mono | What's (in) the Picture?

Finding Beauty in the Ordinary: Canal Reflections

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – September 2024

LAPC #316 is ‘Finding beauty in unexpected places’. One of the objects for photographs is the canal that runs through my village. It is quite ordinary, there is a vast amount of small and little canals to dispose of water in The Netherlands. To manage water in a country that is partly under sea level, one has to build infrastructure to keep dry feet. Two pictures taken at the same moment of the day, slightly different in monochrome style. The first is with the silvertone setting, the last with the dark setting on the iPhone. It changes the atmosphere completely. And one may be more beautiful than the other, it is all in the eye of the beholder.

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

Terrace Life

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – September 2024

LAPC #316 is ‘Finding beauty in unexpected places’.

Archive Katwijk

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Coming In – Going Out

The Netherlands, Schiphol Amsterdam – September 2024

Incoming and outgoing traffic at Schiphol Amsterdam. Just a drive by, and no worries, I was not driving the car.

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

Stunning Black and White Sunsets in Katwijk (Give a Little Bit)

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

Yesterday I told you about my passion and history in monochrome. And that I do shoot sunsets in black and white. Here is another one of the same sunset, but framed different. I will publish an overview of all those shots of same sunset that evening. Each of them show a bit of it, it’s in my humble opinion nice to see the big picture.

Archive Katwijk

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Monochrome Magic: Capturing Black and White Sunsets

If you did not notice, I am a big fan of monochrome. In fact, monochrome film was way back the medium I started with. It was cheap and you print your own photos in a darkroom. That was adventurous and frustrating at the same time. Not to sound old, but nowadays with wonderful software, editing images is easier, faster and more fun. And you instantly see what you get! But sometimes I do miss the anxiety of the darkroom, seeing a photo come up in the developer. Back to now. I do shoot sunsets in black and white, and here is one. The atmosphere of the shot is different, more dark and eerie.

Archive Katwijk

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They Call Me The Breeze

Archive Abbenes

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Between The Lines

Dramatic morning over the Haarlemmermeerpolder near Abbenes.

Archive Abbenes

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Windmill De Valk in Leiden, Netherlands – A Living Museum Since 2000

Windmill De Valk is one of few left in the city. It is a museum, but since 2000 is it being used for milling again.

Archive Leiden

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Missing His Twin

This obelisk misses his twin, now standing in Paris on the Place de la Concorde, site for a lot of sports during the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed.

Shot with Nikon F90 on KodakTriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.

Cairo 2002: Vintage Balcony Scene Captured on Kodak TriX | B4 Retouch Series

A left over from an earlier LAPC ‘balconies’.

The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed.

Shot with Nikon F90 on KodakTriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.

1st Balcony Scene, but it’s not Shakespeare

LAPC 309 is about balconies. I have to admit that I do not pay special attention to balconies, unless they trigger me as I look around and they catch my eye. This in Antwerp. My previous entry was an original monochrome on film. With this one I could not decide between the original and the edited monochrome version. Hence you see them both. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version

Capturing the Charm of Paris: Balcony and French Windows in December 1993

LAPC 309 is about balconies. I have to admit that I do not pay special attention to balconies, unless they trigger me as I look around and they catch my eye. I do however ‘collect’ French windows. So occasionally they pop up in a frame. This is one of those, in one of my favourite cities, Paris. From the analogue archive of December 1993.

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.

Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta . Click the picture for a bigger version.

Grey Rainy Sky Regatta in Warmond, Netherlands

A small regatta on its way under a grey rainy sky.

Archive Warmond

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Horses

Archive Warmond

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Framed

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Rowing Backwards

At rowing you move forward by looking backwards all the time, and with a cox the course is set.

Archive Warmond

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Side Of Motorway

The same basin of the old watertower that I posted yesterday, but now on top of the barrier of the motorway.

Archive Sassenheim

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Sassenheim Watertower Basin in Mono – June 2024

The basin of an old watertower against the sky. It is not the nicest of buildings, but somehow it draws my attention when I see it. Last year I published its head in color, this time I choose for mono.

Archive Sassenheim

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Castle ‘Oud Poelgeest’

Castle Oud Poelgeest.

Archive Oegstgeest

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Scenic A12 Motorway Lights Fade in June 2024 – Den Haag

The lights seem to fade slowly along the A12 motorway leading into Den Haag.

Archive Den Haag

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Scenic Skies

Archive Oegstgeest

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Carpet Crawlers: A12 Motorway in Den Haag | June 2024

The A12 motorway leading into Den Haag downtown. You have to get into town to get out of the car, a free wording of a slogan used in the sixties and later in a beautiful Genesis song ‘Carpet Crawlers’ (the link to the Ray Wilson/Steve Hackette live version of 2014 in the Royal Albert Hall)

Archive Den Haag

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On The Beach

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – June 2024

A view showing the curve of the Dutch seafront looking at Scheveningen in the South from Katwijk aan Zee.

Katwijk archive

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Exploring Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid | Twins (5)

Architecture can be beautiful in full color as well in monochrome. In ‘twins’ I show the monochrome twin of the color shot at the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam. The fift and last set is again New Orleans.

Archive Rotterdam

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Exploring Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid | Twins (4)

Architecture can be beautiful in full color as well in monochrome. In ‘twins’ I show the monochrome twin of the color shot at the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam. The fourth set is New Orleans.

Archive Rotterdam

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Exploring Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid | Twins (3)

Architecture can be beautiful in full color as well in monochrome. In ‘twins’ I show the monochrome twin of the color shot at the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam. The third set is the Montevideo.

Archive Rotterdam

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Exploring Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid | Twins (2)

Architecture can be beautiful in full color as well in monochrome. In ‘twins’ I show the monochrome twin of the color shot at the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam. The second set is an old elevator at the Rijnhaven.

Archive Rotterdam

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Exploring Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid | Twins

Architecture can be beautiful in full color as well in monochrome. In ‘twins’ I show the monochrome twin of the color shot of the high risings in Rotterdam on the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam. The first set is De Rotterdam by Rem Koolhaas.

Archive Rotterdam

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Exploring Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid | Blocked

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.