Who’s Afraid Of Pink
The last tulips on the field, some already beheaded, some still in bloom.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Posts from the ‘sky’ category
Behind The Lines
The last tulips on the field, some already beheaded, some still in bloom.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Golden Birch
Sunset and golden hour.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Ticking Away The Moments
The theme of this week’s LAPC (#398) is illustrate a quote with a picture. There are notorious opinions about the civil service, lots of them framed in jokes. This is the Departement of Eduction, Science and Culture in Den Haag. A bit tongue in cheek (I am one of that civil service), this came up in my mind:
‘Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way‘
Pink Floyd, Time (The Dark Side of the Moon)
Of course the above is applicable to the private sector as well.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a large
And The Winner Is …….
The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2026
The Netherlands, Voorhout – April 2026
A major part of The Netherlands lies beneath sea level. Water, and the management of it in infrastructure as polders, dams and canals, is normal. We even not think of living under sea level. We feel safe.
The flat landscape makes it interesting to look for lines that guide the eyes through the space. In a polder there are always canals that do the trick.
The question here is: which appeals most to your taste buds?
LAPC #395 looks back to LAPC #155 ‘On the water’. Water is not on our minds, but it is mindful to keep defending dry land against rising sea, rivers and soon (thanks to climate change with a bigger financial effort) rain. Meanwhile water is seen in most of the landscapes of The Netherlands.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Any Way The Wind Blows
A major part of The Netherlands lies beneath sea level. Water, and the management of it in infrastructure as polders, dams and canals, is normal. We even not think of living under sea level. We feel safe.
Most of The Netherlands is flat, with a low horizon, offering a wonderful quantity of sky over the horizon. Being near the coast there is always wind. Reflected in the sky and the water of the canals, serving to manage the water levels in the polder.
LAPC #395 looks back to LAPC #155 ‘On the water’. Water is not on our minds, but it is mindful to keep defending dry land against rising sea, rivers and soon (thanks to climate change with a bigger financial effort) rain. Meanwhile water is seen in most of the landscapes of The Netherlands.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Windmill, Water and Tulips
A major part of The Netherlands lies beneath sea level. Water, and the management of it in infrastructure as polders, dams and canals, is normal. We even not think of living under sea level. We feel safe.
Here a polder with an old windmill (painted by Monet long ago) – originally used to pump water out of a polder- and a small canal in a polder with tulips. Only the clogs are missing!
LAPC #395 looks back to LAPC #155 ‘On the water’. Water is not on our minds, but it is mindful to keep defending dry land against rising sea, rivers and soon (thanks to climate change with a bigger financial effort) rain.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Colored Lines
Colored lines in the fields, looking over the flowers into the distance.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Out in the fields
Hyacinths spread color and fragrance on the fields at this time of year. Remember: these flowers are not destined to be sold, but are grown for the bulbs. In June you can order the bulbs in webshops, to have them light up your garden next Spring.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Dutch Flowerfield Landscape
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Spotting Artemis 2
Normally I try to spot the man in the moon, but this time it was Artemis 2 flying around.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Spring Sunrise
The sun beaming through as it rises.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Framing Rijnstraat 8
The theme of this week’s LAPC (#392) is about framing, using the foreground, middle and background. Government office Rijnstraat 8 in The Hague.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger
Capturing Spring Rain: Foreground, Middle, and Background
A shower of Spring rain with sun lighting up the drops. Setting the scene in the middle ground as the foreground and background form the stage setting. The theme of this week’s LAPC (#392) is ‘foreground, middle and background’.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
So Close, So Far Away
Clouds for this week’s LAPC theme week (#391) ‘Phone photography’.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
When The Night Falls
Dusk for this week’s LAPC theme week (#391) ‘Phone photography’.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Just Around A Corner
Fortunately, this is really just around the corner. This time of year it is fun to take the bicycle and check out the flowers in the area. Especially when the sun shines. As most of my photos on here are taken on iPhone I do fit the brief of this week’s LAPC theme week (#391) ‘Phone photography’ easy.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Impressions of a bulbflower field
This time of year it is fun to take the bicycle and check out the flowers in the area. Especially when the sun shines. As most of my photos on here are taken on iPhone I do fit the brief of this week’s LAPC theme week (#391) ‘Phone photography’ easy.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Shed and Hyacinths
Time is something I sometimes can not grasp. On the one hand it is always the same: a second stays a second, a minute a minute, an hour an hour, a day a day, a week a week, a month a month. On the odd extra day every four years it is a ‘given’ that a year has 365 days. On the other hand time can slip through your hands. It seems to go faster, or slower. It is on your side or not.
