Inside Geneva’s St. Pierre Cathedral

In modern times Geneva is probably best known for its association with the United Nations and the Swiss banking industry. But back in the 1500’s it was considered the “Protestant Rome”, the unofficial capital of the Reformation.

St. Pierre’s Cathedral was the adopted church of John Calvin, a leader of the movement away from the Catholic church. Protestant exiles from all over Europe came to Geneva to take refuge, so while it’s not the most interesting church to look at it’s certainly historically significant.

I always enjoy exploring the geometry inside cathedrals like this. There are so many different ways to frame a shot, with crazy lines all over the place. I’ve found one of the most effective techniques is to try and use features of the interior to frame other elements in the shot. This normally provides some nice depth to the image from front to back.

The Fêtes de Genève Goes Out With A Bang

As we watched in awe from the roof of our six storey apartment building, the ground beneath our feet was shaking a little too regularly. But this was no earthquake, just the unbelievable force of the cherry bomb fireworks exploding over Lake Geneva.

Once a year the skies above our Swiss town are filled with colour in a spectacular display celebrating the end of the summer’s Fêtes de Genève. And at a cost of 700,000CHF (almost $800,000) you’d surely expect it to be one of the best in the world!

I stayed on the roof of our building to shoot this year. The thought of battling my way around the half a million people who come to watch, while carrying a tripod and camera bag, was not particularly appealing! With the ground shaking every so often I came away with a lot of blurry shots. Even so I did get a few sharp ones, and this was one of the best.

What’s the best fireworks display you’ve seen? Maybe you have some tips for shooting fireworks? I’d love to hear from you!

Watching The Night Envelope Geneva

Watching day turn to night around Lake Geneva is such a wonderful experience. Soon after the sun has set behind the Jura mountain range the buildings spring to life and the town shows its true colours. I don’t think there’s a much better spot to observe the beautiful transition than this one looking out towards the Jet d’Eau.

I really wanted to capture a sense of the night enveloping the town, so I spent about 2 hours with my tripod just watching the light change. Too early and the reflection would be too weak, too late and the day’s light would have passed. Of the many shots I took this was the most balanced.

Over the course of the evening I experimented with a variety of settings in Manual mode so that I could control both the aperture and shutter speed. Getting an exposure that was both long enough to blur the water and not too long to blow out the highlights of the buildings was an interesting challenge!

Three Doors In Geneva Old Town

There was something about these three doors in the old town of Geneva that caught my eye. The light streaming through the middle door was fantastic and created a great atmosphere. Two of them being half open also added an element of intrigue to the scene.

The run down nature of the surroundings is a bit unusual for the old town, with most buildings being better kept around the edges. But I think I much prefer them like this, they’re much more interesting to look at and bring a bit more character to the streets of Geneva.

I’m not sure about the dark coloured wall on the right hand side. Viewed full screen it’s not so obvious, but in the smaller format published here it can be a bit distracting. Hopefully you’re reading this after looking at the shot so you weren’t thinking about this whole time!

Lighting Up The Horizon

This was another great sunset we had here in Geneva recently. We’re experiencing a run of dull weather at the moment, but every now and then the clouds start to break up toward the end of the day and there is some great light scattered about the sky.

After I discovered it a couple of months ago this has become one of my go-to locations around the lake. Unfortunately a new boat has arrived since I took this shot, occupying the water on the left of the image. It doesn’t make for such a nice composition! So I’m going to look for an alternative next time I’m out.

What you can’t see in this published version are the cigarettes in the foreground, which I cloned out in Lightroom. It always baffles me that people think it’s ok to drop cigarette butts on the floor. I’m not sure how it’s different to any other kind of littering, which most people would find completely unacceptable!

At The End Of The Road

I’m not sure whether this was executed purposefully by town planners or a happy accident. But either way the view down this street – curiously named Rue du 31st Decembre – toward the Jet d’Eau in Geneva is one of those that’s hard to forget.

This shot was taken in the middle of a pedestrian crossing. Each time the lights went green I would cross half way, try to line up as well as I could and click the shutter. Obviously as the lights were green for me to cross, they were red for the oncoming traffic.

I wanted a clean composition with no cars involved, so I had to wait a good while for the street to be clear at the right moment. I think I probably crossed the road about 15 times to get this shot. As is usually the case, my patience and persistence paid off in the end!

Lake Geneva At Its Very Best

We had another great sunset in Geneva this evening, and I finally managed to get my tripod down to the lake. This meant I could take some longer exposures and really capture the reflections in the water. Fortunately the lake was calm so the moored boats were not bobbing around too much. Otherwise I would have had some pretty blurry boats in this shot!

I think I made it just in time for the best of the light, and decided to experiment with some new angles. I wanted to get up higher so I could capture more of the water below. Climbing up onto the rocky ridge beside the path gave me the prefect vantage point, allowing me to include more of the lovely reflections and Lake Geneva’s incredibly clear water in a single shot.

This is definitely my new favourite composition from this spot around the lake. Sooner or later I will have to move on and try to find somewhere better, but for now I just can’t get enough of this location!

Do you have a favourite spot you go back to time and time again? What makes it your favourite?

Going Wide Angle On The Streets Of Geneva

Wandering the Old Town of Geneva gave me a great opportunity to use my 10-18mm lens on city streets. In the past I always struggled to get the image I really wanted with a narrower lens. I like to take in the whole scene to give a better sense of the environment. But I could never find the right balance between having the street in shot and maintaining a comfortable amount of room at the top of the image.

I was forever compromising between these two elements, and rarely happy with the outcome. But now I don’t have to make that compromise! I returned home from the Old Town with a number of shots I am more than happy with, all thanks to the extra width and height afforded by the new lens.

Having searched what must have been most of the streets in the vicinity, I finally found what I was looking for – an unobstructed view to the spire of St. Pierre Cathedral. Fortunately I remembered to expose for the highlights, and then just touched up the shadows and clarity in Lightroom.

How do you approach shooting in the streets? Maybe you like to use a wide angle lens too? I’d love to hear from you!

A Sunset Well Worth The Effort

We had a great sunset in Geneva yesterday, which unfortunately coincided with my journey home from the office. I was kicking myself that I didn’t have a camera. The clouds were fantastic, lighting up pink and orange in every direction. I knew exactly the spot for some good shots, I just had to hustle a bit!

After some light jogging and questionable jaywalking I made it home and out again to my favourite spot just in time. This is definitely one of the best locations I’ve found for shooting around Lake Geneva, with plenty of great opportunities for interesting compositions that include the famous Jet d’Eau.

In the mad rush I didn’t have time for my tripod, which is a shame because this shot is plagued a bit by the high ISO I had to shoot at in order to get a practical shutter speed for a handheld shot. I think the best of the light had passed by this point, but I still managed to capture the moment. And I’ll be sure to take my tripod next time!

Have you ever rushed to capture a shot before the moment passed? Maybe you’ve seen a great sunset recently? I’d love to hear from you!

Finding That Elusive Shot Of Lake Geneva

A couple of weeks ago we had some fantastic weather at the weekend in Geneva, so I set out in search of a shot that’s been eluding me for quite some time. I’ve always been disappointed with my shots of Lake Geneva in the past, and have found it difficult to find an interesting way of shooting such a large body of water. I’ve never really captured how it feels to walk along its shores in Geneva. So when I came across this shot I was extremely happy, it felt great!