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Archive for the ‘The Netherlands’ Category

Something quite different today. Treatment-wise that is. This is my free “Aged Photo” preset applied to an HDR. Sort of double up, but I kinda liked the end result. It reminded me of some of the old paintings done by the Dutch Masters. I’m not claiming any of their brilliance here, just pointing out that the “mood” reminds me of their work.

The shot itself was taken in Gouda during a photowalk with Martin, my brother in law.

The city dates back to around 1000 when people first started to harvest peat from the area. Today, Gouda is a lovely picturesque city famous for its cheese and a cookie called the Stroopwafel.

While the city lies inland, it is well connected to the vast Dutch network of waterways and it is no wonder that a harbor was created here as early as the 13th century. That church you see is the Gouwekerk which is relatively new. It adds a nice touch to the scene though.

About the preset. It is the Aged Photo Preset from my free collection. It creates a old feel by desaturating the colors and providing a sepia-like tone. Hope you like it.

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Here is another shot taken at Kinderdijk in the Netherlands.

You can’t help but love this place with its 19 working windmills. It provides such a wonderful “Dutch” scene. What could be more stereo-typical than this? Perhaps a winter scene, when it’s all frozen over and people are out skating the canals.

On this occasion I visited with Linda who had never been to Holland before. The drive to Kinderdijk takes you past some glorious Dutch countryside. Parts of the road is right on top of the levees, which are called “dykes” in Holland and are built to keep the water out. This is also where the windmills come in as they were designed as pumps, pumping water out of the lower lying lands. They still work at Kinderdijk and it is quite normal to see some in action when you wander around here (although there is no real need for them as a pump, they turn mostly for the tourists these days.

This shot is not an HDR, but a single image treated with Topaz Adjust. I tend to apply the effect on one layer, then blend copies of the original image together to get the effect I want. This provides me with a lot of control and avoids that “grungy” look you can get so easily with Topaz.

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When walking through the back streets of the picturesque Dutch town of Gouda, I spotted this lonely bike, leaning up against the wall. It struck me that bike’s blue color complimented the colors of the cobblestone and the wicker basket sort of blends in as well.

I also knew that the textures of the sandstone wall and the cobble stone pavement would look great in HDR so I couldn’t resist snapping a series of shots. Here is the result.

Bikes are everywhere in Holland of course and Linda and I, not being used to so many of them on the street, had to be on a constant lookout (they are silent too by the way).

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Gouda is of course famous for its cheese. Being a huge cheese lover, I can say with some authority that Gouda cheese is just wonderful. If you can get hold of the crumbly aged stuff, you’ll be in for a treat, I promise.

The town of Gouda is also a gem. It has a very picturesque town center that just oozes charm with its cobblestoned streets, gorgeous old houses and the old market square, which isn’t square but triangular.

Right in the middle of this “square” stands the old town hall pictured below. The building dates back to the 15th century, 1450 to be exact. An amazing 560 years old! Perhaps most amazing is the fact that council meetings are still held there.

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Here is a shot of a typical street with a canal in Amsterdam. Not all streets have canals of course, but there is a lot of water (as is the case in much of the western part of Holland) in Amsterdam. It is of course famous for it many canals.

Linda and I walked and walked in this fabulous city. It is vibrant and very picturesque.

Sadly, there was a strike on by the workers of the city and there was garbage everywhere as it had not been collected. So sad to see such a wonderful city portrayed in such a way. On the train, a total stranger had heard us speak English and, as we entered Amsterdam, came up to us and, in very broken English, apologized for the garbage. At first we had no idea what he was talking about, but the moment we stepped out of the station, all became clear.

However, this did not spoil our appreciation of this wonderful city. We walked down little cobble-stoned streets, dodging the bicycles (which were EVERYWHERE) and stopping at every shoe shop and bakery we stumbled upon (and there are many of them, believe me). The bakeries were fun. I had told Linda of my favorite baked goodies so we had to try them all of course. We stocked up on things like Spekulaas, Gevulde Koek and Stroopwafels and munched our way through the streets of Amsterdam.

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Here are some windmills. Not from the Zaansche Schans as indicated in the previous post, but from a place called Kinderdijk.

Kinderdijk is famous for its collection of windmills. There are 19 of them clustered together, more than anywhere else in the Netherlands. While not all 19 are visible in the picture below, there are quite a few. I can count 13. How about you?

This shot is an HDR, but is only made from 2 exposures. One exposed for the grass and water, the other for the sky.

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So Linda and I visited Holland too, not just Paris. There is a lot of water in Holland. Not surprising really as 2/5 of Holland lies below sea level. It’s why there are windmills in Holland, many were built to pump water.

There is a region called De Zaansche Schans, where there are a bunch of windmills in working order. There is one setup as a saw mill and another for grinding wheat. Yes, wind power was put to good use in the old days, kind of ironic that wind is once again a power source that is popular.

The shot below is taken just around the corner of those windmills (don’ worry, I’ll be posting pictures of them too). I loved the sky and the wide angle view of the water and house, just seem to make the composition come together for me. The two ducks were a bonus.

This is an HDR, made from 3 exposures each two stops apart.

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Holland is famous for a number of things, but windmills are perhaps the most iconic of all. Used to pump water out of low lying land, windmills played a vital role in a country of which two fifths lies below sea level. The name “Nederland” literally means “low land”.

No wonder that water has been such an influential force in so many aspects of every day life. After all, this is the country with dykes everywhere and is a nation that plays a dominant role in many water-related sports such as speed skating and swimming.

Today, modern engineering takes care of keeping land dry, but the Dutch are immensely proud of their wind-powered water management legacy. Windmills are a nostalgic icon of those early days and are enthusiastically preserved whenever possible. Nowhere is this more evident that in a place called Kinderdijk, where no less than 17 windmills are clustered together and present just about the most classic view of Dutch country side one can imagine. Needless to say it is a popular tourist spot and a great place to go for a day of photography.

I am hoping to take Linda there in May when we will be in the Netherlands so here is a shot to “get in the mood”. This is one of those 17 windmills at Kinderdijk and is a 3-shot HDR. It was a rainy day (as you can see from the clouds), but I was lucky to get this shot with some great reflections during a break in the rain.

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These shots are of a series of 39 homes built in the Rotterdam area called the Blaak.

They are quite spectacular to look at and every time I see them I wonder what they look like inside. Each cube is a home and the interior is split into 3 sections. The lower section being the living space, the middle section the sleeping area and the top creates room for an office, family room or a spare bedroom. While I have never been inside them, I read they are quite comfortable to live in, although owning bulky furniture like a piano is somewhat out of the question.

The architect is Piet Blom and the creative spark behind the design was to build a series of homes where each home represented an abstract tree, the cluster of “trees” forming a forest. You can see this concept in the first image below.

I visited Rotterdam in 2008 with my brother in law (who lives in nearby Gouda) who needed an excuse to go out and shoot with his new Canon 40D. We both had a blast shooting these cubes and many shots ended up being quite abstract. The angles are just phenomenal and so much fun to look at.

I hope you enjoy these unusual buildings.

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It was early and it was cold, but the day had promise so this cafe eagerly set out its tables and chairs hoping for some brave customers to come by. It’s a great place to hang out though and watch the world go by. They serve awesome coffee too!

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