On a nice summer day, mid June 2025 I decided to hop on a train to Antwerp to photograph the central station. I arrived in the late afternoon when the sun started getting e little lower in the sky. It was around the summer solstice which meant that the sun was at 90° with the station building and still high enough in the sky to shine through the windows at platform level. This created some really nice geometric shadows in the station, which are the ideal lighting conditions for my photographic style. I hung around at platform number 1 for a while where the light was best.
19:25
My favourite image of the day was shot in the entrance of the station. As the sun aligned perfectly with the entrance it created a long dramatic shadow inside the relatively dark station hall. I naturally started shooting silhouettes almost directly into the beam of light. It made for some nice photos, but it lacked some context and a sense of place, as most of the photo was pure black with just the light-beam and some silhouettes of people. But then I looked to my left and saw this typical Swiss railway clock. The face of the clock was backlit and I knew instantly what to do. I got behind the clock looking towards the beam of light and exposed for the highlights. I waited for an interesting subject to walk in the light and after a couple of tries I ended with this shot of the two ladies, which I thought suited the image best. What I didn’t know at the time was that there was an additional silhouette of two people carrying the same bag together in the other entrance in the background, which was a nice surprise when I edited the photo. Finally what I think really finishes off this photo is the position of the hands on the clock at 19:25, perfectly symmetrical and pleasing to the eye, Helping to create a balanced image. This is my favourite image I’ve taken this year.