The year 2025 ends and we cross over to 2026. I hope the new year will be a good one. I wish it brings some of the desires I cherish in my heart. I am sure others cherish these desires as well.
The Dutch landscape has low horizons and is flat (but not as a pancake). Canals cut through it. Bicycle paths offer easy access for exploring. These photos are just behind the dunes at Noordwijk. They are at the edge of the Maandagse Wetering. On the horizon is Voorhout.
The iPhone had developed into a nice camera. It is not the same quality als a DSLR or system camera, but it is a lovely point and shooter with more and more options added. The zoom is quite nice, but the human side – holding it still – is a challenge.
This week’s Lens Artitsts Photo Challenge (#321) is Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). These photos are from a workshop in 1997 in France, where we had to create movement with a low shutter speed while following the subject. Basically a fun excercise but done on film. So the result literally came to light after developing the film. The excitement and anxiety about the possible results were out of scale! Patience.
These film archives are the source of my B4 retouch series.
About the B4 retouch series: I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed andMarksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
A bicycle tour brought us to the Zijwatering, a canal from Wassenaar to the Oude Rijn (in the time of the Roman Empire the present Old Rhine was part of the Rhine estuary and came into the Northsea at Katwijk). It was a surprise and also a delight to see the beauty of the landscape under a beatiful early Autumn sun. The bottom photo is a panorama, using this feature on the iPhone makes straight lines bend.
LAPC #306 is ‘habitat’. As humans we share the earth with lots of natural life, we share habitats (the human home, the natural ecosystem), we co-exist. Our relation with earth is not balanced. It tilts favorably towards the human interest, disrupting the natural habitats of many. If we as humans do not change our relationship with earth, then humanity kills itself, leaving a planet to recover from being abused. Not survival of the fittest, but termination of the dumbest.
A Heron, sitting on a lamppost, overlooking the articificial canal, as a cyclist uses a cycling path in the background.
This weeks challenge #186 is ‘Low Light’. Monochrome gives a soft grey tone from light to dark, aand nice details in the darker areas, which you can not see easily by eye.
About the B4 retouch series: I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a bigger version.
This weeks challenge #186 is ‘Low Light’. Modern camera’s and even smartphones offer possibilities to take photo’s in poor light conditions. That can be at night or dusk, dawn, but also in poorly lit situations like a museum, church etc. In the old days of film the limits where much tighter. When light was not plenty available there were two options: making the film more sensitive (a few stops) and develop longer. Or flash. I hate flashing, so I always tried to work with existing light. Nowadays that is much more easy with digital technology. Here a photo mady by iPhone on an evening just after dusk.
About the B4 retouch series: I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a bigger version.
Coming back to an area I visited a long time ago in my youth, brings back memories about the past. The beauty of nature is sometimes overwhelming, even when it rains.
The Pas Opweg leading to the Hidden Village in the forest near Nunspeet. In 1943 – 1944 the Dutch resistance build a village where people, wanted by the Germans, could hide. We are lucky to have thousands of kilometers of free bicycle lanes in The Netherlands. And riding an e-bike for the first time in my life in this forest was a wonderful experience.