Category Archives: Travel

El Hierro for Duikmagazine

El Hierro for Duikmagazine, pages 1&2

Report on scuba-diving El Hierro, the smallest and most western of the Canary Islands. Until the 15th century people thought this place was the end of the world so the meridian even went through it.

El Hierro for Duikmagazine, pages 3&4

El Hierro for Duikmagazine, pages 5&6

Nowadays it’s an amazing and peaceful island untouched by the claws of mass-tourism. A perfect place for diving and an incredible place to view topside nature. It holds rainforests, pine forests, endless lava fields, rocky cliffs and some nice and small harbours. A perfect place to be honest, no wonder it’s a Unesco Biosphere Reserve!

El Hierro for Duikmagazine, pages 7&8

Click here for PDF.

Publication: Duikmagazine
© 2010 Fotograferen net

Church visit with songs and dance in very rural Africa (Uganda)

This is what a church full of singing and dancing people looks like on the Sunday worship. Taken in the tiny tiny town of Ochero in the Uganda countryside. A place where we were the first white people to visit in two years!

Make sure to watch at least till one minute!
By the way: the palm leaves were due to the upcoming Easter festivities.

New panoramas from all over the world

About time to add some panoramic images from all over the world, a section that I will be updating more over the coming months.
Most of these have been stitched using the excellent Hugin stitching tool.

Nagasaki panorama from the Clover Garden elevator
View over Nagasaki, Japan, from the Clover Garden elevator. 2004

View over Capetown from Signal Hill Road
View over Capetown from Signal Hill Road. 2005

Queensday 2009 panorama
Radio538 Queensday concert panorama. 2009

Granville Island Public Market, Vancouver
Granville Island Public Market, Vancouver. 2009

Penstraat Willemstad (Curaçao)
Penstraat Willemstad (Curaçao). 2010

Dutch Olympic Homecoming Haarlem 2010
Dutch Olympic Homecoming Haarlem. 2010

Caribbean Carnaval

Carribean Carnaval in Aruba

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.

Carribean Carnaval in Aruba

Carribean Carnaval in Aruba

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!

Carribean Carnaval in Aruba

Carribean Carnaval in Aruba

Slideshow:

Vancouver Island for REIZEN Magazine (ANWB)

Vancouver Island for REIZEN Magazine, pages 1&2.

Main article on Vancouver Island by mobile home for Holland’s largest travel magazine: ANWB REIZEN. Published in November 2009.
Photo’s: Rutger Geerling/Fotograferen.net, text: Matthijs de Winter/ANWB.

Vancouver Island for REIZEN Magazine, pages 3&4.

Vancouver Island for REIZEN Magazine, pages 5&6.

Vancouver Island for REIZEN Magazine, pages 7&8.

Vancouver Island for REIZEN Magazine, pages 9&10.

Vancouver Island for REIZEN Magazine, pages 11&12.

Floatplane landing on the tiny Paradise Lake (Tofino, Vancouver Island)

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.

Fly&Drive article on Northern Thailand in REIZEN Magazine

Fresh from the press: a new article on Fly&Drives in Northern Thailand in the november issue of ANWB REIZEN Magazine:

Smile Drive Northern Thailand, pages 1&2

Smile Drive Northern Thailand, pages 3&4

Oman Turtles in Duikmagazine 5

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 ).

Oman Turtles, pages 1&2

Oman Turtles, pages 3&4

Diving the Blue Hole in Korzula (Croatia)

Diving the Blue Hole in Korčula, Croatia
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.

Diving the Blue Hole in Korčula, Croatia
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…

Diving the Blue Hole in Korčula, Croatia
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!

Diving the Blue Hole in Korčula, Croatia
Well, just enjoy the photo’s and make sure to get in contact with Croatia Divers when doing some bubble-blowing over there!

By the way, the Dahab Blue Hole is amazing in this incredible William Trubridge freediving video. And thanks Eric for the modelling!

Favorite Views of the World: Bastei, Germany

Bastei
Sandstone and water erosion created this Bastei view a million years ago.

BasteiBasteiBastei
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.

Bastei Panorama
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).

Bastei
View from the 150+ year old Bastei Bridge.


Slideshow, browse it fullscreen!