My man and I recently visited Bruges for 2 days. Bruges (Brugge) is a charming town in Belgium, with an overload of chocolate shops. Coming from a chocolate lover, that says a lot. But apart from all the sweet shops, it has lovely small streets with super cute buildings. Being very photogenic, I have too much photos I want to share, so I decided to make two posts of it. One with outside pictures, and one photos I took inside. I will start with the outside, as these are the most familiar looking for anyone who ever visited Bruges.
One of the most striking and recognisable buildings in Bruges is the Belfort, a tower in the middle of the town. I took a couple of pictures of it from different standpoints. Here’s my collection:
Summilux 1:1.4/50mm; 1/180 sec @ f/4.8
Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH; Kodak Portra 400
Summicron 1:2.0/35mm ASPH; Kodak Portra 400
Summilux 1:1.4/50mm; 1/250 sec @ f/4.8
Also very striking is the Province Court on the Grote Markt. I have an evening shot and an early morning one:
You can get the feeling of this town from the rest of the photos, picturesque little streets wherever you look. The only downside is that it is very touristy and very busy. You can work around that by going in a very cold weekend (as we did), or by getting up early in the morning (as I did). You still find the occasional Japanese tourist, but it’s a lot quieter!
I don’t know if you have noticed, but this is the first time I created a post with digital and analogue images combined. I think they go together very well, and of course that is how it should be. The only downside is that I have to wait with writing a post until I have the film back from the lab, which can take up to six weeks (as I only send them to the lab once I have three rolls to develop). I have to see how that works out.
The analogue photos were developed and scanned by UK Film Lab.
Thanks for reading!
It’s a wonderful city, alas due to lack of time I wasn’t able to visit the whole city. More or less I walked through the path depicted by your snaps. I like how you have managed the light in your superb pics.
best,
Thanks Walker, I really appreciate it. Maybe you will visit it again some day and see more of it? For me it’s only an hour drive or so, so I will definitely go back.
Very beautiful town, indeed! It is charming, it has character, all those channels are a godsend for photography (except on very sunny days, and even then it might have a little spice) and people is so amazing welcoming… We were there for a day (an escapade from a 3 days trip to Brussels) some 4 or 5 years ago, and have so many dear memories! Unfortunately I wasn’t into photography as I am now, so I guess we will have to go back again… 🙂 Another town I wanted to visit was Gent, which is actually midtrip to Brugge, but time didn’t allow for such luxuries. I love your film photographs (I found you on the 35mmc forum) and being right next to the digital ones is, as you say, right. I am specially amazed at how you manage to capture the light, so your compositions are not just pleasing, but luring! Btw, the digital camera is a Leica M9 (or similar) and the film is the M2 of your film series? I am always wary of the digital cameras, but those lenses truly are amazing on your film shots… Keep it up! 🙂
Thanks David!
My digital camera is a M240, and here I used the M2 for film. And yes, the lenses are really nice, I enjoy shooting with them a lot.