Autumn Announced
Autumn is approaching, the rain and grey skies are more and more the new normal. Luckily there is the occasional sun to enjoy.
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Posts tagged ‘The Netherlands’
Bird Under A Wire
A small bird in a big Amsterdam Central Station. The things you see while waiting for a train.
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Over the bridges
A more detailed view of the photo I published yesterday of Leiden. Leiden used to be famous for fabrics, and canals provided the infrastructure for the logistics. Some of the canals were filled up in the second half of the 20th century. However, there are debates about opening a few of them again. These discussions focus on sustainability and environmental quality.
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City of Rembrandt
A view on the city where Rembrandt van Rijn was born, Leiden. It was the home where he grew up. There he started his now famous career as a painter. Later, he moved to Amsterdam.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #366 is ‘City Mouse/Country Mouse’. I am not familiar with the story. But as the brief puts it ‘there is no place like home’. Home is where the heart is.
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Rainy Beach
A spell of heavy rain, on the border of Summer and Autumn at Scheveningen beach.
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Old Front
Detail from a front in the Breestraat in Leiden. In den vergulden Turk used to be a restaurant. It moved decades ago to a different spot in town. It then changed its name to Wienerwald. The top of the original front is still there, and recently brought back to its old splendor.
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On The Corner
A detail of a front in the Breestraat in Leiden with the tower of the townhall.
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Red Yellow
Red and yellow fronts of houses in the Breestraat in Leiden.
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Sunny Street: Breestraat Leiden
The Breestraat in Leiden with the townhall.
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Agapanthus
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Japanese Anemone
The Japanese Anemone in the front garden at close look.
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Polder
Meet the edge of the polder, the dyke.
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Morning Rain
The morning sun reflecting the drops of rain that the night left behind.
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On Water
On a warm Summer’s day, there are traffic jams on the canal.
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Hovering
A plant in the front garden offers months of beauty in the sunlight of the morning sun. Using the portrait mode of the iPhone results in ‘hovering’ effects of parts of the plant that seem now unattached.
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Front Garden Beauty
A plant in the front garden offers months of beauty in the sunlight of the morning sun.
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Keukenhof Castle’s Garden
The Netherlands, Lisse – August 2025
In Summer the garden of castle De Keukenhof is filled with beautiful Dahlia’s.
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Leaves
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Choices And Preferences 3 (Flowers)
I have a fondness for black and white aka monochrome. That grew on me. Mono was cheaper 50 years ago and more ‘easy’ to handle in a dark room. Monochrome gives something extra at times. The sphere, the grain. And over all these years I learned to see objects in monochrome, visualizing what something looks like in grays.
When I bought my first Nikon digital camera (the D70), I naively asked ‘where is the monochrome setting?’. It was not there. Shooting was color only. If I wanted mono I had to create it myself afterwards in Lightroom, Photoshop or an app like Snapseed. But lucky for me, on the iPhone and on the recent Nikon Zf, there are monochrome settings. To be honest, that was one of the reasons to buy a Zf. So now I have a choice: choose a mono or color setting, or turn color afterward turn it into mono.
I know the taste of my ‘audience’ is different than mine. In three days I like to find out more about your taste. What do you fancy more: a photo in mono or in color?
This third and last one is about flowers, waiting for the recycle bin. The photo was shot in color.
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Triple
And another update from the garden: the Magnolia is doing superb this year. Let’s hope the abundance of green in leaves will lead to an abundance of flowers next Spring.
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Stunning Sunset Over Oegstgeester Kanaal
And yes, another sunset. Well, they come around every day. This one is a golden gem.
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Dessert
The delicious ending of a wonderful dinner.
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And Another Sunset Nudge
One can not take enough photos of sunsets.
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Exploring Leiden’s Scenic Canals: A Summer Evening
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.
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Genesis Inspiration: Photographing the Moon with iPhone
One of my favorite bands is Genesis. In 1976 A Trick of the Tail came out with a beautiful song ‘Mad Man Moon’. Last month I tried to take a shot of the moon using my iPhone. And this is the result.
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Golden Summer Morning
And the sun also rises in gold on a Summer morning. And when you shoot it in color, it is literally photographer’s gold.
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White Agapanthus
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Summer Morning
Sun shining through the trees on the start of another warm Summer day.
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Unique Dutch Stereotypes and Cherished Flowers: Chrysanthemum
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”.
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Water Play
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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Exploring Dutch Gladioli: Culture and Significance
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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Unexpected iPhone Long Exposure Sunset Shot
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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Garden Joy: Agapanthus
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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Stunning Sunset Reflections in Oegstgeest
The sun reflects its light in the clouds after sunset.
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Cross Town Wedding
In the charming streets of Delft, a couple dressed as bride and groom had us questioning whether we’d stumbled upon a wedding or a spontaneous costume party. Either way, love was in the air, or at least some excellent snap photo ops!
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Exploring Delft: A Glimpse of City Hall and New Church
The city hall of of Delft with the steeple of the New Church in the background.
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Capturing Katwijk: Church and Rooftops
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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Frigate
During the NATO summit navy vessels patrolled the coast. This is a impressionistic long shot of a frigate finding its way through the windmills.
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Jonathan Livingston I presume?
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Modern Times: Don Quixote needs swimming lessons
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?
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Some Like It Hot
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Rendezvous
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Roger that, Roger
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Goede Hoop
Windmill ‘Hoop doet leven’ in Voorhout.
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The Road Ahead
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Boats
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The Bird
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Sunflower
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Hosta
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Under Steps 2
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What's (in) the Picture? 