The Netherlands, Scheveningen – June 2024 (top)
The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – June 2024 (bottom)
LAPC 308 is about perfect pairs, by creating a diptych (two images placed in proximity to one another, forming a pair). Every self respecting town and village needs a ferris wheel.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
Leann Cole suggested ‘tourist attractions, near and far’ as LAPC’s 307. My motivation for going to places changed in my life time. From ‘active’ holidays (including climbing some big mountains by bycicle) to complete leisure (eg seeing the Greek Isles with lots of lazy moments). And in between the travels to dig into the culture and essence of a place on earth, to learn and experience it. But wherever I went as a ‘photographer’ I tried to capture where I was. To be stunned by what is just there in front of you, the unexpected. And yes, the times I did visit an ‘iconic attraction’ I tried to find my own way of framing it, trying to keep away form the cliches that are so widely known. For this challenge I dig into my blogs archive, all the photos are here published already.
Over the years I learned to value and appreciate my own way of looking, being surprised by my own views of what I saw and how I saw it. To appreciate simple things of beauty that stuck out or the composition of objects. If you travel far, you are only there for a moment, if you stay close to home you have access all of the time. But being close to home the challenge is bigger to stay open, to see what is there, to not take it for granted.
After the ‘near’ version yesterday, today is the ‘far’ version. My blog archive here goes back to 2018 so that is de scope of picking. I started picking them in a big gallery, and doing that it got quite big. But I leave it as it is. I hope you bear with me and browse through them.
You can see randomly photos from England, Greece, France, Germany (some are from Berlin in november 1989), Egypt, Turkey, Yemen, Tibet, Nepal, Belgium, Ireland, Malta, Italy (Rome), Spain. Occasionally you wil see an iconic object, but most of the time I was there for the landscape, the street encounters, nature etc. And I cheated a bit: there are some photos of Tourist Attractions from far that came to Amsterdam in the Ziggo Dome: Genesis and Peter Gabriel.
I hope you do enjoy the gallery, and if you want to plunge deep into more of it I invite you to search by category or countries if you are interested in more.
Leann Cole suggested ‘tourist attractions, near and far’ as LAPC’s 307. My motivation for going to places changed in my life time. From ‘active’ holidays (including climbing some big mountains by bycicle) to complete leisure (eg seeing the Greek Isles with lots of lazy moments). And in between the travels to dig into the culture and essence of a place on earth, to learn and experience it. But wherever I went as a ‘photographer’ I tried to capture where I was. To be stunned by what is just there in front of you, the unexpected. And yes, the times I did visit an ‘iconic attraction’ I tried to find my own way of framing it, trying to keep away form the cliches that are so widely known. For this challenge I dig into my blogs archive, all the photos are here published already.
Over the years I learned to value and appreciate my own way of looking, being surprised by my own views of what I saw and how I saw it. To appreciate simple things of beauty that stuck out or the composition of objects. If you travel far, you are only there for a moment, if you stay close to home you have access all of the time. But being close to home the challenge is bigger to stay open, to see what is there, to not take it for granted.
Today is the ‘near’ version. So close to where I live, but for tourists reasons to travel. I just browsed and picked out some themes that may strike recognition: flowers, flower parade, Rotterdam and its architecture and harbour, Leiden (my alma mater and birthplace of Rembrandt), windmills, flat lands, watermanagement (polder, canals) and the beach. All of them so near and familiar.
I hope you do enjoy the gallery, and if you want to plunge deep into more of it I invite you to search by category finding Amsterdam, Den Haag, more flower fields and flowers and who knows Dutch clogs?
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.
Shot with Nikon D500, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
LAPC challenge #305 is about composition: two rectangles as a play tool to frame a photo. Sometimes you get lots more than two, which adds to another aspect of composition: repetition. Not sure if this qualifies as a valid entry, but I do like the building. This is De Rotterdam by Rem Koolhaas.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
LAPC challenge #305 is about composition: two rectangles as a play tool to frame a photo.
Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
This weeks LAPC # 304 is ‘Background: behind the subject’. Poppies against a familiar backdrop in the landscape of The Netherlands,
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This weeks LAPC # 304 is ‘Background: behind the subject’. A dirty window of a terrace at the beach.
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A pub, one of the best places for community connections (connect LAPC 303).
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Reading a book on a bench, looking up and seeing this makes a monochrome fan jump. (connect LAPC 303)
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The best way to explore and connect is to walk around and be surprised with what is in view! It’s the best way to connect to a town for me (LAPC 303)
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A bench in the lazy shade offers a view, looking up to see the top and roofs of the houses. It’s a way to connect to a town for me (LAPC 303)
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The Lens Artist Photo Challenge #301 is ‘floral’. A red rose against the drop of Wysteria.
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The Lens Artist Photo Challenge #301 is ‘floral’. A red rose against the drop of Wysteria.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
The Lens Artist Photo Challenge #301 is ‘floral’. A red rose against the drop of Wysteria.
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
An approach of any plane over a motorway strikes me always with a little anxiety. Not it will crash but the opportunity to have a nice shot at it.
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 Lens Artists Photo Challenge #297 is ‘music to my eyes’. The moon through insulated glass. The story of Mad Man Moon by Genesis.
