A reflection seen through a window on a Nile lock during our recent cruise.
Welcome back to the windows in my small part of the world, or rather one from my travels. This week’s window features a reflection as the key element of interest.
Let’s take a look into the mirror…
Lock Window
This window is part of the control structure of one of the Nile locks that we went through during our cruise this year. From the upper deck of our ship, the reflection caught my eye and provided some interesting lines to play with.
This is my mid-week contribution to the Monday Window thread, a creation of Ludwig Keck. To read more about Ludwig, check this page.
Last September, Kris, my wife, and I took a river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel on the amazing Viking Mani; this was our first ever cruise experience, and I can tell you that Viking will raise the bar for any future vacation plans that you might have.
After arriving a day prior to our boarding date, we checked in early into our hotel, the Victoria, which is just across from the Centraal Station; after our flight from Boston, we were both happy to hop into a shower and get a short nap before exploring the city. First stop was to get some food, which for me means that I wanted to get a Dutch specialty: a beef croquette sandwich (Dutch: kroket).
Next up we decided to take a canal tour, which is the best way to see Amsterdam. I’ll highlight a couple of views from our hour-long boat trip.
The Stopera Building
In the image above, the Stopera is where the Dutch National Opera & Ballet companies have performance space, and where Amsterdam’s city hall is located. The name came from a shortening of the protest slogan against the building’s construction: “Stop the Opera”. The design approval for the building literally took decades, as the original commission started in 1955 and took until 1964 years to finally reject all proposals; a new competition was held in 1967 for a new design, which was won by the Viennese architect Wilhelm Holzbauer.
Unfortunately, budget constraints delayed the project once more. In 1979, a new approach was proposed, which would combine the opera space and city hall into a single complex; a design by Wilhelm Holzbauer and Cees Dam was approved. Under much controversy and protest, construction started in 1982 and was completed in 1986.
Jewish Resistance Monument
At the intersection of the Zwanenburgwal and the Amstel river, stands a powerful reminder of the people who once lived in the neighborhood where the Stopera stands today; Vlooienburg was an island that was built in Amsterdam to add space around 1593. This island was part of Amsterdam’s Jewish Quarter, which was established during the Dutch republic, as many Sephardic Jews moved from Portugal and Spain to the more accepting environment in Amsterdam. The black monument commemorates the efforts by the Jewish population in their resistance against the Nazi occupiers during World War II; on the side of the monument is a text of the prophet Jeremiah, which laments:
“Were my eyes fountains of tears then would I weep day and night for the fallen fighters of my beloved people.”
Het IJ
Another key river of Amsterdam is the IJ, which likely is a remnant of the northern arm of the Rhine delta. Nowadays, the IJ has a seafaring shipping connection through the North Sea Canal, which stretches from Amsterdam to Ijmuiden.
From here our canal tour turned back to its mooring point, close to the main train station, and a bit later we’d go here…
The Viking Mani
There she is, our Viking longship, the Mani; named after the Norse Moon God, Mani, who flies through the night sky in his horse-drawn chariot, chased by an evil wolf looking to devour the moon. Our cabin is in view, albeit barely; it is the last visible window near the end on the upper deck. As the restaurant is at the front of the ship, we had a more than 100 m walk each way, getting our exercise, even on board!
In last week’s post on My Creative Approach – part 1, I talked a bit about the impact of the inner vision in shaping the image; steering the edit of an image definitely is one way for me to get to what I’m trying to express. In this post, let’s take a look at another way to find that expression.
Last week during the walk on the beach at Meigs Point, one of the pieces of driftwood caught my attention…
Driftwood on the Beach
This beach always provides some interesting subjects for photography, and when I saw the shape of this jetsam, my mind’s eye started putting together a concept that might be possible. Using the available light and shifting my perspective, I opened up my imagination and let the shape speak to me.
At these times, it is important to use one’s feet and view your subject from multiple angles; as part of this process don’t forget to vary the height of the camera…
Vikings’ Dragon
Using height and composition to my advantage, the head starts to articulate above the landscape and one can almost feel there is something waiting to arise from this ancient head; could it be steam or fire? Letting our imagination do its duly appointed work, I can almost see the ancient Viking longships coming to the coast of the New World with their dragon-shaped figureheads; as the settlers left their beached ships behind, weather chipped away at the details over the centuries, leaving behind just enough to remind us of the way they once graced the oceans’ waters.
Part of the creative process here was in the selection of composition and using the camera’s aperture to set the subject apart from a more dreamy backdrop. Allowing the viewer’s eye to travel across the image helps establish a connection to their imagination from yours!
This image was captured with a Canon EOS R5 and Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens. Aperture was set at f/5.0, at 400 ISO and 1/1250s exposure. Minor touch ups and a bit of contrast was provided in post-processing.
