Nothing says Gothic like butresses, unless of course it’s spindly decorated spires. And, if you want perhaps the best example of Gothic architecture in the world, that’s Chartres Cathedral. I shot this in 2007, with an early generation point and shoot. I want to go back there one day with a real high res outfit, a tripod, and an architectural lens so I can do it right. If you want to see how Chartres should really be photographed, there’s a book, published by Aperture, by a photographer named Frederick H. Evans. I’d recommend it. He was there a hundred years or so ago, when photography was quite a bit harder.
I figured that since this was a pure form picture, it would look better in black and white, so after raising the clarity and contrast a bit in Lightroom, I imported it into Silver Efex Pro to make it look a bit like Evans’ work. I softened it on purpose so it would look more like the silver gelatin he would have used.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate or sponsored links. If you book or buy through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Some of our travel is hosted, but we accept invitations on the understanding that what we write is our own. Read our full disclosure.
For more info about the equipment and software I use, see this page.
You can buy prints of my photos on my Smugmug page.
So beautiful and detailed. I really like how you transformed your photo to look like it is a much older photograph. The beauty of these ancient buildings — what was still is. So many beautiful buildings to discover!
Thanks Marilyn. Like I said, I was just trying to imitate a master.