Dessert
The delicious ending of a wonderful dinner.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
The delicious ending of a wonderful dinner.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
One can not take enough photos of sunsets.
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.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #359 is ‘Tools of Photo Compositions: Lines, Colors and Patterns’.
A sunset over the Galgenwater in Leiden. A warm Summer night, with lots of boats cruising the canals. In the background the replica of the windmill of Rembrandt van Rijn’s father.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #359 is ‘Tools of Photo Compositions: Lines, Colors and Patterns’.
Long leading lines, nice shapes etc are pretty obvious to use when building a nice frame. But what about chaos? Can that be appealing too? A field with spiderwebs, wet by the fog. A photo from almost 30 years ago, taken in Brittany at St. Samsom-sur-Rance, near Dinan. To see it at its best, click the photo please.
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
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #359 is ‘Tools of Photo Compositions: Lines, Colors and Patterns’.
The harbor of Le Conquet at low tide during sunset, as equestrians pass by. To say I was surprised when I spotted the horses, is an understatement.
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


France – Morbihan, Questembert – August 1996
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #359 is ‘Tools of Photo Compositions: Lines, Colors and Patterns’.
The dreamy field with freshly pressed straw rolls offers a nice challenge. It is an opportunity to create something that makes sense in images. The idea that they actually roll. Near Questembert in the Morbihan region of Brittany.
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
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #359 is ‘Tools of Photo Compositions: Lines, Colors and Patterns’.
A local railway track, disappearing in the fog. A photo from almost 30 years ago, taken in Brittany at St. Samsom-sur-Rance, near Dinan.
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
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Tram station Prinses Beatrixlaan.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
And the sun also rises in gold on a Summer morning. And when you shoot it in color, it is literally photographer’s gold.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Summer mornings can sometimes welcome you into a warm, joyful and laid back day. This is one of those days filled with ease. The sun also rises, each day, at more or less the same place. And when you catch it early, it is photographer’s gold.
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,
We Dutch are often described as being on the penny. Of course, we all wear wooden clogs. We eat stroopwafels all the time. We have a fetish for windmills. And do not forget to accuse us of creating our own country by fighting the sea. We drink to gain courage and let you pay your own meal. Add tulips and other bulb flowers to finish the picture of the Dutch. Oh yes, we are considered rude. We call it ‘direct’.
In the end we sure have a laugh about all that is said about us, Dutchies, worldwide. But if you combine being on the penny with buying flowers, you choose flowers that stay good for weeks: Chrysanthemum. As Johan Cruyff used to say: “every disadvantage, has its advantage”.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta Click the picture for a larger version
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is a wonderful clever piece of photographic technology. It is the ideal snap instrument, that is always in my pocket. The quality of the images is improved immensely over the years. And to be honest, I shoot most of my photos with it nowadays. Just because I always have my phone with me. What I still do not like is the quality of images when you use the zoom. This shot is on full zoom and the details disappear. Unfortunately I was not able to move closer at that moment. At these moments I wish I had my Nikon Zf at hand, with a nice long lens.
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In The Netherlands, we do grow lots of cut flowers. A lot of them are exported but there is plenty of supply for the domestic market. In our household we have fresh cut flowers every week. Last week we had these big fellows. Gladioli are famous for the saying ‘death or the gladioli’. A Dutch proverb that translates to ‘all or nothing’ or ‘do or die’. Success or failure.
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While trying to take an after sunset photo, my iPhone decided it needed a long exposure. The result an unexpected shot. This is the photo I aimed for. It was published two days ago. It shows the sun reflecting in the clouds after sunset.
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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.
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The sun reflects its light in the clouds after sunset.
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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.
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This part of Katwijk is not much photographed, I guess. The roofs and the tower of the church made a nice composition.
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During the NATO summit navy vessels patrolled the coast. This is a impressionistic long shot of a frigate finding its way through the windmills.
