30 January 2017

Jack Frost Came To Town

We had a visit from Jack Frost. Unfortunately he didn’t stay very long. I’m not a big fan of snow. Not because I don’t like the look. No, quite the opposite. I love those fairytale-esque images. It’s just, since I’m in a wheelchair, I am unable to go outside, which makes life a bit more complicated. This awakens a lot of frustration, because I do want to go out and take pretty pictures outside. So, I’m not a big fan of snow. However, I love frost! As a kid I loved ice skating. My grandpa taught me and I still cherish those warm memories of skating over the frozen water. As a photographer, I love frost too. It has the ability to magically change the world outside too, just like snow, a bit more delicate though. I really do hope we get another visit from Jack Frost and hopefully he’ll stay a little longer then.

The first pictures of the frost were late December, but I hadn’t shared them with you yet. There was only a little bit of frost to capture, so don’t get too excited yet. I say yet, because I promise the photos will get better after this part. Still, I’m not disappointed with this set either.

Frosted_log

Frosted_bark

Frosted_leaves_02

Frosted_leaves_01

Frost_close-up_03

Frost_close-up_01

A week ago we had another visit of Jack Frost and this time he brought some hope and excitement. I live in the Netherlands and we have this ice skating tradition called “De Elfstedentocht”, which translates into “the eleven cities tour”. It’s a tour over natural ice, leading past all eleven historical cities in Friesland. It’s known as the tour of tours and is about 200 km (120 mi). The ice has to be at least 15 cm thick (6 in) and with global warming changing the weather, it’s been a long time since we had our last tour. The last one was in 1997. In 2012 we were so close and everyone was so excited, because this year there would be a tour. And then it stopped freezing and the tour was off. So now that one is officially mentioned as “the tour that didn’t happen”. If you’d like to read more about this event that’s almost part of our genes, you can follow this link.

Every winter, when it starts freezing for more than a week, we get “elfstedenkoorts” (eleven cities fever). People start getting excited, because the question is: will it freeze long enough? There has been a tour on natural ice in the east of the country, so that was a nice present for the diehard skaters (I think only professionals could join the tour, but every skating lover’s heart pounds a little faster during these times), but no chance for an Elfstedentocht so far. Today’s youth doesn't understand the excitement the "older" generation gets, mostly becasue none of them have ever witnessed one of these events. I, myself, have decided that if there’s another Elfstedentocht in the future, I’ll try to book a hotel room and witness the event with my own eyes.

So Jack Frost brought a lot of excitement the week before and I was able to get a new chance to make some nice photos. Unfortunately I missed the best part, as I was still sleeping. When I decided to wake up early the next day to have my opportunity, there was nothing to see. Oh well, going back to my warm bed wasn’t a bad alternative. The day after that, which was last week’s Saturday, I went for a walk in a private park. It’s the same park where I took the previously displayed photos. The park is just gorgeous and because it’s private it’s not as crowded as other parks in the city. I’m quite happy with some of the photos and now I know for sure I really want a real macro lens (I’m using extension tubes instead now).

Frost_on_tree_01

Frost_on_tree_02

Frost_on_tree_03

Frost_on_moss

Frost_macro_02

Frost_macro_01

Which one do you like better? The colour photo above or the black and white below? I can’t decide.

Frost_macro_01_BW

Frost_macro_03

Frozen

Palace_of_peace

When I say the park is gorgeous, I mean really really gorgeous. Look at this last photo. Can you see the castle peeking through the trees? It’s the Peace Palace and I think it’s the most beautiful castle we have in the Netherlands. I find this view very enchanting.

Stay tuned as I will be back with more eye candy! Like a photo impression of the Chinese New Year Parade. And I’ve been making lots of art too, so there will be a new blogpost on that soon.

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