Our origin story
T’was the 2nd of May 2021, we were in lockdown as Covid cases were still soaring whilst we were left stuck at home, thankfully for most of us, those days are now over.
We felt the need to start something meaningful in order to pass the time and to leave a legacy of how those days really were and how the bustling dynamic of a once vibrant city of Ghent evolved into a more peaceful, quiet and sometimes even an eerie atmosphere. It was a time of reflection whilst embracing the silence as the shopping streets and city centre, once filled with heaps of locals and tourists were left abandoned and locked up.
Despite the struggles of adjusting and adapting ourselves to live through a pandemic which on many levels shook up the way we used to live, that same silence had a sense of beauty. The perspective of how we imagined and how we used to experience a swarming city, was completely swept off the table in a way that no one would ever bank on.
Therefore, we deemed it an original idea to begin portraying that silence. Apart from the fact it helped keep us more or less sane while learning how to create an online presence, we were sure, hopeful and determined that in our lifetime we would never encounter another unprecedented pandemic and that’s how Ghent Photography came to be.
We always had an interest in designing and maintaining websites and social media presence but nothing ever really takes off without a purpose or a goal, so with the idea of Ghent Photography we ultimately had a foundation on which we could start to build upon. We initiated on a very small scale, with a very basic website where we even couldn’t fully personalise the HTML code to our needs and likings.
Additionally, we claimed our name on Facebook and Instagram as we had the goal to reach as many people as we possibly could but most of all to be sure we didn’t have to change the name Ghent Photography into an altered and less appealing monstrosity. (Hugely exaggerated alert).
We wanted to be recognisable and playful while staying modern, classy and vanguard so we opted for a minimalistic logo that we are still using to this day. It took us a while to find a free logo maker as we didn’t had any experience in designing an original and personal logo and didn’t want to spend bank on something we weren’t fully sure would work out.
Spoiler alert: After uploading the logo, we lost the high resolution logo files. Turned out we actually saved it in the cloud but didn’t bother trying to retrieve them assuming we didn’t put it the effort anyways.
folder called Ghent Photography, we knew there was a folder named Ghent Photography but we never felt the need to check what was inside, haha.
A new beginning
Back in January 2022, we updated our website to the first variant of our current design which improved our online presence and handed us many advantages in creating content and maintaining the site but we weren’t quite there yet. However, it looked very neat and professional for such a small and local project.
Present time
Fast forward to today, two years later. Regardless of managing to soldier through an actual pandemic albeit leaving a mark or even a scar on the most of us whilst the sense of urgency and social pressure came back with a vengeance… we’ve turned two!
Throughout the past twelve months, we proudly achieved a few milestones and slowly accrued a small follower base on Facebook and Instagram and even managed to attract more than 11 300 visitors on ghentphotography.be! At a slow but steady pace, we’re progessing and growing which truly excites us.
We wanted to share these accomplishments with you as we are really grateful for the recognition our work is getting which nowadays is a difficult challenge, living in a world flooded in smart devices and social media.
We hope you enjoyed getting to know us a bit more whilst reading our origin story. Please do enjoy our Year-In Review where you will discover what we have attained, what we will do next and what we have been implementing and have been deploying on our website and socials during the last couple of months.
Interested in visiting Ghent? Find more info on the official website of Visit Gent. And if you’re new here, you’re more than welcome to start following our socials, hehe.
Thank you!
Ghent Photography