water – Dutch goes the Photo!

The Strength of Water

Source of life and power!

The WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge has the very fluid theme of Liquid, which is right up my alley, as the Netherlands is all about water!

Saying that water is ubiquitous in the Netherlands is akin to stating that there’s air in Earth’s atmosphere! In the Low Countries respect for and understanding of water are ingrained from an early age: swimming lessons were part of elementary school and the impact of the North Sea Flood of 1953 were part of the curriculum. Over the centuries, the Netherlands has honed its water management skills to a point that it’s a national export.

Of course, we also learn to enjoy the water that we find everywhere, whether it be at the magnificent beaches of the North Sea coast or sailing on one of the many lakes or out on the sea, there is plenty of fun to be found! Even during those times, it is important to not lose one’s appreciation for the power of water…

Power-of-Water_MG_9851-5x4 — *The Power of Water*

There may not be any significant waterfalls in the Netherlands, due to the flatness of the country, but the respect for water’s awesome power is never far removed from our consciousness!

Have a wonderful day!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 73

Loving the water!

Welcome to the 73rd round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge! My apologies for being a bit late in posting the round up…victim of my own success?

I expected to get a good array of watery shots from this creative bunch, so I was not surprised by that; still there were a number of shots that absolutely blew me away and a fair number that made me chuckle! Thank you for the inspiration that you bring to me through your wonderful contributions!

Sometimes, the water needs protection by magical creatures…

Bodach-Loch-Long_57A0141_2_3_Bodach_57A0141_2_3 — *Bodach of Arrochar*

The Bodach is a bogeyman of old Scottish lore, who was used to scare the kids into doing what their parents told them; this particular Bodach, in Arrochar, is said to have staved off the invading forces of the Vikings, as they had dragged their longboats across the hills toward Loch Long. He definitely protects the water behind him…

The following were this week’s participants in the challenge with links to their posts:

Sarah kicked things off this week with two posts, the first one in By Sarah brings us the mighty Murray, Australia’s longest river, and the second on in By Sarah features a colorful pillbox in Oahu.
Xenia’s post in whippetwisdom.com, filled with beautiful water, delights us with the grace of whippets!
In this week’s entry from JK109, we visit the amazing Ganges river, which gives life to a large part of India.
Black Body‘s post looks across the water to the statue that has welcome millions to the United States in a topical post!
Smiti’s entry in her blog, theDriftingSatellite, takes us from the lakes to the tops of the snow-covered Himalayas.
The post in thatLittleVoice might not show water, but instead gives us a store that sells water purification equipment; this could be rather important!
This week’s entry in iball round the world‘s blog has us waiting for the water slide, on what looks to be a rather warm day!
Rebel Guy and Girl’s post in Photogate provides us with some great fast moving water, as well as Rebel Guy’s entry into the water!
In Tachispeaks‘s entry there’s plenty of water from fountains to beautiful seacoasts!
Candace’s post in Netdancer’s Musings takes us to Venice, a city of water and stunning beauty!
In The Photographer Roamed the Streets, we get to see a slice of the country of my birth in a great photo!
Which leads us The Photographer Smiled, where Marga takes us to another location around Dordrecht!
Dawn’s post in Snap That Bug! is filled with the stunning beauty of Iguaza Falls, which she photographed beautifully!
Debbie’s post in ForgivingConnects talks about the grace that we get through self-forgiveness, which is as accepting as the waters of the oceans.
UrbanLiaisons brings us to the water ambitions of Tunisia with a magnificent post full of images and interest!
Judith’s post in Nature Knows Best not only has beautiful fountains, but also carries some good health information!
Edwin’s Journal tells us about the water splitting in two, both in poetry and photography!
Musings of Nature brings us some beautiful photos of water with some apropos thoughts.
Bullyboy shows us some expressive water in his post in Travel387, with great photos that show off the colors of water.
Lacy’s post in Adventures of a Busy Mom shares a beautiful pool, and talks of her adventurous cruise!
In CitySonnet, we get to see some stunning shots of flowers with water droplets on them! They are beautiful!
Khürt’s photo in his post in Island in the Net is another fantastic image with tender droplets showing.
Ladyleemanilla‘s post has a truly beautiful array of water shots in her post with some music to enjoy as well!
Sheena’s post in Leaking Ink makes excellent use of the beauty of reflections of city lights on the water.
The water and clouds in Layue’s Everyday Photo Blog are gorgeous through their use of long exposure photography! Go check it out!
After last week’s blue skies, this week’s entry in the Blog of Hammad Rais found us a rather rainy day!
Nicole’s photography in her post in Une Photo, un poéme is stunning, as she really brings the bubbling water to life!
Geriatri’X’ Fotogallery shares a beautiful reflection in water.
Poetry in Pictures combines water and Sun for a fantastic image.
The entry from pensitivity101 regales us with a wonderful poem inspired by the image from this week’s challenge post.
Offshoots12 takes us to the end of the trail, where there’s a watering hole…would you swim in it?
Another stunning photo in theonlyD800inthehameau which shows off the fun that can be had with water!
Chateaux des Fleurs has some beautiful shots of running water!
A Meditative Journey brings us the zen of water, as only a child can appreciate it!
In the entry from Mara’s Artistry we are entertained with a couple of great photos that talk to our theme!
Cee shows us some great waterfalls in her blog Cee’s Photography! It would be fun to use them for a shower!
Frank’s entry in Poetry, Short Prose and Walking, talks to us of the deeper magic, as we ponder what may be looking back at us in that reflection.
Robert’s entry in Photo Robert’s Blog has that nostalgic feel about it, particularly in the shot at the beach.
Danny’s Photographs brings us a fantastic shot during his trip to Switzerland, where the mountains appear to rise out of the lake.
Stella shows her range in a set of photos in Giggles & Tales, which go from a glass of water to diving and in between!
Miriam shows of some of Oregon in her photos in the Shower of Blessing, with a great splash of orange from the koi.
Ed takes us to Ireland in his shots in In My Mind’s Eye; the height of the cliff is quite daunting!
LeAnn’s Captures take us to Clear Lake in Iowa, which looks like a fantastic spot to enjoy the water!
Judy’s post in her blog lifelessons provides us water, water, everywhere! From raindrops on up!
And, not to be outdone, Roaming Urban Gypsy has water, water, everywhere as well with a magnificent set of photos! It’s fun to check out both posts!
In Travel with Intent, Debbie’s walk is interrupted by a closed path, as work is under way to recover a submerged boat!
Lorelle is not only A Mindful Traveller, but also has a talented daughter to do her photography for her!
In DeepikasRamblings, we are treated to some rather spectacular views!

