Race to Luxembourg

I was fortunate to work with an insurance client during their European expansion. One of their new offices was situated in Luxembourg and since I did not own a portfolio of the city, I made a trip so that I could offer local images to my client. One of the images chosen was the view shown above. The photograph was to be printed on the diasec medium measuring 200cm in length and so it was critical the image was of the highest quality. I admit to being a perfectionist and I was uncomfortable with a little ‘softness’ at the edge of the image. With only a few days to complete an edit of the image and to send it to the printers I had to think of a solution quickly. Flights last minute to Luxembourg are not cheap and since I am a cost conscious traveller I wondered if there were a cheaper way to get there. Having regularly travelled on the ferry between Dover and Calais I thought I’d take a look at driving over, with the intention of re-shooting part of the image. Of course, this relied heavily on expecting similar weather conditions (June vs. November) and being able to capture a near identical image. So, I started my journey from London shortly after 1pm, caught the 4pm ferry from Dover to Dunkirk, landed at 7pm local time and started the four-hour drive to Luxembourg, arriving just before midnight. At that time it would be quiet, easy to park and get my shot. I arrived, parked and set up my tripod just before midnight. I took one shot (lasting four minutes) and then, to my horror, I witnessed the lights on the Casemates du Bock switch off! (purple light on right of image). It was this part of the image which was the reason for re-shooting the image, so I nervously checked on my camera that I had captured the image correctly. After travelling for ten hours, experiencing similar weather conditions to those in November and arriving within minutes of the lights switching off, I couldn’t have been more fortunate. A thirty-minute drive to an Ibis hotel across the border to France (again, cheaper than staying in Luxembourg) and a ferry back the next day, it was a memorable trip, all in the name of achieving perfection for a relatively small part of the artwork. The piece continues to hang in the main meeting room at my client’s Luxembourg office. They were pleased with the results, albeit unaware of this little journey.

Available in a limited edition of 5. Please click here to go to artwork.