A week ago, my in-laws told me there are also tulip fields in Groningen, near Kloosterburen. I went there the same day, but didn’t manage to find a single field. Then, last Friday, my photography friend Ton found a field near Spijk. Even though the weather forecast didn’t look very promising, we decided to go there yesterday. I’ll be honest here: I didn’t really want to go, but it was Ton’s birthday so how could I refuse?

On my way to Spijk I noticed another tulip field near Zijldijk. I did my best to remember its location while driving by and then continued my trip to Spijk. When I arrived at the scene I found a fabulous field with tulips in all sorts of colours. There was only one tiny problem: the huge high-voltage power lines running diagonally above the field. Ton arrived and we concluded we would quickly drive to Zijldijk. Not a bad choice, it turned out. The sky opened up somewhat and even though we never had any direct sunlight on the field, we really enjoyed ourselves and managed to get quite a few nice shots. A great birthday present we thought; cheers Ton!

Some more shots:

Because I hadn’t planned on going out I was actually quite late and I was practically running towards the scene. And what a scene it was. I not only got what I wanted within five minutes, no, I got a lot more! Two swans came towards me. They stayed with me for quite some time and were very calm. I decided to take the camera off the tripod and take some heldhand shots. The only time the swans started hissing was when two dogs came very near. And rightfully so, because one minute earlier one of those darn dogs took a pee right over my camera bag! The bag still smells but nothing can change my mood after a photo shoot like I just had. Just take a look at some of the shots below…

Ron

I’ll leave you with some of the shots taken when time and tide were still on our side.

Ron

So, how did this turn out? Well, we were at the Avegoor Estate this weekend and you are looking at some of the photographs I took this morning. Martine is the best; she was totally OK with me taking my gear even when I was in doubt myself. She slept in this morning and when I returned after the shoot we had a wonderful breakfast at the estate before driving home. I guess she’s already used to living with someone who’s hobby has gotten a little out of control over the last two years. Thank you Martine, for everything…

I had a very specific photo in mind; one that would require partly cloudy skies with white clouds against a blue sky, both being reflected in almost motionless water. The rocks that I found would be my foreground interest and this would require a delicate balance between a higher viewpoint to capture the reflection and a lower viewpoint to avoid “foreground clutter” by showing too many rocks. I would have to wait until March, because then the sun would rise above the horizon in just the right place.

So here we are, March 2012. I had already visited the location twice and came back more or less empty-handed. When you are as picky as I am about the weather conditions, this happens. Mother Nature doesn’t always follow the weather forecast and on both occasions there was a dull grey sky, very much unlike the partly cloudy skies that were predicted. Today I returned once again and this time Mother Nature decided to play nice and I had a total blast capturing the moments from one hour before until 30 minutes after sunrise. I tried different angles and viewpoints and got away with quite a few keepers; more than I usually get on a single shoot.

Surely, my quest with this location is completed now? Well, I’m not so sure. I’m really pleased with the results I got today, there’s no doubt there. However, I still did not capture the photograph that’s in my head, as you can see on this page. I will take that picture some day so I will probably return to this location. Who knows, it might not even be at De Onlanden where the photo that I have in my mind is waiting for me; it could be a totally different location. But this picture will be taken. Perseverance is the key to success. It already got me the photos I took today, but there are many more to come still…

Ron

Some more shots taken today at De Onlanden:

Since we knew that the last couple of days there had been huge crowds at Hindeloopen, we decided not to go for a sunset (which would make sense given the fact that the sun sets over the IJsselmeer lake) and go for an early sunrise instead. Of course, this meant I had to get out of bed at silly ‘o clock, or 4.45 to be exact. For some reason, I was already awake before that. At 5.30, Ton arrived and we got into my car to pick up Herman. We arrived on the scene before sunrise but we were not alone. Several other photographers were already roaming around. Once the sun made an appearance, lots more people arrived so we left. Another fabulous photo shoot; thanks Ton and Herman for a great time.

Some more photos taken today:

But then there are days when everything just seems to fall into place. It’s still winter, but the weather forecast tells thaw is coming. I better get out for one more winter shoot while it still lasts. Plans are made. Herman and I decide to go to Stavoren to see and capture the frozen IJsselmeer. We contact Niels and he is coming too. Then Ron contacts us on Twitter: he would like to join us as well. Sure, the more the better. I prepare my gear and then leave to pick up Herman. As we get closer to our destination, the landscape changes and gets more beautiful by the minute. Then, between Laaksum and Stavoren, the road goes up onto the dike. We see what we came for: a huge frozen lake, where the wind has formed bizarre sculptures of plates of ice.