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
In our times Don Quixote would be busy fighting a plenty of windmills. Most of them you find at sea, would he take swimming lessons?
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.
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’s Lens Artitsts Photo Challenge (#321) is Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). These photos are from a workshop in 1997 in France, where we had to create movement with a low shutter speed while following the subject. Basically a fun excercise but done on film. So the result literally came to light after developing the film. The excitement and anxiety about the possible results were out of scale! Patience.
These film archives are the source of my B4 retouch series.
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 andMarksta. Click the picture for a bigger version


LAPC #316 is ‘Finding beauty in unexpected places’.
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Willy Zuid, a beach pavillion.
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The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024
Sometimes it just happens. You are in a place and the light is fantastic, and there is so much to frame in a photo. The sunset is spectacular and for some odd 30 minutes you are in a photography candy shop. This is a selection of what ended up on my phone on that hot August evening.
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And the last one of a brilliant hour at the beach on a Summer evening to enjoy the sunset while having dinner. That was a nice bubble to be in.
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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.
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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.
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When there are landscapes, what is the landscape of a sea called? To me watching the sea is like an escape of the real world, dreaming into the image that is presented. This is the layered story of an image, with each of the layers adding to it. The beach with the humans grounded on the sand under their feet, almost insignificant in size. The vast sea stretching into the far distance, rippled in the wind and current, offering a seemingly flat smooth surface. The boats and windmills that seem to float on the water that sparkles in the light of the lowering sun. And on top of all that the backdrop of the sky painted lightly by the softer light that lays a filter over the all of it. Put a frame around it and you have a nice photo.
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The view at the beach from the boulevard of Katwijk aan Zee, a few hours before sunset.
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The view at the Northsea just before dinner 🙂 at the boulevard of Katwijk aan Zee.
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The theme for this week LAPC 316 is ‘Destanation: Fun‘. Going to the beach is fun, but witnessing a brilliant sunset on a warm Summer evening, while a display of boats and windmills complete the scene, is true fun. Here is the full view of the scenery of the sunset, I just picked out parts of it in other photos published earlier (and after).
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The theme for this week LAPC 316 is ‘Destanation: Fun‘. Going to the beach is fun, but witnessing a brilliant sunset on a warm Summer evening, while a dispaly of boats and windmills complete the scene, is true fun. I published a few of them already two weeks ago (see the archive Katwijk). I hope you still have fun watching them.
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The sky over The Netherlands is a wonderful object for photos, we do have lot of sky over our flat land above the low horizon. And that sky can be quite dramatic, even more in monochrome.
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In Summer the garden of castle De Keukenhof is filled with beautiful Dahlia’s. I just choose one for the photo.
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In Summer the fields that grow the Spring’s bulb flowers (tulips, daffodils and hyacinths) may grow other flowers. Some years the fields are flooded or covered up to be gassed, to clean, other years they produce crops like these.
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The Netherlands is as flat as a pancake. That is the way foreigners describe my precious habitat. It is not completely accurate, we do have some hills and dunes. The advantage of a flat surface is that we have lots of sky above the horizon. Here a typical Summer scene: rain filled sky and cows in the meadows, the odd windmill and farm.
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Cut flowers are a common good in The Netherlands. This is the field of a grower, just around the corner. He harvested the thistles and moved them to the flower auction for sale. This is the ones left over on the field. For Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #316 ‘Common Object’.
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 use of glasshouses is widespread in The Netherlands for all kinds of crops and flowers. Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #316 is ‘Common Object’.
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Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #316 is ‘Common Object’.
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Last week we had dinner on the beach and were treated to a beautiful sunset. And, as always when a subject grips me, I took loads of pictures. The iPhone makes it really easy just to snap, zoom, frame and play with light. So the last days I published some of them for the theme of this week for LAPC 314: ‘shorelines‘. It is probably serendipity, but it matched nicely on this set of photos. So to close the week a final one of this sunset. I hope you enjoyed them. And the left over of this shoot will probably appear in the near future.
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