Photography on Vlieland

Hello,

Vlieland is one of the smallest Wadden islands of the Netherlands. The island is free of cars and the tourists visiting this Wadden island are usually searching for quietness and nature experience. Last weekend we visited the island together with Sandra's sister and her family. Last winter on Texel (see blog December 2008), we made plans with them for a Wadden island hopping tour in the coming years. Isn't this nice? 'TVTAS' (Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland, Schiermonnikoog) is the right order of the Dutch Wadden islands, so this year Vlieland was on our list. The weather conditions may change rapidly on the Wadden. In 3 days we had rain, snow, fierce wind, fog, clouds, and sun. Fast changing weather provide excellent photographic conditions! 'Bad weather is good weather' according to one of the chapters in John Shaw's book on landscape photography. At some occassions I 'simply' had to go outside and leave our comfortable residence, leaving some questioning faces behind. Their faces were even more surprised when I returned an hour or two later, wet like a drowned cat, but smiling.

Hope you enjoy the pictures,

Dirk-Jan

Renewed website

Dear all,

Today we put our renewed website online. Please take a look at http://www.ifornature.nl/. Cees de Valk, webmaster at V2visueel ... www.v2visueel.nl ..., did a marvelous job in the last months. The modifications are based on feedback of our visitors and in summary, the following major changes have been made:

1) the gallery is updated with recent photos

2) the image quality of the photos in the gallery is improved

3) every photo in the gallery contains a short story, plus its technical information

4) behind the scene is a new page, where equipment and technique is explained

5) the list with links has been updated

I hope you enjoy the renewed website and would be happy to hear from you,

Dirk-Jan

NP de Hoge Veluwe

Hello to all of you,

Winter is a fantastic season! There's a lot of complaining around me from people that have had enough snow and ice in the last 6 weeks. Sure, winter can cause problems in traffic, health, etc. But, no complaining from me. Every weekend and day off is funtime! Last weekend we visited NP de Hoge Veluwe to get our permits for 2010. Sandra, Max and I enjoyed a refreshing walk through the snow-covered heather fields. Lots of animal tracks to discover for Max. He was so proud that he got his own personal membership card. It felt like he became a ranger! It was partly cloudy and, between the clouds, the sun drapped the landscape in a golden winter light. The purple, yellow and white tones accentuated the landscape in a beautiful manner. The National Parc is well-known for its healthy red deer population. At the end of the day they appear from their daily shelters. It's just to wait for them on the right place at the right time. We were lucky enough to observe two groups of about 25 males.

Cheers,

Dirk-Jan