What's (in) the Picture?

Chris Breebaart Photography – finding stories

Posts from the ‘Flowers’ category

Field of Dahlia

A vibrant field filled with blooming dahlias under a clear blue sky, showcasing various colors and growth stages.
The Netherlands, Voorhout – August 2025

In Spring this field produces either hyacinths, daffodils or tulips. In Summer this year it produces Dahlia.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta.  Click the picture for a larger version.

Choices And Preferences 3 (Flowers)

I have a fondness for black and white aka monochrome. That grew on me. Mono was cheaper 50 years ago and more ‘easy’ to handle in a dark room. Monochrome gives something extra at times. The sphere, the grain. And over all these years I learned to see objects in monochrome, visualizing what something looks like in grays.

When I bought my first Nikon digital camera (the D70), I naively asked ‘where is the monochrome setting?’. It was not there. Shooting was color only. If I wanted mono I had to create it myself afterwards in Lightroom, Photoshop or an app like Snapseed. But lucky for me, on the iPhone and on the recent Nikon Zf, there are monochrome settings. To be honest, that was one of the reasons to buy a Zf. So now I have a choice: choose a mono or color setting, or turn color afterward turn it into mono.

I know the taste of my ‘audience’ is different than mine. In three days I like to find out more about your taste. What do you fancy more: a photo in mono or in color? 

This third and last one is about flowers, waiting for the recycle bin. The photo was shot in color.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Drips (And Other Thoughts About Photography)

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – July 2025

This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #359 is ‘Tools of Photo Compositions: Lines, Colors and Patterns’. Photography is about seeing. But what do you see? I can only talk for myself. It all starts with an appeal. Something in the real world captures my eyes. Most of the times that is spontaneous. It is about being there in the moment. What I visualize tells me a story, a small whisper, ‘come, shoot me! It’s fun’. And when building the photo lines, patterns, colors (or monochrome tones) are tools to try to bring that story out. And then the shutter clicks. My photo’s are my story of the world. My way of giving ‘voice’ to something that made me press the shutter, that reflects inside me. Yet, my click with the image can be totally different than the click of the observer.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Unique Dutch Stereotypes and Cherished Flowers: Chrysanthemum

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – July 2025

We Dutch are often described as being on the penny. Of course, we all wear wooden clogs. We eat stroopwafels all the time. We have a fetish for windmills. And do not forget to accuse us of creating our own country by fighting the sea. We drink to gain courage and let you pay your own meal. Add tulips and other bulb flowers to finish the picture of the Dutch. Oh yes, we are considered rude. We call it ‘direct’.

In the end we sure have a laugh about all that is said about us, Dutchies, worldwide. But if you combine being on the penny with buying flowers, you choose flowers that stay good for weeks: Chrysanthemum. As Johan Cruyff used to say: “every disadvantage, has its advantage”.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version

Exploring Dutch Gladioli: Culture and Significance

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – July 2025

In The Netherlands, we do grow lots of cut flowers. A lot of them are exported but there is plenty of supply for the domestic market. In our household we have fresh cut flowers every week. Last week we had these big fellows. Gladioli are famous for the saying ‘death or the gladioli’. A Dutch proverb that translates to ‘all or nothing’ or ‘do or die’. Success or failure.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version

Garden Joy: Agapanthus

The garden is a joy now, flowers popping up everywhere. The Agapanthus are doing very well this year. They are the diva’s this time of year. This is a white agapanthus, tweaking it a bit with Snapseed turned it into yellow all of a sudden.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version

Allium Afterglow

This is the last stage of the yearly cycle of a giant Allium. It comes in three photo versions after showing that amazing flower, that we enjoyed this year.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version

Blue Belled Graveyard

England, Guildford – April 2025

Near the High Street of Guildford is a St. Mary’s Church with an old graveyard. The Church where Lewis Caroll used to preach under his real name.

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Discovering Bluebells in Surrey: A Spring Adventure

England, Ranmore Common – April 2025

The brief for this weekly Lens-Artists Challenge #349 is ‘the first thing I thought of (when I saw this)’.
Bluebells are famous. But I never saw one with my own eyes in the wild until this Spring.

