Pic(k) of the week 1: YEAR 10 OF THE SERIES FROM A GHENT ROOFTOP - Fujifilm GFX50R

First of all a Happy 2019 to all my blog readers! May the New Year bring you good health, joy and happiness! 

At the start of a New year some photographers are often starting a 365 project; one image per day for a full year. What starts as a great idea for New Years, sometimes turns out to be not realistic and not the best for creativity...

I personally believe that one image per week (52 project) makes for a more thoughtful photo-project and this is exactly what my New Years resolution back in early 2010 was! Now 468 Pic(k)s of the week later, I can proudly say that I haven't missed a single week and have now just started my 10th consecutive year of doing the personal project.

To be honest I never thought I would be able to maintain my Pic(k) of the week series for that long but I've thoroughly enjoyed the process and it has definitively helped my photography forward. Completing 10 years has now become the new goal! 

Like my first post in January 2010, the first 2019 Pic(k) of the week, comes from Ghent (Gent in Flemish), the capital and the largest city in the Belgian province of East-Flanders (Oost-Vlaanderen). The city which started as a settlement in the late Middle ages, can be found at the confluence of the rivers Scheldt and Leie. In the 1300 it was one of the largest and richest cities in Northern Europe. 

For centuries Ghent's skyline has been dominated by three largest churches; from left to right in the image below; Saint Bavo cathedral (942), Belfry of Ghent (1380) and Saint Nicholas' church (13th century). For years I wanted to shoot a rooftop image of these three symbols of Ghent. When I received a brand new medium format GFX 50R on loan from Fujifilm Middle East and a connection that could get me up on a rooftop, I knew I had to grap the opportunity by both hands!


Image details:
  • Fujifilm GFX 50R with GF 45mm f2.8. R WR lens
  • ISO 100, f16, 3 exposure bracket shots with shutter speeds between 2.5s and 30s
  • Image blending in Lightroom CC > Photomerge HDR
The afternoon I went up the rooftop in Ghent with a fellow Dubai based photographer, we both were quite pessimistic about the shoot as grey skies were dominating the skies. I had shot a series of mediocre images, when I told my fellow photographer just after sunset, that I thought the best light was gone. He insisted on staying another 15 min to see if no magic would happen. Oh boy, was I happy we did! 

 All of a sudden the sky turned pink for a few minutes with the resulting image below! I tend to be a very patient photographer and normally don't leave a spot early, but clearly didn't see that one coming! Thanks Erik! 

Although the image above is a HDR (High Dynamic Range) blended image, I made a very conscious effort to keep the overall look as it did on the day. I personally don't like images that "look HDR"; something that seems to be common with newer photographers discovering HDR!

As a yearly tradition in January, I will blog what I believe are my best images of the past year. Expect the post before mid-JAN. 

Remember: "Today is the first page of a 365 book. Write a good one." - Brad Paisley












Comments

Post a Comment