Author: jansenphoto

A Fresh Perspective Photography is more than just a vehicle for capturing the world around me; it provides me with a palette and a set of brushes, with which I paint not only what I see, but also look to express the emotions that are evoked by the scene in front of me in that moment. Growing up in the Netherlands exposed me to a wide cross-section of visual arts that laid the foundation of my photographic view of all that surrounds me. Early influences were the Dutch Masters of the 17th century, to whom I was introduced by my grandfather during museum explorations; favorites among them are the scenes of quotidian life depicted by Jan Steen and Frans Hals and the vivid landscapes of Jacob van Ruisdael. My classical high school education was supplemented by the Boijmans Van Beuningen museum, where I spent many a lunch hour exploring its great collection. Here I was introduced to surrealism with a particular love for the approach taken by Salvador Dali; Dali also rekindled my appreciation for the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who often showed the folly of us mortals. Universal Connections My approach to any photographic subject is to look for understanding first; in this I look to establish either a connection between the viewer and the subject or capture the connection of the subject with its surroundings. The captured image then aims to portray this connection from a perspective that is part of my personal interpretation. This interpretation is often a form of externalized introspection, which may alternately display the connection of isolated beings and items with their environment or highlight the whimsy of the profound world, in which we find ourselves. The universe is full of connections, many of which are waiting to be discovered; part of my journey as a photographer is to document these connections. Any assignment, be it an event, a product shoot or a portrait session is always approached through communication with the client; this is where the first connection is established. Ideas are exchanged and a collaborative plan of action forms, ultimately resulting in a set of images that aim to exceed the expectations of each client. And, lest we forget, it is important to have fun while practicing the serious business of photography!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Key

Key objects are everywhere!

Welcome to week 174 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

You had your sights locked on some amazing posts last week and I’m sure that some of you thought about what theme could follow… Of course, you guessed that I might just go with Key to match last week. I did give this some thought and what I like about the word Key is the directions, in which you can take this theme! As a noun there are multiple definitions, and, of course, as an adjective it could be key to your success. Then there’s the verb! You understand my excitement 🙂

Please take this Key into the direction of your choosing and let your creative minds roam freely! I can’t wait to see what you might generate this week!!

What key might this be in?

The Score

This shot came from a series of images that I did to provide wall art for a newly opened music school in Worcester a number of years ago. This one did not sell, but several others did; regardless, I am still partial to this one, as it brings about a mood of music made in a time gone by.

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

  • Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
  • Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
  • Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
  • Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Remember that singing off-key is just fine in the car and shower and have fun!!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 173

Locks of all sizes!

Welcome to the 173rd round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

All of you certainly had a Lock on this week’s theme! Your posts were filled with creative approaches to the theme and there were a couple that really surprised me with novel interpretations. Some of what you shared in your posts were personal moments of joy and there were some deep interpretations that really made me think and appreciate your thinking!

Overall, I couldn’t be happier than with this great set of posts and the work that you put into it. Thank you very much!!

Here’s a pretty sizable lock…

Falkirk Wheel in Action

The Falkirk Wheel is a one-of-a-kind lock that connects the Forth and Clyde Canal to the Union Canal, raising, or lowering, boats by 24 meters; the Wheel replaces 11 locks in this connection, thus making the trip significantly faster. The operation of the lock is based on Archimedes’ Principle.

Please enjoy the following blog posts:

