Hosta
The garden of castle De Keukenhof.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
The garden of castle De Keukenhof.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version

The garden of castle De Keukenhof.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version







The Netherlands, Lisse – August 2025
In Summer the garden of castle De Keukenhof is filled with beautiful Dahlia’s.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.


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.
And another update from the garden: the Magnolia is doing superb this year. Let’s hope the abundance of green in leaves will lead to an abundance of flowers next Spring.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version.
This year we try to grow tomatoes and cucumbers in the garden.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
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.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Sun shining through the trees on the start of another warm Summer day.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version,
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version



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



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





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.




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.





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



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 Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.




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





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




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



Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun. And they are not all in monochrome :-).
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring and repetitive, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.




Since January I try to take regular photos of the Magnolia tree in the garden. The coming days I will publish a daily photo of a close up. For some it will be boring, for most (I hope) it will be fun.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.




The Magnolia in the front garden is slowly waking up from Winter.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
A wet Winter.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
One of the first photos of my new camera, the Nikon Zf. A retro FM2 on the outside but on the inside full of brilliant Nikon Z technology. Its a real hands on camera, with manual settings. I’m learning to use it. One of the reasons to buy it was the availability of three monochrome presets.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version

The first photos of my new camera, the Nikon Zf. A retro FM2 on the outside but on the inside full of brilliant Nikon Z technology. Its a real hands on camera, with manual settings. I’m learning to use it. One of the reasons to buy it was the availability of three monochrome presets.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version



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



This week lens artists challenge #323 is ‘silence’. Autumn is a time where we move towards the end of the cycle, preparing for Winter. A time of letting go with the awareness that nature is preparing for Spring. The cycle of life at work, complexity in simplicity.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
This week lens artists challenge #323 is ‘silence’. How to depict silence?
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version