What's (in) the Picture?

Chris Breebaart Photography – finding stories

Posts tagged ‘The Netherlands’

Tractor On A Gentle Line Of Orange

The Netherlands, Wassenaar – September 2024

The Netherlands is famous for its Spring bulbflower fields, but we produce flowers in Summer and Autumn as well.

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

Bicycle Adventures: Wassenaar’s Picturesque Zijwatering Canal

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.

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Capturing Vibes of Summer: Butterflies, Bees, Flowers

To remind ourselves of the Summer, a few colorful photos.

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Citroën Traction Avant at Amsterdam Schiphol

Driving passed Schiphol we were overtaken by four Citroën Traction Avant. Three of them were into sticker collecting, the fourth was beautiful pristine.

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Apple Time: Autumn has arrived

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – September 2024

Autumn is here and the apple tree is filled with little apples. The view helps to get over to the new season.

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

One Missing Letter: Willy Zuid

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

Willy Zuid, a beach pavillion.

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An evening at Katwijk aan Zee Around Sunset – August 2024

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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Monochrome Magic: Capturing Black and White Sunsets

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

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.

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

Dreaming by the Sea: A Visual Escape Experience

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

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.

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

Sunset Views in Katwijk – Wind, Water and Cabins

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

The view at the beach from the boulevard of Katwijk aan Zee, a few hours before sunset.

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Boulevard View – Katwijk aan Zee August 2024

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

The view at the Northsea just before dinner 🙂 at the boulevard of Katwijk aan Zee.

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Spectacular Sunset in Katwijk aan Zee – A Visual Delight

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

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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Dramatic Monochrome Skies Over The Netherlands – August 2024

The Netherlands, Voorhout – August 2024

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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Dahlia in Bloom at Castle De Keukenhof, Lisse – August 2024

The Netherlands, Lisse – August 2024

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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Netherlands Landscape: Summer Scene with Cows, Windmill, and Farm

The Netherlands, Voorhout – August 2024

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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Netherlands Cut Flowers Field in Oegstgeest – The Last of Thistles

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – August 2024

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

Glasshouses in The Netherlands: A Common Object | Lens Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #316

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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Magnificent Sunset at Katwijk Beach, Netherlands

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

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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Exploring Delft Blue Pottery and Iconic Selfie at Drievliet in The Netherlands

The Netherlands, Den Haag – August 2024

The Netherlands is famous for Delft’s Blauw (Delft Blue) pottery. At Drievliet they organized a selfie picture stand with two iconic statues to be virtually kissed. I framed it in a different way.

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Noordzee Beach: A Stunning Sunset View | Lens Artists Challenge 314

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

The theme for this week LAPC 314 is ‘shorelines‘. My main shoreline is the beach of the Noordzee. And the views it offers, particularly at special moments of the day like a sunset. The sky looks like it offers an extra layer of reflection for the sun, a second horizon.

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Is It A Romantic Sunset Shot Or Just The Two Of Us?

The Netherlands, Katwijk aan Zee – August 2024

When you are on a spot where you see such a wonderful sunset, it is normal to shoot multiple photos. This couple appeared in a few of the photos already, but each time they are in a shot, it is the framing of a different story as I see it. Maybe you do too. The theme for this week LAPC 314 is ‘shorelines‘.

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Captivating Views and Exciting Rides: Drievliet, The Hague’s Charming Amusement Park

Drievliet is a small and very old amusement park. Over fifty years ago I first went there on a school trip. Then most of the attractions had to be moved by muscle power. Last week I had my second visit to Drievliet with our grand children. The park is dramatically changed but still has the same appeal to kids: lots of fun to be had on rides, slides, rollercoasters, ferris wheels, merrygorounds etc. And of course the fries and icecream in between. The weather was not that good, but the clouds added to the view from the ferris wheel looking at downtown Den Haag.

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Downside Up Upside Down

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – August 2024

The weekly LAPC #312 is sense of scale’. When you look up to the sky for a while, it seems you are looking down from the sky to earth.

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The Enormous Scale of the Sky

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – August 2024

The weekly LAPC #312 is sense of scale’. When you look up to the sky and see a plane coming over, one is never that much aware of the enormous scale of the space over our heads.

