Tagged: seasons

Snow-covered reed in the Hitland near Capelle aan den IJssel, The Netherlands

20. March 2017

Looking Back at the Winter of 2017

On Monday, March 20th, 2017 at 10:28 AM, GMT, spring begins in the northern hemisphere of planet Earth. It is the day of the vernal equinox, when day and night, anywhere on the globe, have more or less the same length. The beginning of spring, that’s a good time to look back at the winter of 2017. I know: it ain’t over till it’s over and also late March and April can have cold periods. But something tells me we’re not going te see a lot of wintry weather in the coming weeks. And should I be wrong, I will simply update this blog.… Read More

Christmas card of the author: a paintified photograph of the maritime outdoor museum at Leuvehaven in Rotterdam, covered with snow

Digital art

26. December 2016

Winter in Rotterdam: a white Christmas animation

Anecdotal evidence is no evidence at all. It’s hard to say whether or not the boring winters of the last few years are an effect of global warming. For which, by the way, there is enough real evidence; that’s what scientists (or at least 99.9% of them) agree on. Mild Anyway, the last few winters were exceptionally mild. Especially here in the southwest of the Netherlands. On television I see people skating on natural ice in the northern province of Friesland or a beautiful blanket of snow in the eastern region of the Achterhoek. But the last time Rotterdam colored… Read More

Photo of a chestnut tree near Lijnbaan in the center of Rotterdam, made beginning of May, when the tree is in full leaf

Photography

9. March 2015

My Favourite Tree – a Springtime Animation

My favorite tree is a chestnut in the park in front of my apartment at the Lijnbaan in downtown Rotterdam. Every spring I am amazed about the speed with which nature operates. Within a few weeks time a metamorphosis takes place: the barren tree gets buds, leaves and a short time later flowers which then also pretty quickly disappear. Last year, during the months of March, April and May, I took a photo every day at nine a.m. from the walkway in front of my appartment on the sixth floor. In a perfect situation I’d use a weathertight protected fixed… Read More

Photo taken low above the ground in a snowcovered Park in Rotterdam, illuminated by a low sun shining through the trees

Photography

30. December 2014

The Winter of ’14: Two Days of Snow, Ice and Slush

And so we had a White Christmas after all in Rotterdam. Well, almost, because the first snow flake fell shortly after midnight on the 27th of December. But it felt a bit like the third day of Christmas anyway. It was the beginning of a winter that would last for two days. Not too long, but already now there has been more snowfall than in all of last winter. And it was long enough to add a few nice photos to my collection Winter in Rotterdam. On that first day the temperature was just above freezing so there was a… Read More

Kerstkaart met schilderachtig beeld van een kerkje in het winterlandschap in nationaal park Thingvellir in IJsland

Design / Digital art / Space art

15. December 2014

Merry Christmars

For decades, I’ ve been putting a great deal of work into my Christmas cards. And sometimes into those of others. This year I made one by commission of Explore Mars, a (mostly) American non-profit organization that promotes Manned Mars exploration: The design and the text “Two Down, Mars and the Universe to go” is a reference to Neil Armstrong’s “giant leap for mankind” and the recent landing of the European spacecraft Philae on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Mars comes into view as the next big step. And after that there are a few hundred billion stars and their planets to… Read More

Buispanorama van Het Park, Rotterdam, met twee nijlganzen en de Euromast, gemaakt op een zonnige dag in de herfst

Digital art / Photography

14. November 2014

All Year Round Spherical Panoramas

I’ve been making a lot of spherical panorama’s lately, often referred to as “little planets”. But of course I have not invented the concept myself. I’m certainly not the only one who makes them; anyone with a camera and a recent version of Photoshop can produce them quite easily. And of course I do want my panoramas to add something, to stand out among the many other small spheres that are being made. Wet asphalt One of the ways I try to do that is by showing the influence of the weather and the seasons. The panorama below, for example,… Read More

De witte bloesem van sierkersen in de lente op de Van Oldenbarneveltplaats in Rotterdam

Photography

22. March 2014

Flowering Cherries in Rotterdam

Trees in the city, I love ‘m. But I’d love a little variation as well. In Rotterdam there are so many plane trees that even I, traditionally a big plane tree fan, get a little bored. But fortunately sometimes a different species is chosen, and how beautiful that can be seen at Van Oldenbarneveltplaats. Since a few days the flowering cherries there are in bloom. The experts are not yet sure whether they’re Prunus Avium or Prunus Serrulata. One week each year It is a pity that the stunning beauty lasts only a week, but hey, that’s nature. And that… Read More