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Archive for the ‘The Netherlands’ Category

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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OK, this isn’t a front door. It’s a detail of the Sint Jan cathedral in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. I liked the symmetry here and the detail of the windows.

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This gorgeous shop front is found in the town of ’s-Hertogenbosch, or Den Bosch for short, and is the town I grew up in. I really liked the reflections in the glass window and the lonely bike, which is such a typical Dutch scene. This street (the Hinthamerstraat) is one of the main shopping street that leads into the town center, at the heart of which lies a market square. The name of the town literally means “The Duke’s Forest”. The duke was Henry I, Duke of Brabant who founded the town and granted the city rights in 1185.

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If you look carefully, you’ll notice that nothing is plumb here. This great looking store is in Den Bosch, southern part of the Netherlands and is somewhat typical of this neighborhood. Most buildings are several hundred years old and have sagged over the centuries.

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Another great front door/shop window I encountered on my wanderings through Den Bosch.  The red bricks contrasts really well with the building around it and the paved street.

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That’s what the city of Gouda is famous for — Gouda cheese and Stroopwafels, a waffle-like cookie with a caramel-syrupy filling (hmmm). Like so many of the Dutch cities, Gouda has a rich history dating back to 1272. This door was seen on one of my wanderings through town. Whenever I see this picture, I wonder how tall the people are that live there as I imagine they have to duck every time they enter this place.

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The King – that’s the name of this whiskey specialist. I’ve been inside, great selection! Of course, it is no where near Scotland, but their selection is impressive nevertheless.

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