Zuid-Limburg
Inmiddels al weer bijna 2 weken geleden, dat we in Zuid-Limburg verbleven. Wat was het daar mooi en wat is Limburg toch fotogeniek. Voor het eerst heb ik mijn nieuwe compact camera gebruikt. Een Panasonic Lumix met Leica lensje. Hij doet eigenlijk alles automatisch en dat is niet erg. Want, zo af en toe ben ik een erg luie fotograaf en wil ik niet klooien met allemaal instellingen. Ook is zo'n klein cameraatje erg handig op wandeltochten of wanneer je gaat fietsen. Het past in een binnenzak en je merkt het bijna niet. Dit zijn de eerste resultaten en ik zal zeker nog wat meer van Limburg laten zien.

ShapeCollage
ShapeCollage is a nice little program which you can download for free. It makes all kinds of collages. The options are almost endless, certainly in combination with PaintShopPro or Photoshop. The collage you see here is in the shape of a map of the world, the pictures which were used for the collage were made a couple of years ago during a vacation in England. Apart from a set of predefined shapes you can also design your own. Just give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

Cycling quotes
Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. ~Albert Einstein

I came out for exercise, gentle exercise, and to notice the scenery and to botanise. And no sooner do I get on that accursed machine than off I go hammer and tongs; I never look to right or left, never notice a flower, never see a view - get hot, juicy, red - like a grilled chop. Get me on that machine and I have to go. I go scorching along the road, and cursing aloud at myself for doing it. ~H.G. Wells, The Wheels of Chance

Things look different from the seat of a bike carrying a sleeping bag with a cold beer tucked inside. ~Jim Malusa

Take a look
Fractals, PaintShopPro, BladePro filters

French castle
A french castle (one of the many to be found there) we visited two years ago. Somewhere in Normandy.
It had lots of wild flowers in front of it. And all kinds of sculptures. Sjoerd and I toured the outer premises, Margot and Imme took the tour inside the castle. Which to us was a bit too lengthy, and kind of boring. I don't think we missed much.
Margot and I really made up for this castle the year after, when we visited a couple of (beautiful) castles in the Loire region. Chambord and Chenonceau are highly recommended.

Been playing again
Fractals, PaintShopPro, BladePro filters

Church in Oosterbeek
The church in Oosterbeek has withstood history for hundreds of years. Including the second world war. And, as you can see, it's still standing.
It is a remarkable little building. Every time I walk or bike past this church I am tempted to make pictures.
This one was taken yesterday during a hike we made. The night before it had snowed again, which always creates a special atmosphere, a special mood. I made this picture with my Nikon Coolpix 4500 - that is a compact camera of maybe 6 years old. But despite it's age it is still capable of taking good pictures. And, it is a very versatile little camera.

No, this really is how it looked. Didn't do anything to the picture apart from resizing.

Beeld en Geluid
I made this strip today. Used a picture I once took inside the Institute for Beeld en Geluid (Movie and Sound) in Hilversum. I used it as a starting point for playing with in Paint Shop Pro. Applied the Redfield - Lattice composerfilter. Even with those filters you can achieve quite different effects as you can see. In the middle you see the original, the other two images are still recognizable I think. It turned out as a colorful composition indeed.

Church
The starting point for this image were churchwindows. It's already a couple of years ago that I took this picture. When you look really hard you can still see remnants of windows. Now, looking back, I can't tell anymore what exactly I did to the picture. I used Paint Shop Pro and a lot of filters, that I know. This is what I finally ended up with. Hope you'll like it.

Fog
I took this picture yesterday during a bike trip we made. The snows were gone by then and it suddenly looked like it was fall - it was kinda foggy which created this moody atmosphere. How quick weather changes. The only thing I did was using a "radiant filter" in Paint Shop Pro to enhance the fog effect a little. Hope you'll like it, enjoy!

The snow hit us hard

As you can see. Didn't have time to save the bike and put it inside. Too bad. By the way, the bike survived and afterwards was even in a state to be used again. We've seen worse.

Fall revisited
The last fall picture I want to show you this year. It was taken in our garden. Every year I'm photographing this little tree (it doesn't reach any higher than a couple of meters). But, what it lacks in size it makes up in appearance. In the fall it's standing there showing off it's bright red, flaming leaves. It's just gorgeous, I can't get enough of it.

Fall 2009
Fall is over its peak now. Trees are losing there leaves fast. Because of the rain and the wind. The picture you see here was taken two weeks ago when the sun was still shining. It looked like pure gold to me. You're maybe wondering what I did to make those leaves shine like gold? Actually, nothing. Sometimes I use Paint Shop Pro to enhance contrast or saturation, but not in this case. Only thing is I framed the photo. Enjoy!

Castles in the Air?
Castles, castles and more castles. When you go the river Loire(France) and surroundings you will bump against castles every 10 kilometres. Here you see Chateau Chambord from the outside and the inside. Also Chateau Chenonceau, a beautiful castle built over the river. It has a wonderful garden as well. The stairs of Chambord are said to be developed by Leonardo da Vinci who lived the last years of his life here in France. Enjoy.

Update
It's been a long time since I posted to this blog. Have been busy at work, writing for another blog and doing a lot of other stuff related to the web. Never mind though, I promise I will be more faithfull and diligent and really try and do my best. Since June (my last posting) we've been on vacation to France. We biked along the river Loire and saw a lot of beautiful castles. Also visited Paris and the Champagne region and the coast. Took a lot of pictures. One of the castles we visited was Chateau Chambord, a huge castle. And as far as I'm concerned the most beautiful castle we saw. One of these days I will show you more pictures of castles. Hope you'll like this one. By the way, it's been taken with my Olympus DSLR camera.

Vacation in France
A picture I took last summer vacation. We were camping in France, Normandy to be precise.
This is the coast that's been painted a million times by painters like Monet. They knew what to paint, they knew beauty when they saw it. Take a look for yourself.
It's taken near Etretat with my Olympus DSLR camera. I used a normal zoomlens, 14 - 42 mm. I must say it produces brilliant results so I'm very satisfied with it.

Interesting Quotes
The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.

Reading is thinking with someone else's head instead of one's own.

Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are" is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread.

According to a recent survey, men say the first thing they notice about a woman is their eyes, and women say the first thing they notice about men is they're a bunch of liars.

Women always worry about the things that men forget; men always worry about the things women remember

More Flowers

Flowers in garden