Reisfotografie | De Portrettenmaker

Madagascar lemurs

Geplaatst op 26 oktober 202327 november 2023 door Henk Groenewoud

Lemurs are prosimians (halfapen) – they belong to the primates with probably the same common ancestors as apes, but as the apes continued to develop larger brains and a flatter snout, the lemurs kept their original character. Lemurs only live in Madagascar and surrounding islands; they are endemic there. There are five families still alive with dozens of species – often seriously endangered, as the total number of lemurs is estimated to have fallen with more than 95% in the last two decades

Rufous mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus)

Petter’s sportive lemur (Lepilemur petteri)

Crossley’s dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus crossleyi)

Small-toothed sportive lemur (Lepilemur microdon)

Brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus)

Woolly lemur (Avahi spp.)

Ring tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

Ring tailed lemur (Lemur catta)

Brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus)

Red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer)

Coquerel’s Sifaka (Propithecus coquereli)

Diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema)

Black and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata)

Grey bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus)

Grey bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus)

Indri (Indri indri)

Very curious Red-bellied lemurs (Eulemur rubriventer)

Just too cute! One last Coquerel’s sifaka (Propithecus coquereli)

Madagascar – 01

Geplaatst op 22 oktober 202322 oktober 2023 door Henk Groenewoud

Just returned from a trip to Madagascar. More than 16.000 pictures. Will make a selection – probably lots of birds, lemurs, chameleons, snakes and spiders. But first: people and the baobab

Back on track

Geplaatst op 29 augustus 202329 augustus 2023 door Henk Groenewoud

Allright. Back on track again. Corniglia, Cinque Terre, Italy

You cannot not become a romantic artist in Cinque Terre. It´s inevitable

Now I understand why all those painters came here, to Cinque Terre

Waves crash on the rocks at Lovers´ lane, Riomaggiore

La Clayette

Geplaatst op 12 augustus 2023 door Henk Groenewoud

Heb je Hockney’s landschappen van Yorkshire wel eens gezien? Kleurige velden en wegen lijken om elkaar te dansen en spelenderwijs om aandacht te vragen.

Afgelopen maand ben ik weer naar Frankrijk gegaan, fietsend over steile hellingen en zoekend naar dergelijke patronen in het landschap: boerderijen, houtwallen, percelen als een mozaïek door de geschiedenis neergelegd. Laat u niet bedriegen door het oog van de camera dat het landschap wat afstandelijk waarneemt: de fietser weet dat er hier wel degelijk behoorlijk steile hellingen zijn bedwongen. Jawel, ook die berg op de achtergrond!

(en dit is voorlopig de laatste met het thema Hockney)

Waterfalls

Geplaatst op 25 april 2023 door Henk Groenewoud

Did I say I love waterfalls? Plenty of them here in Iceland

Gulfoss

Skogarfoss

Seljalandsfoss

Oxararfoss

Katla ice cave

Geplaatst op 8 april 20239 april 2023 door Henk Groenewoud

Away from the paved roads into an alien world. Desolate. Windy. And once again bloody cold

The target is Katla glacier in Iceland. Cold winds have covered the icecap during many centuries in volcanic dust

A hostile but beautiful environment

I’m glad we came in these specially prepared ‘super jeeps’ that are able to drive over rocks and ice and through small glacier rivers

Geothermal activity

Geplaatst op 30 maart 202331 maart 2023 door Henk Groenewoud

Bubbles of boiling hot vapour push the surface upward until they break through and Strokkur erupts. In the Netherlands we call these geothermal steam-eruptions ‘geisers’. This generic name is derived from this specific spot: Geysir in Iceland…

Steamy Strokkur. Minus ten degrees Celcius (fourteen Fahrenheit) makes it bloody cold right next to this boiling pond.

Geothermical area around Geysir and Strokkur. Steam everywhere…

Another geothermal area is Krysuvik or Seltun. A small path leads through the hot springs and steamy rivers.

The smell of sulfur is all around.

Aurora borealis

Geplaatst op 23 maart 20231 juni 2025 door Henk Groenewoud

As a young boy I had a book with stories from all over the world. It had a drawing of a lone fur trapper in the woods, staring at the northern lights sky. I loved that drawing. Such wildness, such loneliness and such beauty! I dreamt of being in the wild myself and seeing the aurora borealis. But I had visited Iceland in summer once, with 5 days of just clouds and rain and wind (We were camping then, my daughter and I, and after 4 days of rain we fled into the first hotel we could find to get dry. Despite the rain and the clouds and the wind it was a great holiday, for even when it rains Iceland is really beautiful).

So I hesitated. What were the chances of going in winter and having both an active aurora and a clear sky? For years I didn’t dare to take the risk and buy a ticket.

Until last November, when I realised that if I didn’t try, I would surely never see it. I bought a ticket and… well, see for yourself.

There’s no need to go to a special dark place to see the aurora. You can see it right from the city. Reykjavic for instance, or more precisely: the bay of Kopavogur.

City of Mozart

Geplaatst op 24 februari 202325 februari 2023 door Henk Groenewoud

So I visited his grave in Vienna. That is to say: He was buried here at the St. Marx cemetery, but the exact location is a guess. Buried in an unmarked grave, according to the rules and habits of that time. Probably his bones were dug up after ten years to give room to other deceased. But it is nice to think that he was laid to rest here, at this memorial.

“Do you think this is it?”
Approaching the Mozart house at Domgasse 5 in Vienna, Austria. But no, the house where Mozart lived is just around the corner. The house is a museum, and you can walk in the rooms where you he and his wife lived from 1784 to 1787. He wrote the world-famous opera “Le Nozze di Figaro” there, and three of the six Haydn Quartets.

Well, this is it then. The Mozart house. Domgasse 5 in Vienna, Austria. Incredible that he has walked in the same streets, through the same door over the same stairs. With a little fantasy you can walk together.