Last week we had a public holiday, Kings-day. We celebrated the 50th birthday of our King. I had this day off just like many other Dutch people. I went and celebrated this day, you guessed it... Not in The Netherlands, haha. Instead of staying home I got into my car and drove off southbound. Into the Hoge Venen in Belgium and in Germany. I have always wanted to pay a proper visit to this area. And the weather was pretty good, skies full with nice clouds so off I went.
I first made my way down to this area just down south of Monschau, Germany. I have seen some photos of this rock called the "Bieley" and I was quite curios to how it would look and what kind of photographic perspective it offered over the valley beneath. I have seen a few photographs that looked promising. And boy, was I right. I had to walk for a few kilometers over some well organized paths through the forest to finally come up to a much smaller and "less traveled" path. At first I was skeptical to take this path and see where it would end up. Although I was pretty sure that this was going towards the rock I was looking for. So off I went deeper and deeper into the woods. All of a sudden I saw the rock peep out between the trees and overlooking this little valley beneath. Breathtaking place. With a little stream curving and finding its way through the valley. Surrounded by mighty pine forests. On top of this rock it really felt as if I was in the Alps or something. Really spectacular viewpoint and location. It was so good to be alone for a bit, taking in the environment around me and enjoying it. This place is so good to photograph, everywhere you look there's great shots waiting to be captured.
After making my way back to the car I decided to drive back home through Belgium. And I had a little stop in "Parc naturel Hautes Fagnes - Eifel" close to Ternell.
I got out the car and shot some more photographs in these great forests that are all around you in this area. The road that I drove crosses these massive woods. You really feel like you are alone with nature, something I really love and makes me feel comfortable. With everything. A nice way to spend a day off and an even better way to recharge.
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustave Flaubert
Astrophotography
Recently I have been gaining quite some interest for Astrophotography. I have always loved these great images of night skies and star trails and such, but never saw myself take any photographs like that. Because I always thought that the techniques and materials you would need for this were out of reach for me.
I have been talking to my friend Asgeir from Iceland about shooting the stars for quite a bit for the past few weeks, and have to admit that his work and our conversations inspired me to give it a decent go. He basically nails this type of photography. His work are master pieces. He has provided me with plenty of very useful tips and the motivation to step out of my comfort zone and try something new, thanks buddy! (Check out Asgeir's great photographs right here)
So below you can see what I managed to push out of my camera. I don't have a full frame camera, and my widest lenses are both at F3.5 only. For this type of photography you would really want a "fast" lens (with apertures ranging from F1.4 to F2.8) so F3.5 isn't that bad at all, but it comes with a little challenge. There is slightly less "light" hitting the sensor compared to a F1.8 for example. I had the ISO up to 3200 for both shots, which is still pretty good on my "old" D7000 but also showing that from there grain and noise become much more visible and a disturbing factor. I did edit both pictures in Lightroom and Photoshop to try and get the best quality out of these images. And I am pretty happy with how they came out, what do you think?
Anyways, I am back off to saving some more money to reach the point of possibly upgrading my body and lenses to something more powerful and capable, for experimenting a bit more with this type of photography.
El Peñon de Ifach, Spain
Last year in September we went to Spain with the family (again, haha) just to have a good time together, and enjoying Spain basically. We went to Moraira, a nice and little coastal town that is located on the Costa Blanca strip. Back in 2011 we basically did the same trip, stayed in the same town and accommodation and sort of had a similar holiday. It was that good in 2011 that we decided to do it all over again.
A short drive from Moraira is Calpe, a little bit bigger, more tourism, more high rises and sandy beaches. Just as you would imagine the Spanish coast would be. But also home to a quite known landmark, the El Peñon de Ifach. It basically is a giant rock sitting on the shore next to the town. In the old times the rock was a strategic lookout point for locals providing them with perfect views of the sea and the surrounding towns.
It is the smallest nature park in Spain, perhaps even in Europe. But when you are standing at its foot it is quite intimidating. It is 332m tall, and it is also home to over 300 species of animals and numerous rare plants. The rock has this awesome hike trail that takes you all the way up to the top. Its quite a heavy and tricky climb to get to the highest point. But the views are amazing. Have a look at these pics below, stunning views right?
Out and About 2: Baexem
The second entry for this series is going to be a short one. But a very spontaneous one. Today was a lovely nice sunny and warm day. Perfect ice-cream weather haha. After the sun went down and the temperatures dropped a bit it was my time to shine. At least that how it felt to me haha. I just very randomly left for a little drive just out of town. No big plans, no expectations, nothing. But then I found some pretty decent spots and places that I just had to snap. And so I did. Here's a selection of tonight's shots. The sky was clear, very moody with the sun juuuust in there. It made the forest and the fields look so amazing. Don't you think?
All these pictures were taken between my hometown Grathem, and the one next to us to the north. Baexem. This area is not part of "Het Leudal" that I wrote about in my previous post. But its in the same municipality though. So, lets just call it part of it, shall we? Anyways, little spontaneous trips like these make me appreciate my surroundings. Far away, but also very much so: locally. Good end to a nice weekend! see you around folks!
-Arjan
Out and About 1: Leudal
Hi all, I am going to start this series of blogs called "Out and About" This series will be blog posts about National Parks and other great outdoor locations in and around the area where I live. I will be showing you some of the most known, and lesser known spots and places in these areas.
So today I went to "Het Leudal" which is a beautiful nature reserve in the municipality of Leudal, In The Netherlands
Leudal is a municipality with close to 40.000 people living in it. With it being the biggest municipality in Central Limburg it is still very green, and has this great outdoor feel to it. No big overcrowded cities or busy highways here. The nature reserve is quite big (for Dutch standards) It extends over 900 hectares. And is filled with beautiful forests, little streams, wide open fens and plenty of hiking trails. Great place to forget everything around you, and breathe some fresh air.
Below are some photographs that I've taken today, all of them were taken between "Heythuysen" "Roggel" and "Haelen". All three are towns located in and around "Het Leudal" The nature reserve is much bigger then the tiny area I covered today, perhaps I have to dedicate a second "Out and About" blog to "Het Leudal" to cover some more areas of this place, and show you some more beauty of it through photographs!
The weather was quite dramatic today, a bit windy, heavy clouds. But that all made for quite dramatic conditions, conditions that I like to be out in. And that really work for landscape photography. Enjoy!
