Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone all the best for 2014!

Night photography

Tower bridge by night. What else can I say?

London Canals

London canals from a different perspective. I could not resist playing with the pattern and reflection of this old wall. To me the photo created a moment that seemed endless and lost in time. A moment that could exist anywhere. Contemplating the picture, what comes up for you?

London by night

London by night from the air. I thought this photo fitted well with the holiday season, imagining people visiting and celebrating all over town.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas! 

 Wishing you a peaceful and enriching holiday season.

Night photography

As the days grow gloomier and shorter, night photography seems like a very good option. With the lighting going on in the city, it gives me a brighter outlook on the dark season.

Change of Season

December. Back in the park to visit 'my' spot and mark the change of seasons with another photo taken of the by now familiar surroundings.

Urban contrasts

Another, less well known part of Rio de Janeiro is the Zona Norte, the neighbourhoods north of the city centre. This is the 'other' Rio de Janeiro, the Rio de Janeiro of the poor.

Urban contrasts

Home in Rio de Janeiro. More often than not, one window indicates the space of one apartment.

Urban contrasts

Sunset at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. Copacabana, probably the most famous beach of Rio de Janeiro continues to be a very popular and, on a hot sunny day, Rio flocks to Copacabana to spend the day relaxing and playing and bathing until the final hours of the day.

Urban contrasts

Central do Brasil is a huge strain station in the heart of Rio de Janeiro. Thousands come through the station every day in their journey in and out of the city. And many will use the trains to commute to and from the Zona Norte, the northern part of town, the second Rio de Janeiro, the Rio de Janeiro of the poor.

Urban contrasts

Aterro, a huge park just south of the city centre has become the resort for stray cats. Here they have found friends among the locals who will come and feed the hundreds of cats spread out everywhere.

Urban contrasts

And then there are the neighbourhoods of Rio de Janeiro. High buildings filled with small apartments, these are the homes to where many will return after a day of work or a day at the beach. Many of those who can still afford to live in the areas near the beaches, the Zona Sul, live in tiny apartments in tall buildings.

Urban contrasts

  

And keeping to its fame of city on the beach, this is one of the majour attractions of Rio de Janeiro; Ipanema beach, just south of the city centre, with all the commodities of a big city just across the street. And it is a beach where ambulant vendors provide anything a person might need or want to have a relaxing time.

Urban contrasts

And than there is the city.  Rio de Janeiro city centre with its buildings and parks. An abundant mix of old and new and the King palms competing with modern heights. The city spreads out into the mountains, and, as time goes by and space becomes an increasingly scarce resource, the building start to reach into the sky. 

Urban contrasts

Introducing another site to Rio de Janeiro. Leaving the city and its parks behind, there is the sea with its many charms and timelessness.

Urban contrasts - colour and structure

Building on my series about contrast in the urban setting in Rio de Janeiro, this photo stands for its strong urban and historic feel, bearing witness of times long gone and a hint of the modern times that have followed.

Urban contrasts - colour and structure

This photo is the beginning of a new series in which I will be looking at building a narrative using contrasting images. One of the themes that fascinate me in cities is contrasts. Rio de Janeiro is a city I know well and which is full of contrasts. Developing the theme over the next weeks, my first impression is about colours, structures and nature. To me tropical trees and flowers are a subject, I can never get enough of.

Animal portrait

Adding to my series of animal portraits, this is the last photo of the series. The animal studies are part of a little project I did, trying to capture the characteristics of the animal as I observed them from up close while taking into consideration the environment and light.

Animal portrait

Staying with my mini series on animal portraits, this photo is part of some work I did on animal photography exploring how to take a photo of a specific animal that reflected on its characteristics.

Animal portrait

Reflecting on my past blog entries, I noticed that I mainly worked with individual photos and thought, I try something new,  to develop the same theme and build up a small series. And I decided to make my first series about animal portraits. So, building up from the animal portrait I published last week, here comes the bear.

Change of Season

Two months to go until I complete one year of documenting how the change of season affects the park and its visitors. As London prepares for yet another winter, nature and people change their 'dress'. And with the season there is a visable change in light and colour, as I could notice this morning when I had to turn up the ISO considerably to make sure I could still capture the scene as my eyes saw it.

Animal portrait

Animal portraits are not the most regular of my practice, but I do enjoy taking photos of animals. It probably has to do with all those wonderful photo books I used to look at as a child. In my mind travelling around the world, seeing the most amazing of animals. Now, what I'm left with is the wish to create this and that image which reminds me of those photos.

Walk in the park

Fascinated by the reflections, I thought this photo tells its own story.

Illusions

Using a frosted window pane as 'filter', I was drawn to the image that emerged playing with the effect the glass had on breaking down the reality behind it.

Infinity

Part of Yayoi Kusama's 'Infinity' exhibition are rooms filled of mirrors that create a feeling of dissolving into infinite space. Studying the effect of a dark room with mirrors, light bulbs and visitors, I thought what I am left with is an image of an infinite horizon disappearing into infinite space and time.

A photographic study: Colour versus B&W

As I continue to explore photography from various angles,  the impact of colour is one of the obvious subjects of interest. And I thought I put this to the test by looking at the same image in colour and black & white.  Now, I would be very interested to hear your opinion. Which image does have a stronger impact for you? My last post which was published in colour, or its black & white version?

Getting into the scene

Do you feel like being in the water? Playing with perspective I'm interested on the effect it has on the message and the viewer. And, the photo also picks up on several of 'my' themes, it has a wide tonal range of the same colour, strong light reflections and a strong sense of space.

Curiosity

Sometimes my photos are simply about the story. After first becoming aware of the deer on Bowen Island, this was a photo I could not miss. And with these two very different experiences I could be tempted to think there is something about deer living on islands, is there?
The photo was taken on Miyajima Island where deer roam freely and are very much part of the landscape (though not allowed in the restaurants).

Shades of orange

Still making sense of my Japan experience, I'm slowly working through my photographs.
I had seen a photo of the torii gates at the Fushimi Shrine in the travel guide and felt drawn to the bright colour. With an image in my mind, I went to explore the full length of the walk to 'find my image', the one my imagination had created based on the photo I had seen.
Over the past year I have noticed that I sometimes seem to have images 'stored up' and that I find it liberating to work on creating these images.