So I went into the woods (which is less than five minutes from home) and took this picture of a beech. “Quite erotic,” my girlfriend said when she saw the print. Like bodies in a state of ecstasy.
A real life Rorschach test, this tree!
Erotic
Sahara dusty sunrise
Every now and again at sunrise I open my curtains and immediately run out. That is: It takes me approximately 5 minutes to tear off my pyjamas, grab my clothes and camera, stumble to the front door and run to the meadows. But even those lousy 5 minutes can be too much, for rapidly the most stunning colours in the sky change to a boring, pale palette. No time to think, just run!
This Monday January 29 I made it. Once again Sahara dust swirled high in the atmosphere, as in March 2022 and February 2021. And like before, the most beautiful colours appeared before the sun peeked above the horizon. Wow!
Field of gold
This picture made me think of Sting’s song ‘Fields of gold’. It´s wheat he sings about, but this comes close enough. Heard him sing during his show last December. Loved it!
But even the master can´t beat the voice of Eva Cassidy. She makes me want to walk through the fields forever
Fall
Ameria
Rainy day in Amsterdam
Autumn has arrived
Glow-in-the-dark sea
I must have been about 10 years old when we spent the holidays in Bergen near the North Sea (Netherlands). One night my father woke me up: “Get up! Put your shoes on, we’ll go to the beach!”
“Why?” did I ask, still very asleep.
“We are going to watch the light of the sea!”
It had been hot and windless all week. Ideal conditions to see sparkling sea turning the beach into a magical place. The waves radiated a blue light. As you moved through the water, blue light rippled around you. And as you walked over the wet sand, a trail of glowing footsteps slowly died out behind you. Zeevonk, it’s called in Dutch
The light comes from the alga Noctiluca scintillans, which emits a bluish light when moved. Earlier I told about the herrings in my fridge that gave light – probably also caused by the ingestion of these algae while swimming (see Luminescence).
All these years I hoped to one day see that light of the sea again. And last week I did. Not as exuberant as I remember; actually I would have walked right past it if another visitor hadn’t pointed out the puddle that the low tide had left on the beach. But I was just in time, for that night was the last that the phenomenon could be observed. So I am more than happy now, with some fresh memories.
Foggy blue
Our local photo club has a project: To create a piece of art photography inspired by David Hockney. I love these kinds of challenges, and dove into the Hockney universe. In turn, Hockney was inspired by Vincent van Gogh, so I dove into that universe as well and looked at it through the eyes of Hockney.
First piece is inspired by the double (or actually triple) portraits ‘My parents and myself’ and ‘My parents.’ I decided to look for the fragile state of existence of my father, age 95, and his sweetheart, age 93, and the relationship between the three of us in their shrinking and simplifying, schematizing world. Alzheimer has got a firm grip on him; yet the beautiful bright colours make life look wonderful
So. What next?
Paradise
They’re back! Spoonbills in their regular nesting place: a tiny piece of swamp forest tugged in between a highway and a lake. The archetype nature images in our heads are pristine, without human influence. And I have to confess: as a nature photographer I always try to replicate these images. Even when the pictures are taken in a densely populated and completely transformed area. I think we have a longing and even a need for dreams of purity and paradise. And well, it feels a bit like paradise here.
And now they´re back. All the way from Africa, ready for summer. Temperatures are still quite low here, but every spring when they return my heart leaps up.
And it’s not just one… It’s so many of them!
What a feeling to stand here in the middle of nowhere, and just see, hear, smell and feel nature all around.
This last little fellow brings back memories of the card playing game I had as a child. The bluethroat was my favourite card! I love this time of spring when all these birds have returned with a promise of lovely summer days to come
Kind of blue
Venus guided us all the way home after the Vienna trip.
The picture from the plane resembles a bit the picture I took at home a few days ago, with Jupiter and Venus in conjunction.
More blue lately:
Angry ocean
Floating. Mesmerizing
Dusk settles
De Portrettenmaker 