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The Lens Artists Photo Challenge #297 is ‘music to my eyes’. Images and music are a strong way of bringing back memories, feelings, situations you once experienced. This photo clicked my memory for a Pink Floyd album ‘Obscured by clouds’. It is not so much the clouds that obscure in this image, the branches of the trees create a web of lines over the sky and sun.
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Lens Artists Photo Challenge #296 is ‘abstracts’.
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Lens Artists Photo Challenge #296 is ‘abstracts’.
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Bycycles passing the townhall of Leiden at the Breestraat, for Lens Artists Photo Challenge #292 ‘People here, there and everywhere’.
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The townhall of Leiden.
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This week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge #292 is ‘People here, there and everywhere’. One of the stations in Den Haag, Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië.
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This week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge #292 is ‘People here, there and everywhere’.
I do not know who took this photo, I do not know the date. We assume it is just after World War 2, May 1945. And we assume my father took it. The photo lacks focus unfortunately, but that adds to the thrill of figuring out what is on it. Luckily we could ask the youngest sister of my father (my last aunt still alive); she thinks it is taken just after the war.
There is a parade on the street, observed by people; among them the sisters and brother of my father from the top window of my grandfather’s house (called Weltevreden) where my father lived. The point of view is from a window of the house where my mother lived, and where I would be born 14 years later.
The negative is quite poorly and damaged, but a sweep through Lightroom and Snapseed provided this old memory.
The theme for the weekly Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #291 is ‘Cityscapes’, The view on the public transport hub and adjacent high risings.
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The theme for the weekly Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #291 is ‘Cityscapes’. The first sun got people out to enjoy the rays while having a drink on the junction of the Oude Rijn and Nieuwe Rijn in Leiden. On the right De Waag, the weighing house.
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An old photo of ‘ringsteken’ (if you follow the link you can see some photo’s in action). A traditional activity where horse pulled carriages try to pick off little metal rings from a rope held piece of wood hanging over the road. For lens artists challenge #290 Circular by Wonders.
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.
The picture was originally shot with Pentax K1000 on Kodak TriX, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
The Efteling is a famous theme park in Kaatsheuvel in Brabant. This is one from a dusty archive, with a negative that could have been a lot better in exposure, but at that time you could not look at the back of the camera to see information for improvement! It shows the rollercoaster Python, circling towards the end of the ride. For lens artists challenge #290 Circular Wonders.
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.
Originally shot with Nikon F301 on Kodak TriX, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
No one seems to like these circular wonders, created to keep traffic circulating and flowing in a safe fashion. Especially when they are red, a circular red or an arrow for direction. For lens artists challenge #290 Circular Wonders.
Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
Sunrise on the J.H. Oortbrug for lens artists challenge #290 Circular Wonders. What is most the biggest wonder? The wheels or the sun? It is the first photo of the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
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The theme for the weekly Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #289 is ‘tools of photo composition’. Rain on a window distorts the sharpness outside, and adds something extra to the shape of the trees on this wet, Winter day.
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The theme for the weekly Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #289 is ‘tools of photo composition’. Light, form and shapes when they appear not to be there.
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The theme for the weekly Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #289 is ‘tools of photo composition’. Waiting for a train, enjoying the sun.
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The Magnolia is in front of the house, outside the kitchen window. Lens Artists Photo Challenge #288 is ‘window shopping’. It is a beautiful view to see it daily taking small steps into Spring.
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Lens Artists Photo Challenge #288 is ‘window shopping’. Most of the time it is an activity associated with shop displays. I take a different angle, and use windows to shop for something new.
Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger
Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger
Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger
The A4 tunnel at Leiderdorp, there is light at then end of it. This week’s Lens Artists Challenge #287 is ‘Sound’
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Central Station Den Haag, a busy mobility hub. This week’s Lens Artists Challenge #287 is ‘Sound’
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This week’s Lens Artists Challenge #287 is ‘Sound’. The road is busy, the sound of cars is in my ears as I try to frame this mill against the sunset, trying to avoid a car in the frame at first. Then zooming out and coming back to the road I ended up with this one, showing the lamplight and the cars coming and fading in the distance. This is the last in a series of four of Windmill ‘Hoop doet leven’ in Voorhout against the Winter sunset. The first three in a list in order of publication:
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This week’s Lens Artists Challenge #287 is ‘Sound’. Seeing this incoming flight immediately gives the association of its sound. The memory provides that information instantaneously. The image pleases the eye, it is not necessarily the ears agree.
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A sunny afternoon in Winter for this week’s Lens Artists Challenge #286 ‘Weather’.
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Leiden on a rainy Winter day for this week’s Lens Artists Challenge #286 ‘Weather’.
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The theme for this week’s Lens Artists Challenge #286 is ‘Weather’.
Shot with Nikon D500, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
A ferry passes an anchored cargoship in the Channel. For LAPC #285 ‘warm colors’.
Shot with Nikon D500, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
The Channel from the England/Kent side, two ships catching up in the reflection of the sunlight. For LAPC #285 ‘warm colors’.
Shot with Nikon D500, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
For LAPC #285 is ‘warm colors’. A warm toned Winter sunset.
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What's (in) the Picture? 