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Weekly Random Shot: Nizwa Fortress

Feb 082011

As I’m planning a new trip to my favorite Middle-eastern country, Oman, hopefully in April I thought it would be nice to pick one shot from my previous trip in 2008. It belongs to my “Faces of Oman” series for which I photographed ordinary Omani people during a 6 day mad dash around the country for the largest commercial Newspaper (Telegraaf) and Magazine (Veronica Magazine) in the Netherlands.

The photo featured here was taken at the famous Nizwa Fortress, in the Northern part of the country. After having had a tour of the fortress I sat down while some of us went to get some sodas and icecream from the local vendor. As I sat and enjoyed the view over the tower I noticed these two guys taking a peek though one of the tower windows. I realized I just had seconds to capture this image while having to lens-change as well from my 16-35mm to 70-200mm. I figured I just had to try and switched lenses faster than I ever had. I knew the camera was still on semi-automatic (Av 5.6 with -1/3 stop of underexposure) so I just had to point and shoot. Seconds after taking four photos, the guys were off leaving me behind very happy!

The photo is about a 70-80% crop of the original, leaving out a window that was to be seen on the left side of the picture. In photoshop I compensated the color, saturation and levels to adjust for the slightly too warm (red) original.

“Kaboom, Kaboom”, Caribbean Carnaval in Aruba!

Events, Publications, Travel No Responses »

Nov 112010

[click photo for article]

It’s…. the 11th of the 11th, time for Carnaval!
Now as an article on Duikeninbeeld.tv, Hollands most popular online diving community. Click here to check out the post on Fotograferen.net, earlier this year.

Weekly Random Shot: Tokyo Subway

Random Shot, Travel No Responses »

Oct 132010

A JR Railways service man watches over a departing subway train from the Ueno station in Tokyo. I was a bit lucky in getting this particular image becasue I noticed the whole setup really moments before the train departed (I just missed it actually, which is not a problem because in Tokyo there usually is another one within minutes).

I had already to set my camera to -2/3 exposure while shooting some images in the station and started clicking away immediately when I saw the train departing. Out of 5 shots this one came out perfect. Shot at f2.8 at -2/3 of a stop which resulted in a 1/20 sec exposure. Exactly right to get the man frozen and the departing train blurry.

Afterwards I showed the image to the man but he was not very amused, I guess taking pictures slightly sneakily is not really appreciated but sometimes there is no other way. Other that that he didn’t complain or get angry so I have this cool photo as a result.

Some other railway shots from that day:

Caribbean Carnaval

Events, Travel No Responses »

Feb 182010

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!

Slideshow:

Faces of Oman

Travel 1 Response »

Dec 282008

In december I had the privilege to travel Oman for a week and see so many places and people my head started to spin after a little while. Not only is the countryside spectacular but what really struck me where the people: their joy, friendliness and their faces. This is a tribute to them. Oman must be one of the friendliest places in the Middle-East.

Click here for the full album (21 faces).

The Dhows of Zanzibar

Travel No Responses »

Feb 042008

Lately, I’ve been getting quite a few request for hi-res images from the Dhow sailing boats that I captured along the Tanzanian coast in 2004. So, I figured it was time to make a decent posting about these incredible sailing ships that transport cargo and people over the rough seas of the Indian Ocean. At the end of this post there is a slideshow with decent captions about the Dhows, Zanzibar, Dolhpin watching and Stonetown. Enjoy!