I park my car at ‘It Reade Klif’ and Herman and I plan to get down the dike to check out the ice. A man gets out of the car that is parked next to mine. It’s Ron. We don’t even need to give him a call; he found us without even trying… We check out the scene and then decide there’s plenty of time for hot chocolate before we start shooting. When we return, I email our location to Niels. Then we walk down to the lake and start shooting. The light is still a bit hard but the ice sculptures are just amazing. When Niels arrives, the light starts to get better and the world becomes more and more unreal. Are we still on planet Earth?

We continue shooting and more and more photographers arrive at the scene. We venture further and further onto the lake to get the best possible shots. When the sun sinks below the horizon, I hear people shouting. I look behind me and notice many people on the dike, all here to watch nature’s greatest light show. Then the sun disappears beyond the horizon and with the sun, all the other people disappear as well. It’s just our small group; we seem to be the only ones who know it’s usually worth hanging around after sunset.

Shutter speeds get longer, the temperature gets lower and lower. About 45 minutes after sunset, we stop. Three hours of intense photography in the best possible conditions come to an end. We look at our cameras and we can’t wait to see the results on our computers. We take one last look at the unreal ice world we were in for the last three hours and then head back to our cars. What an amazing experience. Nothing beats landscape photography on days like this!

Sunday brought another dawn patrol, that was going to take place in Fochteloerveen, Frisia. Fortunately it was a lot ‘warmer’ in the morning: minus 11 degrees Celcius or 12 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. Well, it turned out to be too cold for the trusty Volvo of my friend Ton who picked me up at 6.25. On our way to the location the car started acting weird and at some point it stopped altogether. We had to wait for help and completely missed the sunrise. When we were back on the road, our friends Herman and Niels were already in Fochteloerveen and they advised us to still come as the light was beautiful. They were absolutely right and I’m glad we went. Due to the wind it felt at least as cold as the day before, but it was worth it. After returning home and enjoying lunch, it was time to get out once more to capture the crowd of ice skaters on the Damsterdiep. All in all a great weekend mostly filled with photography!

Oh, the weather forecast promises another week of sub-zero temperatures. You know what that means? Everyone in The Netherlands is speculating about the possibility of an Elfstedentocht. The last one dates back to 1997 so it’s about time… Have fun all and I’ll leave you with some more shots of the past weekend.

Ron

Once I was out there I had a blast. The sun had set, the light was beautiful and I was there capturing it all. I had to take care though, the water would return and I wouldn’t want to get stuck on my little island of mud, knowing that the tide would engulf that too at some time. During one long exposure, the water reached my tripod which had not been the case at the beginning of the exposure. Time to leave… That proved to be somewhat difficult. Not because of the water, but because it was now almost completely dark.

When I returned to the dike the water was slowly rising again, but it didn’t matter. I had my shots and enjoyed a cup of tea and a preview on my camera when I had returned to my car. Below some more photos of today’s shoot. Tomorrow it my mother’s birthday. Happy birthday mom, we’ll be there and celebrate with you!

Yesterday I had agreed with my friend Ton that we were going to capture the sunset near Ternaard. He contacted me on Twitter and said that he would understand if I had other things to do. My house is in the area that is considered safe so I decided to go with Ton and his friend Peter. We drove past National Park Lauwersmeer. The water level there was extremely high. We listened to the local radio station that kept updating us with the latest news on the high water.

Then we arrived at the location we had in mind and for over two hours, I completely forgot about everything that had happened. I was flabbergasted again, but this time it was about the beauty of nature and the area we were in. Beautiful soft light, weird mud structures formed by the tide of the Waddensea, stunning skies with beautiful reflections: it was all there. Despite the wind which was very cold at times, we had a blast and lots of photos were taken. This is a location I will definitely revisit! When the light was gone after two hours, we returned to our car.

When we drove home, the surreal situation in the Ten Boer area kicked in again as we were listening to the radio. The people in Woltersum are not allowed to return to their homes tonight. The situation is still unstable, mainly because  new weak spots were discovered in the dike that separates the Eemskanaal (a canal) from the area where I’m living. When we drove past the Lauwersmeer area again, the water was still very high and the pumping station near Lauwersoog didn’t seem to be pumping any water out to sea. The water in the Eemskanaal was a bit lower though, but the weather forecast is worrying for tomorrow. So I guess another surreal day awaits. For now I leave you with two more shots taken at Ternaard today…

Ron