  1. Jez kicks things off with a lock that had not cross my mind in his post in Jez Braithwaite; that zoom lock really comes in handy from time to time!
  2. This week we go to Derinkuyu in Don’t Hold Your Breath, which has some astonishing areas to explore, which include a lock…
  3. Shelley wonders if vacation is like getting a new battery in another wonderful post in Quaint Revival; you be the judge, if she has a lock on this subject!
  4. Brian is negotiating in a fantastic post in Bushboy’s World; the Canal St. Martin is truly lovely!
  5. Michelle definitely closed the theme beautifully in her post in Take a Walk… and Discover!
  6. The stables are locked, as we can see in the stunning photograph in the post in theOnlyD800intheHameau; it looks like the horses had a nice place to stay in the Chateau de la Riviére in Pompadour.
  7. Na’ama really identified the dark side of the lock in her post in Na’ama Yehuda: both for animals and humans the lock can be used against us…
  8. Judy puts together a gorgeous set of images in lifelessons, where the locks come in interesting varieties!
  9. Debbie takes us to Sotland in her post Travel with Intent, where we don’t want to get locked up in Edinburgh Castle. In a second post in Travel with Intent, Debbie shares a stunning view of the Falkirk Wheel!
  10. I fully expected that there would be no shortage of locks to choose from in pensivity101‘s post, and they are indeed stunning!
  11. The photographs of locks in Chateaux des Fleurs are truly stunning! Beautifully shot!
  12. This week in The Jesh Studio, we are treated to a wonderful variety of images and a lock that doesn’t look to be that strong…
  13. Danny’s photo in Danny James Photography is fantastic, and really captures an intense set of locks!
  14. Jase has another awesome post in Proscenium, which locks into the right tee!
  15. The locks that are captured in Geriatri’x’ Fotogallery are stunning; those Teutonic Knights knew how to build them!
  16. Jackie found some great locations for locks in her post in Junk Boat Travels, which are a joy to behold!
  17. Tatiana gives us an amazing close-up view of the Miraflores Locks in her post in Travelways; the Panama Canal is still a wonder!
  18. In a very cool post in iBallrtw, we get another view of the locks in Canal Saint Martin in Paris and a shoutout to Busboy’s World!
  19. Ken has a lock on love in his blog Pictures without Film; there are some serious locks in Llansteffan Castle!
  20. Maria captured a wonderful bridge in Vilnius in the post in her blog Kamerapromenader! Love is alive and well in Vilnius!
  21. Woolly shows us that love locks are ubiquitous in his post in Woolly Muses, as we see them in Salzburg…
  22. Alice brings us a wonderful shot of Lock 35 in the Erie Canal in her blog the 59 Club.
  23. Carol brings us proof that Paris is truly the city for lovers in a wonderful post in Light Words!
  24. Viveka brings us some gorgeous photos of locks in her post in MyGuiltyPleasures; and the quote by Sarah Dressen is truly appropriate!
  25. In a truly wonderful post in A Day In The Life, we can wonder about love lost, or locked…
  26. Deb captures a lovely scene in her post in Twenty-Four; the lock and weir are stunning!
  27. Cee’s has a fantastic variety of locks in her post in Cee’s Photography, among which I like those curly locks the best!
  28. Susan has an extremely stylish lock in her post in Musin’ with Susan, which also has an amazing history! Also, go check out Susan’s week in review in Musin’ with Susan!
  29. Khürt brings us a couple of stunning posts; the first one in Island on the Net brings us the Kingston Locks on the Delaware and Raritan canal; the second one in Island on the Net shows off the Griggstown Locks on the same canal. These are fantastic documentary posts!
  30. David takes a retro approach in his post in David M’s Photoblog; the resultant image is fantastic!
  31. In a great photo in Land of Images we get to see a classic wooden pair of locks!
  32. In a really wonderful post in Travel with Tech, we get to see a report on love locks in Prague; stunning photos!
  33. Teressa rummaged through her random item drawer to find lots of lock that we get to see in her post in Another LQQK; awesome post!
  34. Elizabeth features a great selection of locks around the world in her blog AlBatz Adventures; they are amazing!
  35. John and Karen share their special moment in Budapest in their blog, JKRoaming; go read this amazing post!
  36. We get to experience an unusual lock in Heart 2 Heart, as it is from the land of Bhutan; great craftsmanship!
  37. The story of a trunk makes a great post in One Letter Up – Diary 2.0; it’s amazing how something as basic as a trunk can make it from generation to generation!

Please let all of these great bloggers know your thoughts about their posts!

Friday Mystery Location – 2019 #015

Good eating ahead!

Here comes the fifteenth mystery location post of this year….

Last week’s entry was figured out pretty quickly, as the landmark stood out. This week might be a bit trickier, although there are some strong clues in the image…

Where is this?

It’s a lovely day!

This was from a wonderful trip; after visiting here, we ate at the restaurant across the street. For extra credit, can you name the restaurant?

Three Line Tales – Numbers

Amor vincit omnia!

