water magic     

reflections and distortions     

"if there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water" - Loren Eisely

a sunny day in the city, the quiet water in the canal reflects the buildings in the street

a bit of wind disturbs the tranquil surface and creates long, slow ripples in the mirror

zooming in on the colorful distortions. all context disappears, what is left is an abstract interplay of color, shape and light

photo-heart-connection january 2013     

adding texture and text to an image

inspired by Kim Klassen's Round Trip

used Kim's 'unleashed' texture with soft light blending mode at 77%

this image is a 'lucky shot'.... the swans were winging past just as i was holding my camera to photograph something else. i heard them flapping, swung my lens upwards and...bingo!

sharing my august photo-heart connection     
celebrating a new photoblog collaboration
there is absolutely no doubt about the image that best represents my photo-heart-connection for august

here is the image i picked for the launch of a new photoblog i created with Els, a woman i met in one of Kat's classes and who happens to be dutch as well... somehow we 'clicked' and our connection has grown over the past months with this blog as a creative and mutually inspiring result.  it would even be better if i had a photograph of Els or of the two of us together, for she is my true photo-heart connection for this month, but although we don't live far apart, we haven't seen each other yet.... so maybe next time....!

Joining the August Break  27-31     

sharing a summer shot a day

day 27 - 18:50 pm

day 28 - 10:13 am

day 29 - 10:30 am

day 30 - 10:27 am

day 31 - 11:04 am 

Joining the August Break  21     

sharing a summer shot a day

9:22 am

Joining the August Break  20     

sharing a summer shot a day

6:26 pm

Joining the August Break  19     

sharing a summer shot a day

6:26 pm

Joining the August Break  7     

sharing a summer shot a day

10:38 am

Joining the August Break  5     

sharing a summer shot a day

11:52 am

Joining the August Break  1    

sharing a summer shot a day

9:40 am

exploring point of view part 1     
letting your subject do the work     
an exercise in waiting


While i like shooting my subjects from different angles and perspectives, my disabilities have made it very hard and painful for me to sit or lie down, climb on top of fences and chairs or walk down slopes and rough terrain. So in order to still get enough interesting points of view i have had to adapt and be creative. 

Here are some shots i took of a heron standing on the border of the pond near my father's house. I noticed the sharp dark shadow on the light concrete and was fascinated by the contrast and its changing shape. While sitting in the sun on my dad's terrace i got out my camera, zoomed in and just waited patiently for the heron to change its position and posture (which can take a while with herons....), meanwhile sipping my coffee and chatting with my dad. The heron took its time to prance around and i took the time to take shots whenever i liked what i saw. Very comfortable way of shooting...!

talking in photographs part 2      

silent lights        

solving photographic problems

every night i take my dogs out along the river. from day one i have been fascinated by the reflection of the bright street- and city lights in the dark water. it reminds me of Leon Spilliaert's paintings of the seashore in Ostend. i just love that silent muted atmosphere and have always wanted to capture it. 

this is the best that my iPhone could come up with, and i didn't like it very much. i needed a camera with more possibilities.

so when i got my olympus PEN P3 i was really excited and couldn't wait to take it out with the dogs at night....

i had read some books about night photography beforehand though, and knew i would encounter some problems. 

here's how i tried to solve them.

i bought a gorilla pod and fastened it to the steering wheel of my electric scooter. this allows me to use a very long shutter speed without camera shake resulting in blurry images. then i went out and started experimenting. i put my camera on manual mode, used a very small aperture (due to the dark it is almost impossible to focus on anything), put it on 2 seconds delayed shutter release, framed the shot, stepped out of my scooter and reframed it properly, then pressed the shutter and waited.....

this shot was taken at 40mm f/16 ISO 320 8 seconds
it was too dark, so i tried again with different settings

this is the same shot at 25 seconds and a much better representation of my night vision


here are some more of my night shots with the settings i used

53mm f/22 ISO 200 at 60 seconds
slightly post-processed in Lightroom to bring out the color of the shed

40mm f/16 ISO 800 at 15 seconds

some noise reduction applied in Lightroom

40mm f/22 ISO 200 at 50 seconds
pushed the clarity and reduced the noise in Lightroom

talking in photographs part 1
nature

my passion for photography started with nature.
the more i explored the landscape around me, the more i became aware of the beauty of its colors, lines and shapes.
the deeper my perception of that beauty in its myriad details, the stronger my desire to 'capture' it and show it to the world
i started shooting the landscape behind my house with my iPhone in december 2010 and haven't stopped since.
with my images, shared through my first photoblog, i am telling the landscape's story, recording the changes from day to day, from year to year.

here are some examples of the images that are closest to my heart.

flowers in the most beautiful colors and shapes, attracting butterflies and bees

our dutch national icon, the mill, a true landmark in our polder

all the animals on the land and in the water, the landscape's main inhabitants...

the constantly shifting colors of the lake and the majestic lowland skies

the countless shades of green, translucent with sunlight or moist with raindrops

and last but not least: the people enjoying and savoring the landscape, be it on foot, by bike or from the water.