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.
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.
The weekly lens artists challenge #242 is ‘new experiences’. A month ago we had a partial public space power cut, the streetlights of a part of the neigbourhood were off for an hour and the moon showed its grace beautifully. Power inside the houses was still there. Power cuts are fortunately rare, and this one was quite a nice experience! This is a bicycle coming by.
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.