Back in Ghent

Last week we went back to one of our favorite cities to hang out in, Ghent.  The main reason was to catch De Ronde van Vlaanderen cycle race.  We've been to a lot of cycle races in the past couple of years, but The Ronde is definitely our favorite to go to.  However, we don't really need an excuse to go to Ghent.  The Belgian cities of Leuven, Bruges, and even Brussels have some fantastic city centers, but Ghent just has a little extra something special that has earned it the "Best City in Belgium" award for us.  It's a great mix of old and new, traditional and eclectic.  Plus, most of the time (except Easter and Ronde weekend), it's pretty chill while the tour buses pass the place by on their way to Bruges.

Being April, the weather is rather fickle in Belgium this time of year, but we were blessed to have a dry race day and mostly dry weekend overall.  But, it was pretty overcast for most of it.  We happened to catch a break on Saturday with an afternoon clear up so we did a lot of shooting along the Leie in the old center.  It was really nice to finally have some good skies to work with to warrant lugging the tripod and ND filters around.

A couple of these are now up on the website in the Belgian city gallery.  Ghent is such a wonderful and photogenic city with plenty of drink and food spots to warm up in when the wind gets to be too much.  The really nice thing about Belgium is that its cities haven't been overshot, especially the smaller ones like Ghent.  So, it gives me the chance to come up with my own views without being overly influenced by other work.

Another cool thing about the weekend was that I got to try out a new lens that showed up out of the blue.  I've been short a good long lens forever, which in a place like Ghent with all its wonderful little details is a real frustration.  But, that problem has been solved.  I now have the Fujinon XF 55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS in my bag!  Granted, it definitely makes the X-E2 a little unbalanced, but it was still less awkward than walking around with a DSLR and a long lens.  And, of course, the best part is that this lens performs.

I should mention that those last two were shot handheld in a cathedral.  It was fantastic to capture the details of Ghent.  I'm really pleased with the 55-200mm.  It's a big 'un, but it's fast, stable, and clear.  Another Canon lens is now on the retirement shelf.

Of course, thanks to the overcast sky I ended up shooting a lot of street.  The pubs, the old buildings, the university scene, the canals.  Wow.  It's an incredible place for mono street scenes.  BUT, alas, I can't show you what I came home with as, publicly showing candid street photos (with recognizable people) taken in Belgium isn't legal.  Sorry.

So, I took away two things from the week.  Ghent is an incredible city.  We've been visiting it since 2012, and every year we love it more.  There's always something new to find and the old stuff isn't too shabby either.  Secondly, I'm really, really happy with my new long lens .  While I know that the lens is best set up to match with the X-T1, it does operate with the smaller body of the X-E2 too.  It's not discreet, certainly, but long lenses never are.  But, there are times when I can't get physically closer to a subject, and it is really nice to have a long lens to get me there that doesn't let me down.

There's no doubt we'll go back to Ghent.  There's always another cycle race to watch and I doubt I'll ever get tired of walking that city's streets with a camera.