St. Pierre Cathedral | Flights. Camera. Satisfaction.

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.

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!