My best friend moved to Brussels in autumn. I haven't had time to visit and it's killing me a little - I have never been to Brussels and don't even know what it would be like to walk around there, go to the supermarket, take the train etc. So I asked him to take pictures on an ordinary day. Here are some of them.
What a good idea. More people should do this.
ReplyDeletei wish one day i ll be able to live in a city like that. it seems a bit crowded, just enough to show its an urban setting, but clean and with a little bit of countryside air.love it:)
ReplyDeletejust to clarify: Brussels is unpleasantly overcrowded (at least on workdays), so urban that there are hardly any nice spots, impoverished with generally pretty shitty infrastructure, completely dirty and except for a few mediocre parks (which are as dirty as the rest of the city) and the forest in the South there's really nothing countryside-ish about it and it just makes you want to get out of the city and escape to some of the nicer places in surrounding Flanders. /rant
ReplyDeleteand Belgians drive like shit. imagine Italians, but without the skill to actually pull off that kind of driving style.
ReplyDeleteoh man, you just destroyed my dreams.lol
ReplyDeleteit shows once again that photographs do not represent reality but only an idea, or a specific atmosphere that can be way different from the real stuff. ya know, it s like those photos from the sartorialist with the beautiful clothes and beautiful people but in reality maybe the shoes are so uncomfortable, the clothes are dirty and smelly and the air is so polluted you can barely breath(ok, maybe i exaggerated a bit, but you get the point lol)
ReplyDeleteby the way, do you live in Brussels?
I see what you mean, anonymous person. You actually described why I feel uncomfortable when I look at sites like The Sartorialist. I think reality is the most beautiful thing there is and I wouldn't want to give anyone the impression that I live in a perfect world. And if you look at Kevin's pictures, you can see the litter and burnt-out car. To me, although I have never been, Brussels looks like a lonely city. I'm inclined to believe what Kevin says, but as with pictures, words are subjective and opinionated as well. It might be the perfect city for you!
ReplyDeleteI think my pictures were quite representative really, it's just that you picked the 10 out of the 250 pictures in which there happens to be no litter. Which doesn't mean that the ones with litter would be able to capture just how fucked up a place it is - the 'architecture nécrogène' graffiti isn't there for no reason, and it's also not a 'nice motive' I picked but in fact what every 3rd street corner in the EU district looks like. The pictures of the 4 smashed in advertisement boards along that one street would have been much more representative though :D I suggest a second post with 10 random samples!
ReplyDelete(I think the burnt out car is actually cast in bronze...)
Awesomesauce! I'll post some ugly pictures soonish. In fact I think I'll write something about selective sources. Ha! Or even better, do you want to do a little guest post?
ReplyDeletesay yes K ;)
ReplyDeletepleeeease