This Spring is one of those moments that makes me wonder about time. There is an order in bulbflowers, but daffodils with hyacinths, while tulips pop up in the garden makes me confused. Is it going faster? But in the end the beauty and scent of flowers stays amazing.
The LAPC theme this week (#391) is ‘Phone photography’. Having a smartphone on me all of the time, with a camera that is getting better and better, is quite normal. As Tina says she rarely shoots other than with her phone. The same applies to me. The Iphone is handy, technology for dummies, always near and light. And it offers more an more quality and creativity. On the other hand it still lacks lots of technology you can find on a system camera. So I am in a hybrid state: daily the phone, on occasion the system camera. Getting on a bicycle enjoying the fields is easier with my iPhone. It produces a nice quality. It is convenient. But shooting the flower parade requires a systemcamera.But that is something for next time.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
First Daffodils
The bulb fields are blooming. And to be honest, it goes quite fast. The daffodils are almost gone, hyacinths start to arrive and there is a lot of fields with tulips, still waiting to pop there heads up. Here a daffodil field.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
A matter of choice and taste – Episode 1
If you visit my blog – like I hope you do or from now start to do – you must have recognized my ‘old’ love for monochrome. When I started this hobby, mono was fashionable and a standard for news photography. And it was cheaper. In this series I offer you two versions of a photo. And you can prefer one over the other, or not.
This week’s theme is ‘Time to relax’. On a bicycle ride through fields where soon bulb flowers will pop up, together with other cyclists. On the color version you can see the deep purple of early hyacinths. With Some yellow late Daffodils.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
On The Run
This week’s theme is ‘Time to relax’. On a bicycle ride through fields where soon bulb flowers will pop up, together with other cyclists and the occasional runner.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
A Sunday Walk
Spring is here and last weekend I made a little bicycle ride to check out the bulb flower fields. Daffodils where coming up, and at odd places hyacinths started to show. A nice way to relax and enjoy the lovely day outside. As did others by walking, running or cycling. Fitting this week’s theme ‘Time to relax’.
Shot with iPhone 17 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Lines of Thought
The sky is always inspirational and a place of imagination. Just clouds in shapes, and light settings.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Royal Library
The view towards the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Library). This weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #387 is Shadowed. How do you use shadows in photography.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Dark and Light
A Winter sunrise. This weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #387 is Shadowed. How do you use shadows in photography.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Tree
A Winter sunrise. This weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #387 is Shadowed. How do you use shadows in photography.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Rain Trees
This weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #387 is Shadowed. How do you use shadows in photography. I am not sure if this fits the brief, the silhouettes of a tree through a rain covered window.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Question: Mono or Color?
The Netherlands, Den Haag – January 2026
It is quite a simple question to ask. Do you prefer the monochrome version or the colored version of a photo?
I grew up with monochrome. Because it was cheaper. That applied to films as well as darkroom costs.
The mono version emphasizes the background and atmosphere. The colored version is high lighting the front of the frame.
But in the end, as the famous nr. 14 Johan Cruyff said: every advantage has its disadvantages. And the choice is as always subjective.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseedand Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
On Wings
The LAPC theme #385 is ‘unusual crop’. Geese in a pretty big V.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Winter Sunset Ripples
The LAPC theme #385 is ‘unusual crop’. Sky shots of clouds are mostly abstract. Framing them in a way that makes sense is a challenge at times.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Marshes Panorama Blakeney
To end a long set of photos of the marshes near Blakeney, a panorama shot.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseedand Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Running On Empty
The coast path between Blakeney and Cley next the sea is used often by joggers.
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner
I published this one in a black and white version earlier, but this is the original. The coast path between Blakeney and Cley next the sea is used often by joggers.