Many thanks to Sonya for Week One Hundred and Eighty-Five of Three Line Tales, part of her awesome blog Only 100 Words!

three line tales, week 185: numbers
photo by Leon Bublitz via Unsplash

****

Number of the beast,
Wrapped in rebirth, peace and love.
Break through the mirror!

****

Thank you to Sonya of Only 100 Words for coming up with Three Line Tales.

You’ll find full guidelines on her TLT page, but here’s the tl;dr:

  • Write three lines inspired by the photo prompt (& give them a title if possible).
  • Link back to this post.
  • Tag your post with 3LineTales (so everyone can find you in the Reader).
  • Read and comment on other TLT participants’ lines.
  • NEW: If you want your post to be included in the round-up, you have until Sunday evening to publish it.
  • Have fun.

Happy three-lining!

A Walk Across the Forum – pt. 2

From 2017, one of my favorite places to go for a walk! It’s a journey through history, as there is an incredible concentration of sites that were significant in European history.

Dutch goes the Photo!

We very much enjoyed our visit to the Forum in Roma.  After all, the Forum was for centuries the center of Roman public life: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city’s great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million sightseers yearly.

Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. The Roman Kingdom’s earliest shrines and temples were located on the southeastern edge. These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia (8th century…

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Tuesday Photo Challenge – Lock

Locked onto love!

Welcome to week 173 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge! Please note that last week’s Round Up will be published later tonight (EDT)

After a week of exploring all that is Overhead with fantastic results, I thought I would really mix it up this time. The theme came to me rather quickly, as I was browsing through some of my images. I saw this view from high up (kind of overhead view of Vienna…) and Lock‘ed in! Yes, there’s the Lock, such as this padlock, but there’s also a lock of hair, a lock through which you can travel with your boat… I’ve got the feeling that many of you will lock into something rather creative!!

Have some fun with this theme and I’m very curious to see what wonderful posts that you will create.

Here’s the love lock in Vienna…

Eternal Connections

This shot is from high up on St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna (luckily, there’s an elevator), where there’s a fantastic view and this eternal declaration of love!

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

  • Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
  • Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
  • Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
  • Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

Lock your focus on something that catches your eye!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 172

Overhead can be a good thing!

Welcome to the 172nd round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

Things are looking up! Your posts for this week’s theme were spectacular and showed a tremendous amount of creativity. There certainly were a couple that blew me away, both in terms of content and artistry, and I’ll be curious to hear which among all these great posts had a similar effect on you. I feel privileged to read all of your contributions to the theme of Overhead, and they were extremely enjoyable!!

Thank you for all the effort that you put into these posts, and I hope that you enjoy reading each other’s posts!

Here’s a bit more of an overhead view…

And not a drop of rain…

This art installation was in one of the main shopping streets in Brno, Czechia; it was fun to try and capture the colorful aspects of the installation on such a beautiful, rain-free day!

Please enjoy the following blog posts:

