Best Pictures

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Highest building of the city

The Zalmhaventoren (still under construction on this photo) will be the highest building of the country and even of the Benelux. This skycraper was built with a special technique. No larges cranes but a working place that grew with the height of the tower, where the construction workers could work throughout the year, no matter the weather circumstances.

I took this picture from my balcony on the 29th floor of the Waterstadtower with a 200mm lens from Sony on my Sony A7 III

Winter in Rotterdam

Yes sometimes it can snow in The Netherlands. This winter we were treated on more than a few flocks. In no time the world turned white, so I had to take some pictures of this beautiful white world, because before you know it will turn into a muddy brown world and then everyone will pray for a warm water rain to come.

My two beauties

Our birds, Claire and Coco, are our lovely two new "kids". They are siblings and and they are inseparable. They clean each other, feed each other and talk the same language. Of course there is never a moment that sit still, unless they are sleeping, so it is difficult to take a nice picture. 

Old Harbour in Rotterdam

In December all the old barges in the Old Harbour (Oude Haven) have some extra lights to stress the Holiday season. Together with the old White House (the first skyscraper of Europe) I caught them in one picture. For the first time I experimented with HDR during the night. I made pictures with F 9.0 and 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 secs. In Lightroom I combined these pictures to one picture. To be honest, I am not too dissatisfied, but I think the result can be much better. I just have to practice more, but to be honest : it was a little bit too cold....

My first commercial assingment

Carolyn Adams of www.varinancial.nl asked me to take a picture from her for her Facebook marketing campaign. It should not only express her professionality but also should be recognizable as typical "Rotterdam". The cube houses and the Old Harbour ("Oude Haven") formed the perfect scene. In the end I reformed the picture as a square. Picture taken with my Sony RX100 VII

Mountain range Wilder Kaiser

One of my most beautiful pictures I ever made in Tyrol, Austria. On top of the Astberg an artificial lake has been made for the snow machines, The Astbergsee. Looking over the lake to the north  the great mountain range of the Wilder Kaiser. There was no wind at all, resulting in a beautiful reflection in the lake. 

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-07-14 Going

Prairie dog

The most cute animals in the Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam. The have a wonderful place of living and the visitors can really come near to them. I took this picture with my Sony RX10 M3. This camera has a huge zoom range, so I was able to take this close up picture.

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-09-17 Blijdorp Zoo

 

A lake in the mountains

In the Kitzbueheler Alps in Tyrol, Austria we found a nice lake. The lake is artificial and has the function of a reservoir for the snow machines in the winter to produce the snow for the skier. There was even a boat on that lake.

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-09-05 Going

Light through the trees

In the mountains of Austria on a foggy day I discovered this site and did not know how fast I should grab my camera to capture this scene. The combination of the slope of the mountain, the position of the sun and the fog were the ingredients for this beautiful picture.

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-09-05 Going

Above the clouds

It looked like we were sitting in a plane, but that is not true. We were walking at approx 1.600 meters high in the mountains and in the valley there were still some clouds. 

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-09-05 Going

Central Station The Hague

In the Central Station of The Hague a lot of types of public transport comes together. Not only trams, trains and busses but also the lightrail connection with Rotterdam (RET Line E). A special platform has been made for the arrival of this lightrail with a beautiful glass roof.

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-09-18 Den Haag

Bad weather in Rotterdam

Rain and thunder entering the centre of Rotterdam (The Netherlands). Picture taken from the 29th floor of the Waterstadtoren, one of the many skycrapers the city has. The rolling clouds come nearer and soon heavy rain showers with lightning and thunder went loose.

Night picture of the river Maas

Picture taken from my balcony. For the first time I set the ISO to a very high value. Although higher values were possible on my camera, I choose 8.000. For me that was already very high, so I did not need a tripod or a similar tool.

But I have had to use all my Lightroom skills to produce a picture that was a little bit without too much grain. In the end a picture that I could share on my site.

Leuvehaven

Some old vessels in the Leuvehaven harbour of Rotterdam. Some are part of the outside part of the harbour museum. These vessels are not only part of a museum but are also houses.

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-05-18 RX100-VII probe

Walloon Church in Rotterdam

Did anybody know that Rotterdam has a Walloon church. Now the church is a residence for the people that accompany clients of the nearby eye hospital.

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-07-23 Rdam

The White House

 

Not the Whitehouse in Washing DC, but "Het Witte Huis" (Dutch for The White House). This monument was one of the buildings that survived the great bombardment of 14 May 1940 by the Germans in World War II.  It was built at the end of the 19th century and was then (with its 43 mtr height) one of the first skyscrapers in Europe

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-03-27 Rdam bruggenrondje

Erasmusbridge

The proud and icon of Rotterdam : The Erasmusbridge. Picture taken from the north side of the city. The bridge spans the river The Maas. The people of Rotterdam call their bride "The Swan".

 

This picture was part of the album : Scheepvaartkwartier

The skycrapers around the Wijnhaven in Rotterdam

Demolition and building new on the right of the Scheepmakershaven. On the left the skyscrapers on Wijnhaven Island that are sad to loose one but happy to see that new ones are coming.

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-07-26 Sloop

The Rotterdam

The building The Rotterdam (seen from my apartment)  is the biggest building of The Netherlands. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and completed in 2013. This building is also known as the vertical city and will be used by approximately 5.000 people every day. 

This picture was taken at the beginning of the evening and was beautifully lit bij the evening sun.

Jules, our bird.

 

Jules is our bird since the beginning of 2020. He is a kakariki. Originally they fly in the wild in New Zealand, but there are also very popular as a domestic bird. These birds are very smart. They are not happy when you leave them in their cage all day. They love their freedom to fly around.

 

This picture was part of the album : 2020-03-31 Jules

Paris Montmartre, Rue de l'Abreuvoir

 

For many years I considered this picture as my best ever. Early in the year on a cold morning I took this picture in Montmartre Paris. Nice to see that is was so quiet. At the end you can see the Sacre Coeur. It was one of my my first experiences with de first version of the Sony RX100. I was very impressed. One of the reasons for buying this camera was not only its size but also that it was capable of shooting in RAW format, as I was discovering the secrets of Adobe Lightroom.

This picture was part of the album : 2016-03-08 Parijs