I was visiting a friend this week, and she showed me the amazing flower she got on a little succulent plant on her window sill. What a stunning flower in a deep red colour, and all covered with soft little hairs… I never saw something like this! I happened to have my camera with me, so asked her whether I could make some pictures. Of course that was fine with her. We had to improvise a bit with the placement and lighting, since there was little light inside. And I would have wished that the plant was in a nicer pot… But I was quite happy with the result anyway.
Today I decided to make some of the images into a collage and card-design… Maybe I’ll do some more photoshopping on it later on. Hope you like it 😉
What I love most about the place where I live, and what I most enjoy every day, is the sky. From my balcony, I can see the sky from the East, where in the early morning the sun rises, till the West-South-West early where the sun sets on winter evenings. How marvellous is that?! I have a beautiful view outside all day long and I cannot stop photographing that sky and the tree tops, especially in October and November, when I have the best view on both sunrise and sunset. I’ve loads and loads of sky pictures by now, and I definitely will continue collecting them. That’s why I have stopped giving them separate names. They are all called “My today’s sunset” (or sunrise) with a number – and belong all to the same collection: “Skies from my balcony”.
For those who like to use stock images, you’re most welcome to go check out my unrestricted stock account at Deviantart, where you can choose from lots of my skies, and download and use them as stock for free. Just please keep to the very fewterms of use 😉 . They make for a great background for photo manipulations or composites, as well as for quotes (as you will see in the second image I post today). And yes, when looking at a sky like this, it’s not hard to become silent and thankful for all the good received today… The moment of sunset after a well filled day truly is the moment to give thanks!
Well, summer is really over in Amsterdam. Actually, fall has taken over, and it’s beautiful outside. It’s time to get out there for both great autumn street and nature shots. But I’m still a little house-bound because of loads of organisational work to do, so I have to bind myself to my chair for a few days more.
No problem as for the photo blogging though, since I have a lot of great material left to process from the past months of photo shoots on the streets. So now let’s reminisce on a great summer with these last three street photo’s from the June series 😉 .
I hope you don’t mind that I’m posting another Orang Utan photo today, Even though it has just a slight motion blur, I didn’t want to withhold it from you 😉
Orangutan with pensive eyes – could we only read it’s thoughts… Photographed in Apenheul zoo, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
Orangutan
Quote:
“The orangutans are the two exclusively Asian species of extant great apes. Native to Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are currently found in only the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.
The name “orangutan” (also written is derived from the Malay and Indonesian words orang meaning “person” and hutan meaning “forest”, thus “person of the forest”.
Orangutans are the most arboreal of the great apes and spend most of their time in trees. Their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of chimpanzees and gorillas. Males and females differ in size and appearance. Dominant adult males have distinctive cheek pads and produce long calls that attract females and intimidate rivals. Younger males do not have these characteristics and resemble adult females. Orangutans are the most solitary of the great apes, with social bonds occurring primarily between mothers and their dependent offspring, who stay together for the first two years. Fruit is the most important component of an orangutan’s diet; however, the apes will also eat vegetation, bark, honey, insects and even bird eggs. They can live over 30 years in both the wild and captivity.
Conservation status
During the early 2000s, orangutan habitat has decreased rapidly due to logging and forest fires, as well as fragmentation by roads. A major factor in that period of time has been the conversion of vast areas of tropical forest to palm oil plantations in response to international demand. Palm oil is used for cooking, cosmetics, mechanics, and biodiesel. Hunting is also a major problem as is the illegal pet trade. Orangutans may be killed for the bushmeat trade, crop protection, or for use for traditional medicine. Mother orangutans are killed so their infants can be sold as pets, and many of these infants die without the help of their mother.
As a result of all this, both species are on the IUCN Red List of Mammals. The Sumatran species is critically endangered and the Bornean species is endangered.” Source: Wikipedia
Last week I was in Leiden for the International Photo Festival. I wanted to make a photo story about it for Demotix. And if you were able to follow my blogs these past days, then you know already that this wasn’t the only thing I photographed… Indeed, after a very long day, I came home with over 800 photo’s and enough material to make not just one, but at least 4 photo stories! And I wasn’t bored for one moment!
Ten of my own favourites of this series, I’ve selected for this blog. Some of them are also on Demotix, in colour, but there are some others that didn’t fit into the Demotix series, and I’d like to show those here. I transmitted them all into a nice light sepia.
I think that this series gives a very nice impression of the Photo Festival, and my interpretation of it. So I’m really happy to show them to you here.
About the International Photo Festival Leiden
The second International Photo Festival Leiden takes place in the autumn of 2014, Oct 11 till Nov 8. It aims at providing a platform for young talented, professional photographers, by giving them a chance to expose themselves to a broader audience.
278 international photographers entered their work : more than 1100 unique images. A jury existing of experts from the photography and art world selected 20 talented new photographers. On different locations in Leiden, the open air exhibition leads visitors along 80 of their works.
Noon breakChildren’s play
Inside-outside, darkness and light
Ready to climb
Passing by
Unloading flowersVulnerabilityUltra right reflectionSilent strengthVeiled women
Today it’s time for the third photo from the mini-series I made on the Vocational Trainingmarket in Leiden (*). This time the hands of the young girl who was kneading the bread in the photo here . I turned these photo’s into black and white and added a grain filter. I want to put them together into a collage-poster – by following my blogs you’ll be able to see the step by step process.
Here is the second photo from the mini-series I made on the Vocational Trainingmarket in Leiden (*). It’s the hands of two young students manicure showing treating the hands of two interested girls. I turned these photo’s into black and white and added a grain filter. I want to put them together into a collage-poster – by following my blogs you’ll be able to see the step by step process.
Discovering Beauty 