Category: Photography

View from a cableway gondola at the Floriade expo in Almere, The Nethelrands, including the Floating Forest

10. July 2022

Floriade Horticulture Exhibition in Almere

The Floriade of 2022 in Almere will not go down in history as the most successful edition. The visitor numbers are disappointing and the budget gap is approaching 100 million. When all Almere’s aldermen resigned for that reason at the end of June, it was even feared that the world horticulture exhibition would have to end prematurely. Criticism At the opening, there was also quite a bit of criticism about the character of the exhibition itself. It would all be a bit meager. Due to covid19, a number of participating countries had dropped out. Work was still in full swing… Read More

The church in the village of Slenaken, province of Limburg, The Netherlands, seen through the trees in a hilly landscape

Photography / Various

1. June 2022

The Gulpener Beerhike

This third walk from the yet to be published booklet The Best Beer Walks in the Benelux is set in Southern Limburg, that beautiful and very unDutch-looking part of the Netherlands. It is as if our country has tried to dig deep into Central Europe in order to get its fair share of hills and half-timbered houses. As a side result, also a few interesting beers were dragged within the national borders. The map can, as always be zoomed and panned; click here for a larger version. History The history of Limburg is fascinating. In fact, the province could just… Read More

View across the partly snow-covered fields towards the village on the Icelandic island of Flatey

Photography

23. May 2022

A quick visit to Flatey island

Flatey is an island in Breiðafjörður in northwestern Iceland. The name means Flat Island, and that’s what it is, by Icelandic standards. It’s not very large: two kilometers long and a few hundred meters wide. And yet Flatey has been inhabited for well over a thousand years, due to its favorable position close to fishing grounds and trade routes. Around 1900, 400 people lived here; today there are only five permanent residents. But many houses are used as holiday homes, so in the short Icelandic summer the population multiplies. Rain Traveling companion A. had been to Flatey before and had… Read More

Sunset and golden hour at Myvatn (mosquito lake) in North Iceland

Photography

17. May 2022

Spring in Iceland – a good time to travel?

After two trips to Iceland in the summer and two in the winter, traveling companion A. and I decided to give it a try in the spring. The period was more or less dictated by the Dutch May holidays, which this year largely fell in April. For nearly three weeks we traveled through the land of ice and fire. And the question is, of course, if it’s a good idea, travelling in Iceland in springtime. Spoiler: yes, although… This was our itinerary. Red=airplane, purple=bus, orange=car, blue=boat, green=walking boots. Click here for a larger version Catkins If you go to Iceland… Read More

Abundantly blossoming prunus serrulata on a sunny day in spring in Blijdorp neighbourhood in Rotterdam

Photography

17. April 2022

The Prunus (Plural) of Rotterdam

I once wrote a blog post about my favorite autumn tree, the liquidambar styraciflua, or sweet gum. But what is my favorite spring tree? After much deliberation, with magnolia as runner up, I picked the prunus, the Japanese cherry with its exuberant pink cherry blossom. Image It is of course disastrous for my image as a tough masculine guy, this prunus adoration. But that image was never that convincing anyway. And in these gender-fluid times: who cares about a guy with a love for pink blossoms. Prunus serrulata There are many types of prunus; Wikipedia lists dozens of them and… Read More

Historic barges and modern residential buildings, reflected in the water of Wijnhaven harbour in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Photography

3. April 2022

Reflections of Rotterdam at Windforce Zero

It look like the months have a theme this year, in terms of weather. In January it has been foggy for days on end; in February, we were hit by storms Corrie, Dudley, Eunice, and Franklin. And in March the theme apparently was dry, sunny and windless, as if nature needed to catch its breath after all those storms. It was a great time to walk along the old harbor basins of Rotterdam, hoping to capture some beautiful reflections. Reflections Sunny and windless, those are ideal weather conditions for creating reflectifications. That’s what I call photos of buildings, trees and… Read More

The Werkspoor "Cathedral" in Utrecht, The Netherlands with in fornt of it the cafe and terrace of brewery De Leckere and the former Werkspoor harbour

Photography / Various

21. March 2022

A Beer Hike to De Leckere café

This is the second pre-publication of the hiking guide, The Best Beer Hikes in the Benelux, which will hopefully be published one day. The first blog post in that series was about our hike to Koningshoeven Abbey near Tilburg. That’s the place where the Netherlands’ most famous Trappist beer La Trappe is brewed. On this second walk we went to the café of a much younger brewery: De Leckere in the city of Utrecht. The aim of this series is to combine a visit to a brewery or tasting room with a hike of around 20 kilometers. We therefore walk… Read More

Swamp with bushes, historic agricultural relict and modern wind turbines on the Dutch nature island of Tiengemeten

Photography

14. March 2022

Return to Tiengemeten

One of the best outings in the wider area of Rotterdam is a trip to Tiengemeten. A place that you can only reach by boat has something attractive by definition. It is not a coincidence that world traveller Floortje Dessing, when she couldn’t go to the ends of the earth for a while due to the pandemic, immediately traveled to Tiengemeten. Excavators My first vist to Tiengemeten was on a Sunday in December 2006. The transformation from farmland to nature reserve was in full swing at that time. Road plates lay over muddy plains, excavators were on weekend mode, surveyors’… Read More

Koningshaven harbour, railway bridge De Hef and Noordereiland neighbourhood in Rotterdam, The Netherlands during the blue hour on a winter morning

Photography

26. January 2022

January Mornings: Blue Hour in Rotterdam, 2022

It has become a tradition: on some days in the beginning of the year I set the alarm very early to go on a photo expedition in the blue hour. Very early, in my case that is a quarter to seven. I know for some people that sounds like sleeping in. But for me it’s early enough to be jet lagged for the rest of the day. It’s worth the sacrifice. Sunrise The reason for those January expeditions, I’ve explained it before, is the late sunrise. Although the shortest day falls on December 21, the earliest sunset is already on… Read More

Colorful banks of lake Grevelingen off the island of Schouwen-Duiveland, The Netherlands with a large variety of vegetation

Photography

19. December 2021

Countdown: the best photos of 2021

I took more than 2000 photos in 2021. That’s not an awful lot, in fact; there are photographers who click that number away in a weekend. I am more the type of photographer who tends to think twice before pressing the shutter button. I’m really bad at selecting the best photos from hundreds of candidates. And I also like to keep the time spent on post-processing to a minimum. Year in Review But even with such a relatively small production, it is quite a job to make the traditional annual overview with the ten best photos of ’21. Even on… Read More