I think I’ll start a small album with some image from Amsterdam and later on from Leiden also (new blog).

As you all know by know I go through Amsterdam by bike in the early morning when I go home from work. One of the less known but very cool streets I stumbled on in Amsterdam is the Lomanstreet in the South. Really awesome lane with big crossed Honey Locust trees (NL: Valse Christusdoornen (Gleditsia triacanthos)), which reminds me a little of a sort of urban dark hedges 🙂

Next are some more crooked trees, this time in the Vondelpark on the same morning. Summer is coming so start running! 😉

The following morning I went after one of the most photographed and iconic spots in Amsterdam; The houses in the water at the Damrak. When you visit Amsterdam it is about the first thing you see when you arrive and almost every tourist takes a photo on their way to the red light district or the coffeeshop… So did I, on my way home, early in the morning just before sunrise.

I’m back! And after this serie of Amsterdam, I’m switching to my beautiful birthplace Leiden! I already wanted to take some more shots over there and so I did! Let’s start with a long exposure HDR project at one of the more iconic places at the Galgenwater. 4 images HDR varying from f11, 20sec, iso100 until f9, 83sec, iso400… I’m always struggling with this kind of shots, hope you like it!

Next image is taken not far from and not long after the last; on the right behind the windmill to be exact. After sunset I of course wanted to capture the blue hour and I did so at the Morspoort with windmill the Put in view on the right this time. The rising full moon and mirror reflection completed the scene for me 🙂

Let’s add another one just before the (Easter)weekend! Still Leiden off course 😉

This is an extreme wide angle of the cityhall of Leiden at the Breestraat, still the same day as the shots above. With limited space it was challenging to get it in one shot, but my Samyang 14mm surprises me every time with its ridiculous range. With shots this wide I correct the perspective only a little bit, because otherwise it looks really unnatural.

I’m getting to the end of this blog and I’ve got one more subject I’d like to cover in this series. I’m staying in the surroundings of Leiden, Hoogmade actually, where I went to photograph some foggy morning landscapes the next morning. First image is the Kalkmolen (1685) with some slight back-light 😉

Since it is almost Kingsday in the Netherlands I’ll add another orange image. Orange cows in the mist! Just a fun view of some cows at the same place as the windmill in Hoogmade I added before. Have fun!