The Artful Engineer

Since the Chunnel train was late and the sun sets very early in Belgium in December, our first big photographic outing in Bruges was the morning after our arrival: a boat ride through the city’s canals. Even though the boat was moving rather slowly by objective standards, from a photographic standpoint, the compositions were passing by rather quickly. I really needed to spend a few minutes beforehand to make sure my camera settings were appropriate for moving subjects (although it was actually the photographer that was moving, not the subjects!). The image above is obviously a popular photo spot, because the boat stopped and gave each side of the boat an unobstructed view. So, clearly not an original composition, but I still like the buildings and the ripples.

This next image is the only one in today’s post that was not taken from the aforementioned boat. I’ve been trying to avoid posting Christmas light images since it is now March, but they made such wonderful vibrant orange reflections here that I gave them a pass.

The image at the top of this post was taken from just beyond the bridge that is partially visible in the image below. That previous image is undoubtedly the classic shot, but this one is my favorite. The reflection’s symmetry, the graceful perspective of the receding buildings, and the single bright red building make a striking image that is both graphic and has a lot of interesting detail. I also like the way that the half-bridge on the right side stops the flow of the dark canal wall from leading the eye out of the frame. If I print this image large, I might edit out a couple of the street signs, but otherwise this would look great on a wall.

These days, most of the boating activity through the city center seems focused on tourists, but the canals were obviously an important mode of transportation in the past. This is clear from all of the water-level doors in (or perhaps I should say below) the buildings, most of which appear infrequently used. These next examples bely the trend, being well-maintained, and I love their contribution to the overall color palette:

Bruges has a lot of nice brickwork, quite a bit of which seems to have been patched and repaired at various times in the past. The image below has a somewhat messy feel to it, with plants growing where they shouldn’t, which is pretty common as you wander around the town. It definitely feels like the buildings are more carefully maintained above street level than below.

I’ll finish this week’s post with another view of Koningsbrug (the bridge) with Poortersloge (the Burgher’s Lodge) towering in the background:

I hope you enjoyed these images. As always, I appreciate you following (or visiting) my blog. There’s a lot more to come from Bruges. This week’s theme was reflections; next week’s will be bicycles.