The Orchideeën Hoeve doesn't just consist of rows of orchids, but also several tropical landscapes, including plants, animals, rocks and... waterfalls. This is my first attempt at shooting waterfalls with a long shutter time. I didn't have a tripod with me, so most of them were a bit shaky, but these two turned out pretty good.
I went to a place called the Orchideeën Hoeve. It's a large greenhouse with orchids, a butterfly garden, a lory garden and a lot of tropical plants and animals. And of course I took my camera and took a lot of photos. The next couple of weeks I'll post some of the photos I've taken today. Since the name means Orchid Farm, I'll start with photos of the orchids.
I spend this weekend in Utrecht. Saterday I went to the railway museum there. I'm not particularly interested in trains, but they do make great subjects for photography. Especially the old steam locomotives.
So armed with my new camera, my 50mm lens and my 100mm macro lens, I took a lot of photos. Here's a small selection of the photos I took.
Winter has ended here by now, but I took these photos in January. I'm not sure why I didn't post them sooner. I guess I forgot.
But anyway, I like winter. I like snow, cold and ice. I love walking in the dark on those cold winter nights. Snow crunching under my feet. My breath misting in the air. A million stars in the clear sky above me. I'm sorry to say we don't have nearly enough of those nights. And now I have to wait at least until the end of the year.
Fortunately I like spring as well :)
To use quotes from one of my favorite movies, Up:
My master made me this collar. He is a good and smart master and he made me this collar so that I may speak. Squirrel!
Mayhaps you desire to - SQUIRREL!
Hey, I know a joke! A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, "I forgot to store acorns for the winter and now I am dead." Ha! It is funny because the squirrel gets dead.
During my trip to Washington DC last month we visited a lot of the monuments there. Most of them I'd already seen on my trim last year, but the number and size of them still impressed me again. I took photos of several of them.
While I was in Washington DC last week I had one afternoon to visit museums. Last year I was also in DC and visited most of the museums I wanted to see, except for one: The Smithsonian Institute National Museum of Natural History. So I went there last week. I wish I'd taken my macro lens, but I had to make due with my 50mm lens.
I love the night. I love gazing at stars, the silence and the darkness. Unfortunately there hardly is any true darkness left in the Netherlands, especially not in or near cities. It's not just a pity you can't see a lot of stars, but it's also bad for your health. Too much light at night affects your sleep. It's also bad for nature.
Which is why several dutch environmental organizations started the Night of the night (Nacht van de nacht) eight years ago. Every year, in october, during the night...
After years of construction, preceded by years of discussion, yesterday the new city square here in Leeuwarden was officially opened. The festivities actually started Thursday and go on today, but yesterday was the official opening of the square by our mayor Ferd Crone. He did a very short speech, much to the joy of a group of guys standing next to me in the crowd, because most people were there to see the main act of the festivities: The Kyteman Orchestra. The new square was packed full of...
I am a member of GroenLinks (the Dutch Green party). I like nature. So I'd like to have a lot of plants in my house. However, there is one problem: Plants usually don't live very long when I have to take care of them. I put them in the wrong place, don't give them enough water or give them too much water. Sometimes both at the same time. Most of the time I'm glad I'm able to keep myself alive.
So, I don't have a lot of plants in my house. Actually I've only had one normal plant which lasted...