A three-day visit to an island which is ten hours by plane and a couple hours in jetlag. Crazy? Not really, considering I was there to photograph the famous Caribbean Carnaval on the tiny Dutch Antilles island of Aruba. It’s the second-largest carnaval celebration in the whole caribbean and famous for its laid-back atmosphere and accessibility.
And boy was it worth the trip! Two days of sunny and happy people parading the streets of both major towns on the island: the very easy-goinh parade on Saturday in San-Nicolas and the massive and crowded Sunday main event in Oranjestad. Hours and hours of incredibly colorful people and costumes. I don’t think I’ve seen so many feathers. I guess the images speak for themselves, please enjoy and make sure you’re in the neighborhood next year!
Landing on a tiny mountain lake with a floatplane is a fantastic experience wherever you are. But in this weather and in one of the most stunning places on earth: Tofino, Vancouver Island, it was simply and totally unforgettable. More on this trip for ANWB REIZEN Magazine very soon.
Many thanks go out to Tofino Air for making this one hour flight possible.
Filmed with the Canon 5DmkII Video function, so click HD for extra quality.
I’m very happy with the new Duikamagzine (Dive Magazine) that just came out, a four page article on one of my favorite subjects of 2008: the Turtle beach at Ras al Jinz (check here for an earlier article on this website in English ).
Because of doing a two and a half week diving report on Croatia for Duikmagazine it has been a little quiet on the updating of this website. And as there is a lot of travel coming in the next few months I will probably have this problem for a while.
For a change a small photo series on just one particular dive: the famous Blue Hole. No, not the one in Dahab (Egypt) which is literally a killerdive (dozens of people have died there while trying to outsmart common sense while scuba-diving) but a actually much nicer one located on the island Korčula. Located roughly three hours by ferry from Split this very nice island hosts some of the best diving of the region. With over twenty dive-sites to choose from we just barely scratched the surface with our three days of diving but one site really stood out: the hole…
It’s actually not just the hole itself with it’s cathedral-like lighting but also the massive and highly untouched soft gorgonians that are to be found around the hole at 35+ meters of depth. Massive pink giants that are most photographers favorites!
Well, just enjoy the photo’s and make sure to get in contact with Croatia Divers when doing some bubble-blowing over there!
Sandstone and water erosion created this Bastei view a million years ago.
Views fit for the 19th century romantics…
While en route from Prague to Dresden by bike for this article we just had to make a full stop before entering the latter city. A couple of hours (by bike) before the town lies a fantastically hidden place called Bastei: remnants of water erosion that happened a millions years ago.
What was left is an incredible landscape of 300 meter high rock pillars in what is now appropriately called Saxon Switzerland. It is actually one of the oldest mass tourist attractions on the continent and it’s easy to see why. You really cannot prepare for the vistas that are to be expected when taking the 45 minute walk to the top.
Hi-res Panorama of Bastei
In 1824 a wooden bridge was built that had to be upgraded to a sandstone one: the Basteibridge that is still in use today and is a monument to the building qualities of that day. Not surprisingly the place was highly favored by the romantics of the period like Casper Friedrich and Hans Christian Andersen. Going there is literally stepping back into the 19th century. That is if you can avoid the crowds by going up in a light drizzle, which also helps getting some spectacular low clouds in the picture. Stay in the village of Rathen if you’re not into rushing it, nice views and plenty of little restaurants which aren’t too packed after dusk sets in (and the tourbusses are gone).
I was just working on some of my hi-res panorama’s that I somehow end up taking while on the road. Figured it would be nice to share them as well on the website. They have some nice stories behind them sometimes and they are so much fun when you’ve finally managed to stitch them together (although a free little program called “Hugin” helps a lot!)
Kitzbuheler Alps with Wilder Kaiser in the background [See location in Google Earth] While having lost my phone during the day at a photoshoot we figured out it must be lying somewhere in this region so after dinner we used the car to get as close as possible and trace back our route from the day. We were greeted by this incredible sunset in the Kitzbuhler region with the “Wilden Kaiser” mountains as a backdrop and this amazing farmhouse in the last rays os sunshine. I was happy to have brought my Canon G9 just to be sure and boy did I made a good deciscion: what a place to live and to capture on photo! Obviously we didn’t find my cellphone but a little note instead with lipstick writing that the finder had delivered it to the Tourist Office in town. Again, what a place to live!
Thorn, the White Village [See location in Google Earth] While on a short three day holiday trip in southern Holland (Limburg) in a most charming little place called Thorn, known for it’s white houses as the “White Village” we had a cosy hotelroom in the middle of the town and from our window we had a fantastic view over a backalley to the right and the spectacularly litmassive Church. With my old Canon G9 I made some vertical photo’s from our window in hope of being able to stitch them back together when home. The result is so typical for the place!
La Bouverie, Southern France [See location in Google Earth] With inlaws living in the SouthEast of France I’m very blessed. We love taking the smaller roads up there to go though small villages where it seems that time has stood still. One of our favorite viewpoints is this one, just before heading into La Bouverie. A minuscule village that boasts a great winery where we get our wine in boxes (or as South Africans call it so nicely “Dooswijn”). Again a panorama taken with my trusty G9, a great camera if it weren’t for the clumsy controls and horrible flash settings.
Just a lot of photo’s to enjoy from the “Plazas of Barcelona” article for ANWB Reizen magazine. Full gallery here or start the slideshow.
Placa Catalunya, the massive square in downtown Barcelona. Filled with shoppers, people on their way from and to work and zillions of pigeons and touristst feeding them.
This has got to be my favorite square in the town: St. Maria del Mar. The church is amazing but the square is empty and boring… that is: until a wedding starts and usually one doesn’t have to wait long for that to happen.
The market of Santa Catarina is built on the old ruins of a monastery of XIII century and is a great place for photo’s like this couple having lunch.
The Parade del Gigantes also starts and finishes at this amazing Placa de St. Maria del Mar, famous for it’s Church and plentyful weddings.
Placa Virreine is a good place to chill and get some coffee as these elder people show.
In the June issue of ANWB REIZEN (Travel) a ten-page article on the best squares of Barcelona with some nice blow-up images. The opening spread is one of my favorite images from last year, one thet I really had to crawl into the crowd to get: the wedding ceremony with all the rice. Next week I hope to find some time to upload all the images from this shoot, one of my favorite ones by far as I really tried to get up close and personal with my subjects.
Text: Femke van Welsenes
Photography: Fotograferen.net (except the nightshot of the fountain).
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