Tagged: landscape

Artist impression of the interior of a giant hollow asteroid, seen from the shore of a lake, with two men on a wooden pier, looking out towards a city and the hills, lakes and cliffs beyond

21. February 2017

Psyche Station: living in an asteroid

Recently, my attention was triggered by a sketch my Facebook friend Shaun Moss posted. A simple drawing of a fairly extensive project: the excavation of asteroid 16 Psyche for the establishment of a space colony. A spectacular idea from science fiction, but here applied to a concrete situation, to an existing piece of real estate in the solar system. The blue lines indicate a huge cylindrical space (the distances are in meters). Rotating the big rock around its central axis creates a centrifugal force on the curved walls of the cylinder. That force feels like gravity, like in a spinning washing… Read More

The Forest Planetarium of Arnhem: eight stainless steel spheres in the Cold Pond in Sonsbeek Park

Space art / Various

18. January 2017

The Arnhem Forest Planetarium and the Lost Planets

A few years ago I had a brilliant idea: a scale model of the solar system with the size of the municipality of Rotterdam. Just because it’s important to see the bigger picture, to know which larger system we’re a part of. And because it’s fun to be amazed about how big everything is. And how small we are ourselves. Streetplanetarium The city of Rotterdam is a very suitable place for such a streetpanetarium because there is a long trail of port areas attached to the city. Therefore, the distance between the center and the extreme outer regions is so… Read More

Van Kregtentunnel in Wierden, with on the walls tiling based on paintings by Fedor van Kregten, seen from the north

Photography / Various

20. July 2015

Cow Tunnel in Wierden Still Free of Graffiti

Two and a half years after the opening of the Van Kregtentunnel I went back to take a look at the project. The underpass, close to the station in Wierden, was still in good shape. Tunnels like this usually get covered with tags, pieces and other graffiti fairly quickly after opening. But in this case there’s no trace of that. Respect It could be that the municipality of Wierden has a very strict cleaning policy regarding this underpass. But it’s more likely that the graffitists have respect for the work of another artist. Master of the Beasts That other artist… Read More

Photo of Korendijk Wetlands, the Netherlands, showing the sun rise above the banks of Haringvliet estuary

Photography

8. April 2015

Four Rewards for an Early Rise on Easter Morning

Getting up in the middle of the night is not something I like to do. And I suppose a large part of the population has similar feelings. But for a landscape photographer the sunrise often provides the best opportunities for making beautiful pictures. So sometimes it is wise to set aside principles and put the alarm at six o’clock. On Easter Sunday 2015, we were very royally rewarded for that bravery. The aim of the expedition were the Korendijk wetlands, a nature reserve on the island of Hoekse Waard, near Rotterdam. A large part of the area is only accessible… Read More

Photo of a chestnut tree near Lijnbaan in the center of Rotterdam, made beginning of May, when the tree is in full leaf

Photography

9. March 2015

My Favourite Tree – a Springtime Animation

My favorite tree is a chestnut in the park in front of my apartment at the Lijnbaan in downtown Rotterdam. Every spring I am amazed about the speed with which nature operates. Within a few weeks time a metamorphosis takes place: the barren tree gets buds, leaves and a short time later flowers which then also pretty quickly disappear. Last year, during the months of March, April and May, I took a photo every day at nine a.m. from the walkway in front of my appartment on the sixth floor. In a perfect situation I’d use a weathertight protected fixed… Read More

NASA's indestructible Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, still going strong after two hundred years, driving around on the terraformed former Red Planet

Space art / Visualisation

23. February 2015

Opportunity’s Bicentennial

More than eleven years ago, on January 25, 2004, Opportunity, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover, landed in Meridiani Planum. An identical rover, Spirit, landed three weeks earlier, on the other side of Mars. Both vehicles were expected to remain active for 90 Martian days, more or less equal to three months on Earth. The Martian climate would claim its toll, or so the mission planners feared. Although on Mars the sun shines more than six hundred days a year, the dust storms and large daily temperature differences would surely leave their mark. Indestructible Oppy But the rovers appeared to be more… Read More

Buispanorama van Het Park, Rotterdam, met twee nijlganzen en de Euromast, gemaakt op een zonnige dag in de herfst

Digital art / Photography

14. November 2014

All Year Round Spherical Panoramas

I’ve been making a lot of spherical panorama’s lately, often referred to as “little planets”. But of course I have not invented the concept myself. I’m certainly not the only one who makes them; anyone with a camera and a recent version of Photoshop can produce them quite easily. And of course I do want my panoramas to add something, to stand out among the many other small spheres that are being made. Wet asphalt One of the ways I try to do that is by showing the influence of the weather and the seasons. The panorama below, for example,… Read More

Close up of moss and other small vegetation on an old brick wall in Delfshaven, Rotterdam, with boats, quay and houses out of focus in the background

Photography

9. April 2014

Urban Nature in Delfshaven

When thinking of urban nature, most people envision trees, gardens and parks. But also on a smaller scale beautiful landscapes and ecosystems can be discovered. This picture was made in a downtown Rotterdam neighbourhood called Delfshaven, at the roadside terrace of city brewery De Pelgrim. Inspired by a delicious glass of their Dubbellam beer.

Artist impression of proposed pergola on the Lloydpier in Rotterdam

Visualisation

18. March 2014

Pergola on the Pier

Garden on the Pier is an initiative like there are quite a few these days: a group of residents that turn a vacant piece of land into a temporary park for the neighbourhood. The Pier at stake here is the Lloyd Pier in Rotterdam which, as a consequence of the economic crisis, won’t be redeveloped as rapidly as originally envisioned. A part of the Pier can be used as a garden for several years. This is what the site currently looks like: Rose garden One of the plans is the construction of a pergola against which roses can grow. Piet… Read More

Hebes Chasma, in the early stages of terraforming. rendered in Terragen, with NASA's indestructible rover Opportunity

Space art / Visualisation

7. March 2014

Terraforming for Beginners

Terragen is software for generating landscapes. Landscapes on Earth but just as easily on other worlds, as is shown for example by Kees Veenenbos. Years ago I loaded some elevation data from NASA’s Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter into Terragen and I did some experimenting. There is a new version of the program now, which was a good reason to take those old terrain data off the shelf again. Rocks and grass There is much more possible with Terragen, these days. In the old days only aerial views could be made somewhat realistic. But nowadays you can add rocks, grass clumps,… Read More