  1. Sarah starts things this week with an extreme reduction of overhead in her post in By Sarah; this is why cooler heads prevail!!
  2. Jez brings a supermassive crane in his post in Jez Braithwaite; great shots of something that one might not want to walk under…
  3. Nicole shares an absolutely lovely image in her post in Une Photo, Un Poéme; it will inspire many to look up more frequently!
  4. Brian proves that timing really is everything, as we can see in his post in Bushboy’s World; it looks like he has the world by its tail 🙂
  5. The feeling I get from the wonderful photo in Geriatri’x’ Fotogallery is that either I’m stuck in the well, or things are looking up…
  6. Debbie takes us back to Moldova in her post Travel with Intent, where we encounter little Guguta’s big hat. In a second post in Travel with Intent, Debbie takes us through the queue into Kew gardens for some lovely views! And, not to be outdone, Debbie shares a third post this week in Travel with Intent, where she brings on the color of the Batala at the Fringe festival in Edinburgh!
  7. This week we get to visit the Hagia Sophia in Don’t Hold Your Breath, but not the one that everyone has heard of…rather, the little Hagia Sophia, which is stunning as well!
  8. This week’s amazing photo in theOnlyD800intheHameau takes us into the sky at an Estevol in the town of Blond; is it a bird or is it a kite?
  9. Xenia shares two great posts this week; the first is in Tranature, where she captures what will lift many birds overhead. A great day for peace! In WhippetWisdom, we encounter those amazing whippets and there’s something floating overhead… More fun!
  10. Klara takes us back to Brussels in her post in Sliku soju ljubim II, but I might just pass on that dinner invitation… Hope nobody dropped their silverware!
  11. There are some amazing views in pensivity101‘s post, which I very much enjoy; my favorite among these has a truck passing over the boat…
  12. Ken takes a rather playful approach to the them in his blog Pictures without Film; we get to see the shot from overhead, but might wonder what the other photo would show us!
  13. This week in The Jesh Studio, we get a playful set of looks at the 90 days of Summer.
  14. Ann-Christine shares some rather amazing overhead views in her post in To See a World in a Grain of Sand…; that bookstore definitely grabs my attention!
  15. In a wonderful post in iBallrtw, we visit Budapest for a stunning art installation hanging inside a beautifully constructed dome!
  16. Jase’s post in Proscenium is all about hope… Hope for a Garden, and I think that things are looking up!
  17. Maria has a couple of great photos for this week’s theme in her blog Kamerapromenader! I’m not sure that I would dare to sit on that edge in one of them…
  18. Viveka has another great set of photos for this week’s theme in her post in MyGuiltyPleasures; I bet those balloons were amazing to see in the sky!
  19. Len put together a great set of photos in his post in Len Journeys, which also has an excellent quote! Those teddy bears are fantastic!
  20. A wonderful post in the blog Mama Cormier has us looking to see what is overhead and the variety is wonderful!
  21. Jackie brings us an overhead view from a boat in Junk Boat Travels, and we get to see locks! Love locks that is!
  22. Teressa is prepared for the weather, as we can see in her post in Another LQQK; of course, on a sunny day you don’t really need it…
  23. David captures some amazing skies in his post in David M’s Photoblog; the color and composition of these images is stunning!
  24. In an awesome post in Zombie Flamingoes, Emily has us looking up, and I know that I can’t jump high enough to touch that!
  25. Susan goes way up high in her post in Musin’ with Susan: all the way to the moon!! Also, take a look at her week in review in Musin’ with Susan, as there are some amazing photos!
  26. Kammie’s collection of shots for the theme in Nut House Central is fantastic; they also made me smile!!
  27. Na’ama manages something special in her post in Na’ama Yehuda: the bird is both overhead and overheard!
  28. Some cultures use different methods than we expect to ward off evil spirits, as we see in an interesting post in Heart 2 Heart!
  29. Deb catches something very useful overhead in her post in Twenty-Four; that should eliminate a bug or two!
  30. Cee’s photos in her post in Cee’s Photography provide some great overhead shots; I particularly like the reflection!
  31. Woolly definitely has traveled to some great places, as we see in his post in Woolly Muses, where the eagle soars and the leaves rustle!
  32. Ulli gives us a great view looking up in Suburban Tracks, which makes me want to explore more of what lies overhead.
  33. The Captain takes us on a great trip to Paris in Capt Jill’s Journeys, as we get to see some wonderful overhead shots in the city of light!
  34. Robert gives us a magnificent view of the arch of the bridge in Photo Roberts Blog; I love the tonality and composition of this shot!
  35. Clearly the monorail is the way to get around in Las Vegas, as we see in Tatiana’s post in Vegas Great Attractions; Tatiana also gives us a great view of bird’s nests in her post in Travelways.
  36. Sometimes the art is right overhead, as we see in a great post in One Letter Up – Diary 2.0; what caught my eye is that this piece of art is a creation by George Sherwood, who has an exhibition of pieces at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA, one town over from me.
  37. I have to say that I’m blown away by the great overhead views in the post in SheetalBravon; those Swedes have the best subway stations!!
  38. Another light-hearted post in sgeoil shows what happens when someone goes to fly a kite!
  39. Irene captures something that is overhead all of us in her post in Heaven’s Sunshine; that is a stunning sky!
  40. A great set of overhead views are in the post in A Day In The Life, where Nature shows off her best!
  41. A wonderful post Left Hand, Left Foot… Marching On, has us looking up to see some wonderful overhead vistas!

Please let all of these great bloggers know your thoughts about their posts!