Tagged: trees

A prunus tree, more specifically a Japanese cherry, in bloom in springtime near Unesco world heritage Van Nelle factory in Rotterdam

28. May 2018

Springtime in Rotterdam: Magnolia, Prunus, Robinia

For some photos the window of opportunity is very small. You have to be quick, otherwise your chance is over. Think, for example, of the increasingly rare photos of the city under a nice layer of snow. Or photos taken in the blue hour after sunset, when the circumstances change by the minute. Spring is another of those narrow windows. One moment the trees are still bare, a few days later they are full of blossoms and/or young leaves. And if you don’t act promptly, the spectacle is already over by the time you get your camera. Late Spring was a… Read More

A freshly fallen leaf of a sweetgum tree, red with some yellow, in the grass in autumn

Photography

10. December 2017

Looking Back at the Photographic Autumn of 2017

When does autumn begin and end? The answer depends on whether you ask an astronomer or a meteorologist. Equinox and solstice The astronomical autumn begins with the autumn equinox, the moment that day and night, everywhere on Earth, have the same length. Autumn ends with the winter solstice, better known as the shortest day. In 2017, autumn officially started on 22 September at 20.01 Central European Time; the end is scheduled for December 21, 16.18. Because the length of a year on our planet (and actually on almost every other planet) is not an exact number of days, the times… 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

De witte bloesem van sierkersen in de lente op de Van Oldenbarneveltplaats in Rotterdam

Photography

22. March 2014

Flowering Cherries in Rotterdam

Trees in the city, I love ‘m. But I’d love a little variation as well. In Rotterdam there are so many plane trees that even I, traditionally a big plane tree fan, get a little bored. But fortunately sometimes a different species is chosen, and how beautiful that can be seen at Van Oldenbarneveltplaats. Since a few days the flowering cherries there are in bloom. The experts are not yet sure whether they’re Prunus Avium or Prunus Serrulata. One week each year It is a pity that the stunning beauty lasts only a week, but hey, that’s nature. And that… Read More

Aert van Nesstraat in Rotterdam with trees, new pavement and new street furniture

Visualisation

27. January 2014

Greening Aert van Nes

Aert van Nesstraat is a rather stony street in the center of Rotterdam. There are some interesting buildings: the pre-war Atlanta hotel and some monuments from the post-war reconstruction era like the Lijnbaan and the Bank Mees and Hope. And okay, a few architectural blunders from the seventies: the parking garage of the Bijenkorf and the so-called Rotterdam Building. But what’s especially remarkable is the total absence of green. Admittedly, the western part of the road runs along one of the Lijnbaan courts. But in the section between Lijnbaan and Coolsingel there is not a tree, not a bush, not… Read More