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
First Light of a Winter Sunrise on the Marshes
England, Blakeney – December 2025
Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge #383 is ‘patterns and designs’. Sunrises are always amazing, but the marshes being touched by the first rays is amazing to see.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Cley Next The Sea
Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge #383 is ‘patterns and designs’. The sunrise over the famous Cley windmill and Cley next the sea.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Sunny Rain
Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge #383 is ‘patterns and designs’. A Winter rain shower over the quaside of Blakeney.
Shot with Nikon Zf, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Rainbows
Lens-Artist’s Photo Challenge #383 is ‘patterns and designs’. Being caught in Winter shower in Blakeney, resultated in a gorgeous full and double rainbow. As we can see here, the story of the pot of gold is probably not true.
Shot with Nikon Zf (the two portrait photos),and iPhone 15 Pro Max (the landscape) edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version
Juno
The quayside and harbour of Blakeney.
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Seal Trips
The quayside of Blakeney. Here you can go on a small boat to see Blakeney Point, visit the seals.
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Walk
The path along the seafront in Blakeney.
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Blakeney
The seafront in Blakeney.
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Rejected Photos
Lens-artists Photo Challenge #382 is about rejected photos. What do you do with photos you do not like? You can throw them away, or you can keep them. And if you keep them what can you do with them? First a story of myself, how I work. And in the end an example.
I am a snap shooter for a long time. When looking at this question for myself, I have to distinguish between the analog age and the digital age. But in both ages it is about quality, how you can assess that and what instruments are available after shooting. And above all: how can you be creative, and how much room is there to experiment?
The analog age was expensive: film was expensive, darkroom materials were expensive too. And being a poor student I shot as efficient as possible. You had to be patient while shooting, and selective. You also needed to trust your skills. Experience was essential to figure out what worked and what not. To produce good prints you needed to develop darkroom skills. And some negatives were impossible to print. But you kept them all. I never threw away negatives. That decision was beneficial in the digital age. After scanning my negatives, I properly made them look like what I had in mind when shooting them. What the darkroom did not deliver, software did.
In the digital age the cost of a photo is nearly non existent. The original photo (the former negative) can be copied lots of times. From the start technology offers instruments to oversee the quality of the photos. What you shoot is instantly visible on the camera. You can try different changes in the photo. Adjustments like shutter time, focus, and shutter opening can be tested most of the time. The RAW format offers flexibility for editing the ‘negative’ after the shoot. Software offers lots of creative tools to change the photo, or create new images.
So, do you keep rejected (bad) photos or not? I do reject photos, overseeing the result on my camera. I keep photos that can come to a good result after editing. The rest I remove straight away (e.g. bracketing shots).What I keep is stored on my NAS, where I use Lightroom as my archiving tool. I use editing tools to tweak a photo slightly. My favorite is Snapseed for web and social media publication. And Lightroom and Photoshop for prints.
The digital age is a time for unlimited creativity. The photos of ‘dinner at Wiveton Bell’ are an example of testing out the iPhone in a very dark situation. I shot about 8 frames, I kept them all but had my doubts. At home I worked them in Lightroom and Snapseed. And was surprised by what came out. And the ones that did not work were indeed deleted.
On the left the photo published and on the right the original RAW file.
Old Pub
The King’s Arms in in Blakeney. Founded in 1763. And still sells fresh beer.
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Marshes With a bit of Cley Next The Sea (on the left)
The last in the series of monochrome, more or less minimal photos for this week’s Lens artists photo challenge #381 (minimalism in black and white photography).
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Marooned
An old boat, slowly decaying on the marshes near Blakeney. Lens artists photo challenge #381 is ‘minimalism in black and white photography’.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Bus Stop Morning
Lens artists photo challenge #381 is ‘minimalism in black and white photography’. A bus stop at sunrise.
If you wonder how it looks in color? Here is an iPhone shot of 2024 at the same spot. In the monochrome the sun is not over the horizon, in the color one it is.
Shot with Nikon Zf,edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Dinner at the Wiveton Bell in Norfolk
Having dinner at the Wiveton Bell. A beautiful moonlight night, an open invitation to play with the iPhone. The results did surprise me.
The bottom right photo is taken with the night modus. The rest with the manual mode of ‘real light’.
The one of the church reminds me of a medieval painting.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Iced Sky
The sky through ice on a window.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version.
It’s Pink
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version.
What's (in) the Picture? 