‘I know the word that you long to hear
I know your deepest, secret fear’
– lyrics from The Spy, The Doors
Shot on the streets of Brussels during the lockdown.
Where, then, indeed, were the spies when they were,
…most needed?
Keeping an eye on subversive selfie shooters perhaps?
The spy.
for WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge – Eye Spy
“when truth is replaced by silence,the silence is a lie”
― yevgeny yevtushenko
So, it’s now Thursday, the infamous #BrusselsLockdown began last Saturday.
I’m writing this post on the move with the WordPress app on my iPad. My ‘grown up’ camera (curiously my iPad insisted, with Siri’s help no doubt, on replacing camera with ‘camper’) is resting at home, my battered, screen shattered, old iPhone has given up, it’s battery exhausted. Yes, it knows the game’s up, knows it will be retired and replaced by a younger, slimmer, (deceptively) more exciting model in only a few days.
Today’s photos were shot, edited and posted from my iPad, so they’re perhaps not as polished as I might like. In fact, some are frankly poor.
But, I do think they tell the story. Thursday evening, in many places, used to be the time of the week when the wage slaves received their pay packets bulging with rapidly depreciating notes. The streets would be packed with life, noise, and yes, a degree of drunken debauchery.
Not here. Not today. Not yet.
I’ll be back.
Which, reminds me (ha) you may wonder why there is a poorly cropped shot of headless Politie officers? Well, for the first time in my life, I was stopped whilst shooting taking photographs and instructed (firmly but politely) to press the delete button. Does that make me a paparazzi, a real photographer, or just plain stupid for taking a full frontal group shot with a leather encased tablet?
As I said, I’ll be back.
‘A question with no answer is a barrier that cannot be breached. In other words, it is questions with no answers that set the limit of human possibilities, describe the boundaries of human existence.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
(for breendonk, concentration camp, willebroek, belgië)
(for DP weekly photo challenge – boundaries and for lucile’s photo 101 rehab)
*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-200mm f/4 lens at ISO5600, 1/125s at f/4, edited in lightroom cc and analog efex pro 2, reflection on boundaries that should never have been crossed*
“stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing…”
― maya angelou
(tram 44, montgomery)
(for daily post weekly photo challenge – change)
*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens at ISO200, 1/125s and f/2.0, edited in lightroom cc with wet plate filter applied with analogue efex pro 2*
“we’re reaching for death
on the end of a candle
we’re trying for something
that’s already found us”
― jim morrison
My second response to “Tech of the month: Long Exposure” hosted by the peerless perelincolors and lucile de godoy.
I set out with high hopes for this shoot.
However, I never was a Boy Scout, and so, sadly, I was not as well prepared as I should have been.
I took the metro from Weststation to Centraal. Lugging my camera bag and my tripod, full of expectation.
I fought through the crowds of tourists, flower fanciers and all those musical hipsters, to reach the Grote Markt, set up my tripod, hoping not to be moved on by the Politie fearing I was assembling a weapon of presumed mass destruction.
I found a suitable spot, fiddled with my settings, and found a rhythm.
And then, my battery expired.
So, I share these photos as a humble experiment, in anticipation of another opportunity.
*shot with nikon d700, nikkor 16-35mm f/4 lens, lightcraft workshop nd500 filter, manual setting, exposed at ‘bulb’ with Nikon MC-36 remote, should have ordered a new battery charger…*
(also submitted to lucile’s photo 101 rehab)
“I was too used to being fortunate, and didn’t try to understand those less fortunate. Too used to being healthy, and didn’t try to understand the pain of those who weren’t.” ― Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart
(people, on the street of brüssel)
(for lucile’s photo 101 rehab)
*all shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-200mm f/4 lens, edited in aperture 3 and silver efex pro 2, makes me think*
To read about it is one thing. To see, is another.
“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
― Primo Levi
(fort breendonk, willebroek, belgië)
*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-200mm f/4 lens at various settings, edited through a veil of tears in lightroom cc and silver efex pro 2*
“for the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them”
― aristotle, the nicomachean ethics
(ecole de cirque de bruxelles, rue Picard 11, bruxelles)
(for wordpress weekly photo challenge – off season)
(and for lucile’s photo 101 rehab)
*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 lens at 210mm, ISO320, 1/60s at f/4.8, edited in lightroom cc and silver efex pro 2, she didn’t fall, off season*
“into this world we’re thrown”
– riders on the storm, the doors
right now
riders on the storm
right over brussel
“the world on you depends…”
(for wordpress weekly photo challenge – vivid)
*shot with nikon d700, nikkor 70-200m f/4 lens at 1/320s, f/9 and ISO200, edited in lightroom cc and analog efex pro 2, nature involved, and the doors…*
vivid from andytownend
“i’ve been everywhere, man”
lyrics from the australian cover by lucky starr
(camper van in brugge)
“Tullamore, Seymour, Lismore, Mooloolaba,
Nambour, Maroochydore, Kilmore, Murwillumbah,
Birdsville, Emmaville, Wallaville, Cunnamulla,
Condamine, Strathpine, Proserpine, Ulladulla,
Darwin, Gin Gin, Deniliquin, Muckadilla,
Wallumbilla, Boggabilla, Kumbarilla…”
…and brugge
(for wordpress weekly photo challenge – on the way)
(and for lucile’s photo 101 rehab)
*shot with nikon d700 and nikkor 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 lens at 70mm, ISO200, 1/200s, f/7.1, edited in lightroom cc and photoshop cc, colour range selected to highlight red, inverted and converted to black and white, i’m on my way, man*
on the way with andytownend
on the way on belgradestreets
belgianstreets 