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Discover the Corbulo Tunnel Connection in The Netherlands | August 2024

The Netherlands, Voorschoten – August 2024

Building tunnels is not common in The Netherlands, the soil is mostly consisting of clay on top of a sandpackage. However, recently a new connection between motorway A4 and A44 was opened: the Corbulo Tunnel (link to a video). This is a shot from the first time I travelled throught it. The weekly LAPC #312 is sense of scale’

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Experience Inspiration at Oegstgeest Cut Flowers Field, July 2024

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – July 2024

Just around the corner is a field where cut flowers are grown for sale. It is a small beautiful plot with different stages of different flower types. And a good spot for inspiration.

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Warmond Regatta: Sailing Under Grey Skies in the Netherlands

The Netherlands, Warmond- June 2024

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

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Scheveningen Summer Beach View – June 2024

The Netherlands, Scheveningen – June 2024

A view at a beach in Scheveningen. Waiting for the Summer to really start with some higher temperatures.

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Asteroid B 612: Capturing the Power of the Moon

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – July 2024

The Moon just stands there it seems, and mostly I do not pay too much attention to it. The power of the moon is enormous though, as it influences the level of the seas on Earth. At odd moments in the evening or morning I grab my camera when I spot the moon, I just can’t resist. This is one of those times, the haziness reminds me of the sand in the Sahara, the setting of Le Petit Prince, a beautiful book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Could this moon be asteroid B 612? The power of imagination, see what your eyes can not see.

Shot with Nikon D500, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.

Capturing the Essence of a Typical Dutch Summer in Oegstgeest

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – June 2024

June was wet, and July started wet but seems to end with more sun and less rain. It is a typical Dutch Summer.

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Grey Rainy Sky Regatta in Warmond, Netherlands

The Netherlands, Warmind – June 2024

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

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Sassenheim Watertower Basin in Mono – June 2024

The Netherlands, Sassenheim – 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.

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Government Departments Soaring Over Den Haag

The Netherlands, Den Haag – June 2024

Government departments rise up in the sky. For some the only way is up.

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Capturing Views from a Train Window

The Netherlands, Den Haag – June 2024

Lines in the sky seen from one of the most beautiful frames for pictures in The Netherlands: a train window offering a beautiful frame with always changing content in it.

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Exploring Dutch Tourist Attractions: A Photo Gallery

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?

Scenic A12 Motorway Lights Fade in June 2024 – Den Haag

The Netherlands, Den Haag – June 2024

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

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Stunning May and June 2024 Rose Garden in Oegstgeest, Netherlands

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – May and June 2024

A rose is a rose is a rose, someone wrote that a long time ago. But it is still true, each rose is unique. So much symbolism and sweetness in a picture. The garden offers them in abundance this year.

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Carpet Crawlers: A12 Motorway in Den Haag | June 2024

The Netherlands, 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)

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Tranquil Oegstgeest Canal Scene in June 2024

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest- June 2024

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Allium Bulbflowers in Oegstgeest, Netherlands – A Twin Set of Mono and Color

Allium is one of our favorite bulbflowers in the garden. I present it as a twin set of mono next to color. Each version brings out different qualitaties in the flower I think, but that is of course subjective.

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May 2024: Nocturnal Garden Scene in Oegstgeest, Netherlands

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – May 2024

A wet garden at night. And by the way, I love that WordPress AI generating amazing titles that I can not come up with. I stick with them as long as they make me smile. Nocturnal, sounds like a great piece of music.

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Co-existence in Habitat: A Heron’s View of Oegstgeest, Netherlands

The Netherlands, Oegstgeest – May 2024

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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Exploring Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid | Old and New

The Netherlands, Rotterdam – May 2024

The De Rotterdam towers over the old warehouses on the Kop van Zuid in Rotterdam. The use of housing changed from industrial to living.

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Exploring Rotterdam’s Kop van Zuid | Blocked



The Netherlands, Rotterdam – May 2024

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.

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Swan

The Netherlands, Rotterdam – May 2024

Rijnhaven, Kop van Zuid, Rotterdam.

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