Like last year I went to the Hallerbos near Brussels, however, this year I went a couple of weeks earlier to catch the first blossoming of the bluebells. While the moring was beatifull with great colors reflecting on the leaves it never quite seemed to fall upon the leaves or bluebells I had choosen to be part of my composition. A bit lost for ideas I tried some alternative photographs. Good or bad, you decide, at least I had a pleasant morning.

January 30th 2010

This image was an attempt to improve on an interesting idea from Marijn Heuts. During the monthly meeting from the VNFE he took with him a picture of a heather plant lightly capped with snow. Walking through a forest and heather field close to my home I had this image in my mind. The fluffyness of the fresh snow, the backlighting by the sun and the strong contrast in the background with the dark (almost black) forest background all added to the image. 

Nikon D200, 70-200VR/2.8, 1/1250s, f7.1, iso200, handheld

The March issue of the Dutch nature magazine 'Grasduinen' features an article written and illustrated by Marijn Heuts, Paul van Hoof and myself about moor frogs. More specifically, in the article the focus is on the moor frog's blue color in spring time. For any of you who have seen more of my work will know, photographing amfibians is someting that I have a weak spot for. Turning it into an article makes for a nice outlet for my enjoyment in all the nightly hours. Hope many more blue springs lay in the future of these little frogs! Click on the image on the left to open the draft version of the article. For the real and final article, there is no substitute for the real thing.

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! For a first small peek have a look at the image below. These images were made in the southern region being Vik (left image) and Jokulsarlon (the other one's).

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.

December 21st, 2009

This youngster Nothern 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

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.