Strolling

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Strolling around the towns of Middelburg and Veere. Though we come here regularly, I rarely photograph (always preferring the dunes and the sand and the sea), so I thought I’d share these for a change. The atmosphere and the light were just right … and I had brought my camera to what was originally an outing to have lunch. Thanks to my wife for her patience. | This is another contribution for Jo’s great Monday Walks – join her…!

Dunes

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Like Jo at restlessjo, I love to walk on the shore. On Walcheren (southern Netherlands) the shore comes with great dunes. On this particular walk, the winter light invited a closer look at details. The sand looks quite rough because there had just been a little rain and wind did not have enough time to smooth the surface afterwards. I would like to contribute this post to Jo’s Monday Walks.

You can join Jo for her latest walk here.

Walk on Beach

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DSC03804-d05kWalking on beaches is a passion I seem to share with Jo. Which is why I would like to share this walk (or maybe even series of walks) on her Monday Walks collection: Walking the beaches of south Holland, you find many things – among them the strandpaviljoens, beach cafés standing on stilts at the seaward base of the dunes, a welcome refuge from rain and cold and in case of an appetite for fish & chips. As a landscape photographer, I have always hated them because they are prone to get in the way. But this winter, I decided to turn the tables: You’ll see a couple of strandpaviljoen pictures this month.

A Walcheren Walk

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A Monday walk in early January took us south-east from Zoutelande. We did not quite reach Dishoek though on account of the icy wind. The breakwaters lent themselves to trying some abstract photography though, before we found a bit of shelter in the dunes on our way back (along with some WW II bunkers which were photographed with black and white film and will be part of my “Fragments of a Language of Terror”).

On Nature’s Whim

Isn’t it sometimes hard to tell if something was arranged or just happened? Esspecially when looking at photographs, we often are at a loss.

The situation you see here was composed by nature, and I only positioned it in a frame. While many photographers arrange people and things so they look natural in their photos, I love to do it the other way round – I do not arrange but love my subjects to look like they were deliberately positioned.

Turning the Usual Into Something Unusual

Making people look at what they usually overlook, making them see what they did not see before has always been one of the central objectives of photography. It is indeed rewarding to charge everyday scenes and objects with mystery. But the longer I photograph, the better I seem to understand that first and foremost it is light which accounts for an unusual appearance – both in the wotld that surrounds us and in pictures.  There is nothing like getting drunk on light…

Wind, Sand, Movement

Strolling the beach near Vlissingen (Holland), we found these small bits and pieces, their shadows exaggerated by a low evening sun. Then we realized that there was just enough breeze to drive small sticks over the beach and wave loose twigs and strings. Yet the wind force did not suffice to move the sand particles; hence every minute movement left its trace.