This Spring I saw them flowering in the woods of Surrey. Beautiful.

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Wisteria 3

This is the Wisteria on its best! It is absolutely gorgeous, for us and the wild bees!

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Wisteria 2

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – May 2025

This is the Wisteria on its best! It is absolutely gorgeous, for us and the wild bees!

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Tulips by the bundle

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – April 2025

We are fortunate to have a supply of reasonably cheap fresh cut flowers throughout the year in The Netherlands.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Last Field

The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2025

All the bulb flowers of Spring are now gone. We have to wait for next year to see tulips, daffodils and hyacinths ruling the fields of our flat lands. Until then we enjoy nature exploding in its full force, and after that its decline into Winter. But for now it’s amazing how fast everything springs out.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta.  Click the picture for a larger version.

A Rose is A Rose is A Rose ….

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – April 2025

International Labour Day, not a red rose but a white one.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Rosa

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – April 2025

In The Netherlands a lot of flowers are produced. We are lucky to be able to enjoy fresh flowers in the house.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Tulips

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest and Voorhout – April 2025

Tulips in the garden and on the field. It might be that the bulbs for our red tulips next year in the garden come from this production field in Voorhout.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Magnolia Revisited

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – April 2025

This year I followed the flowering of the magnolia tree in our front garden. The mono photos are taken with Nikon Zf, the colors come from the iPhone.

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Flower Parade 2025: The Last Ones

The Netherlands, Voorhout April 2025

April 12 2025 was the yearly Bollenstreek flower parade; an impressive treat of creativity and beauty. The colors on display, the fragrance, the beautiful arrangements and the wonderful weather made it a true treat. 

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Flower Parade 2025: Pump it Up

The Netherlands, Voorhout April 2025

April 12 2025 was the yearly Bollenstreek flower parade; an impressive treat of creativity and beauty. The colors on display, the fragrance, the beautiful arrangements and the wonderful weather made it a true treat. 

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Flower Parade 2025: Advertising by Flowers

The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2025

April 12 2025 was the yearly Bollenstreek flower parade; an impressive treat of creativity and beauty. The colors on display, the fragrance, the beautiful arrangements and the wonderful weather made it a true treat. 

Some of the floats were sponsored by countries, to promote tourism or expressing a bond. Here some photos of the floats of China, Thailand and Brazil.

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Flower Parade 2025: Tulips in Nature

The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2025

April 12 2025 was the yearly Bollenstreek flower parade; an impressive treat of creativity and beauty. The colors on display, the fragrance, the beautiful arrangements and the wonderful weather made it a true treat. 

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Flower Parade 2025: Monkey Business

The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2025

April 12 2025 was the yearly Bollenstreek flower parade; an impressive treat of creativity and beauty. The colors on display, the fragrance, the beautiful arrangements and the wonderful weather made it a true treat. 

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Flower Parade 2025: King of the Sea

The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2025

April 12 2025 was the yearly Bollenstreek flower parade; an impressive treat of creativity and beauty. The colors on display, the fragrance, the beautiful arrangements and the wonderful weather made it a true treat. 

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Flower Parade 2025: Sail Amsterdam 2025

The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2025

April 12 2025 was the yearly Bollenstreek flower parade; an impressive treat of creativity and beauty. The colors on display, the fragrance, the beautiful arrangements and the wonderful weather made it a true treat. 

This float is themed Sail Amsterdam 2025.

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

The Continuing Story of Magnolia Close Up (final sequel)

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

The Continuing Story of Magnolia Close Up (penultimate sequel)

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.

Landscape of Hyacinths


The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2025

Lens Artists Photo Challenge 343 is ‘Seen on my last outing’. Yesterday, a short bicycle ride around Voorhout. On the bulb fields lines are straight, which is kind of boring. But the panoramic view of the iPhone changes the perspective.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta.  Click the picture for a larger version.

Hyacinths and pond life

The Netherlands, Voorhout – March 2025

The flowerbeds are there again. The daffodils as always first and now hyacinths.

Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version

The continuing story of Magnolia Close Up (colorful sequel)

Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using SnapseedGrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.