Archive for 2010

Iceland March 2010

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Together with Paul van Hoof I am now on a trip to iceland. Actually we are now halfway already. For images stay tuned, soon I will post some here!

Update March 12th: Since today we are in the Myvatn region. Weather is looking promising for cold and maybe a bit of snow. Fingers crossed and hope the ice queen is on our hand!

Update March 18th: After a long night of some last possibilities to photograph northern lights (we were out of the field at about 3:45 and boarded the plane at 7:20) the trip has now really ended. The end was a good one, with some moments of bright aurora activity. On the two nights in the 2 weeks when we had (some) clear skies) we were also lucky enough to see the nothern lights. The two weeks are over and now it is time to sort through all the photographs taken. I soon hope to find some time to sort it out and put (at least some) here for you to see.

Odd visitor

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December 21st, 2009

This youngster Northern Lapwing was here still in december. Normaly they fly away for winter to return early in spring. This one had other plans though. It did not make the impression of being ill (a good explanation for it still being here), rather it seemed to feel quite ok. Who knows why, but still a rare, albeit somewhat unnatural, sighting.

Waar normaal de kieviet bij het aanbreken van de winter naar warmere plekken vertrek was deze jonge kieviet nog in het land in december. Hoewel ziekte een goede verklaring zou zijn voor zijn aanwezigheid, zijn gedrag leek daar niet op te wijzen. Vliegen, kwetteren, en allesinds helder aandoend landde hij op het ijs. Wat de reden ook is, het is een niet heel frequente wintergast.

Nikon D200, Nikon 70-200/2.8 VR, f5.6 1/160s, ISO 200

On the edge

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December 21st 2009

Having just bought the Nikon 70-200 VR as a replacement for my old and quite used 100-300 you can imagine that I was really wanting to use it. Taking it along to my normal day-job in academia I decided to take it along for a walk during lunch time. Never expecting nice light in the middle of the day winter again surprised me. It was all really soft and gentle light. A joy to look at and use to photograph. Coming to a still open part of a small lake I spotted this group of seagull. They were just standing there, on the edge, looking at each other as if they were forgotten that they could fly. Quite a funny sight I must admit.

Nikon D200, Nikon 70-200/2.8 VR, f5.6 1/500s, ISO 200

 

Black trees White snow

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December 20th 2009

Nearing Christmas and the Netherlands became a wintery place. Lots of snow fall, and at times the drifting snow was nice and sticky. Unfortunately, all this snowfall also blocked out the sunset. Well, unfortunately? Not quite! The lighting was soft, and walking through a small piece of forest (a forest I had walked through numerous times already) to reach the open terrain, I was struck by the strength of the trees outlined in the snow. Converting it into a Black and White image made the trees stand out even stronger, really showing the vertical lines from the trees.

Eind december begon het mooi te winteren. Zo rond het vriespunt geeft dit mooie sneeuw die lekker op de bomen kan blijven plakken. Laat in de avond bleken de sneeuwbuien te veel om nog een zonsondergang te zien. En eigenlijk maar goed, want tijdens het lopen richting de open heide kwam ik langs dit mooie met sneeuw bestoven bosje bomen. Door het wit op slechts een deel van de bomen, an de donkere randen krijgen ze een krachtige uitstraling. Om dit te versterken heb ik het beeld zwart wit gemaakt. Het lijnenspel springt er zo lekker uit.

Nikon D200, Nikon 70-200 VR, f5.6 1/10s, ISO 200, Cable release, Tripod, BW in pp