Once the seat of the counts of Flanders, the ancient castle that dominates Ghent was built in the late 1100s. For three hundred years it was Ghent's military stronghold, and was later used as a city jail and a cotton mill. These ancient steps lead to the massive turrets that once guarded the city. To me, they were the essence of the castle. Framed in ancient stones, these fan-like steps are worn smooth from centuries of use. I carefully composed the image so that the doorway at upper right was reduced to a mere sliver of light and arranged that sliver within the frame so that it enters the image from the upper right hand corner and leads diagonally in to the steps – the only way in or out of this claustrophobic place. The original image featured brownish grout in the walls and gray-brown steps. When I converted this image to this crisp range of black and white tones, the image became simpler, cleaner, less real but more symbolic of another time. They were no longer tourist steps. They became castle steps that grasp the imagination and carry it back through the centuries.