pack light: I only took a few prime lenses and a sturdy monopod. That gave me a lot more mobility and better chances to quickly sneak in and take my shots.

At times it felt as if this stairway was leading me through hell…
Looking at the final pictures however gives me that soothing kind of heavenly satisfaction – and leaves me with a list of more images to capture and mistakes to avoid in case I could sneak into the Egmont Palace one more time. After all, who knows?

Gear notes: D700, 16/2.8D, 24-70/2.8G, 24/2.8

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