Hope that you enjoy these posts!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Water

Water, water, everywhere!

Welcome to Week 73 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge.

Wow! You really turned up up last week for the color Blue! It was great to see the enthusiasm in each of your posts!

After two weeks of colors, I thought it might be time for something a little different, which led me to the idea of Water for a theme. Of course, water comes in many forms, so there is plenty of opportunity to take a creative approach to this week’s theme. Whether the water is in a glass, pond, lake, river, sea, ocean or in the sky, or whether it is liquid or solid (gaseous might be tricky to photograph), there are many ways to capture water in all its glory!

So, I expect that there will be plenty of different approaches to this week’s theme, and I look forward to being surprised by some of them!

To get you started, here’s a bit of water in the ocean and sky…

cn-20130612-Cape-Neddick-Brooding_57A1833_4_5-12x18 — *Nubble Brooding*

This image came about on a beautiful June day in 2013, as my wife and I stopped by Cape Neddick during my mother’s and sister’s visit. It was a beautiful day with just a bit of cloud cover, but something drew me to take this set of images from a low angle. About six weeks later, I processed the images into this final result using Photomatix Pro.

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)!!

Let’s play safe with water during this week and try to surprise me!

The Ancient Elements – Water

Relaxed, yet with purpose

The WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge has the wonderful theme of Elemental; I’ll be sure to cover all the Ancient Elements of Fire, Water, Earth and Air during this week, as each has presented ample opportunities to me photographically.

Today’s element of Water has presented itself in many ways to me over the years; keeping with yesterday’s post of the element of Fire, I’m presenting another abstract image…

This image flowed forth from my studying this particular patch of rather rapid stream for a time, as I was intrigued by the interplay of water, plants and air getting pulled into a small vertex. This study resulted in my playing just a bit with my lens’ zoom during this image that captured a bit of motion by extending the shutter time.

Hope you enjoy!

Beachscape at the Shallow End

Head for safety

Inspired by the WordPress Daily Post theme of Shallow.

There was ample opportunity to go swimming at the beach, if it weren’t for the fact that she was afraid of all that might be swimming in the refreshing ocean water with her. She had seen Jaws, after all, and Piranha and several other movies that reminded her that the water was not hers alone. Luckily, she found some shallow water…

Beachscape-15.5x15.5_W4O8773 — Beachscape

Of course, she hadn’t seen Sharknado…

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Round Up 56

Water, no shortage!

Welcome to the 56th round up of the Tuesday Photo Challenge!

Water, water, everywhere! And so many great posts for me to enjoy!! There was no shortage of amazing images in your posts and some wonderful text. There also was some great creativity, as there was recognition that water can fall in the form of rain, or that water can even fail (dang thermocouple!).

Thank you for your wonderful participation!!

I thought I’d share this image with you that is a little different, even though it is a set of waterfalls…

Waterfall-2minute_57A4965 — Doane’s Falls

This image is part of a series of experiments with exposure times; this is a 2 minute exposure to get the water to take a more silky texture.

The following were this week’s participants in the challenge with links to their posts:

Leave it to ladyleemanilla to not only share some great images, but also bring the waterfall motion in her entry!
Leaking Ink brings us a rather Zen moment in a fantastic post!
Une Photo, un poéme shares some fantastic images of a set of locks that go back to the time of Napoleon!
Xenia takes us to Loch Thoridon, as beautiful sea loch in Whippetwisdom, where her whippets have a blast, splashing in the water!
Stella’s shows off some great waterfalls in her post in Giggles & Tales, which are all over the world!
Alex Baranov joins the fun with an image he shares of water falling at a different speed on a glacier in Nepal.
iBallRTW demonstrates some rather cool photo technique in their image of water going up, and falling down!
This week’s entry from theonlyD800inthehameau presents a beautiful view of Abu Dhabi’s architecture with water.
Charles takes us to Yellowstone in his post in charlesewaugh, which is just glorious!
pensivity101 provides a wondrous poem with a humorous twist!!
Andrea’s post in ARHtistic License shows us a gentle water fall in a beautiful location.
Amy’s entry in The World is a Book… shows us Hamilton’s Pool Preserve near Austin, TX.
Candace shows us some fantastic images of water splashing down the end of her rain chain in Netdancer’s Musings.
Miriam post in the Showers of Blessing is filled with a great set of water image.
Bushboy brings us into Bushboy’s World where water swirls through our view.
Cee brings us some gorgeous waterfalls in her post in Cee’s Photography!
Übersetzen und Literatur, doch nicht nur takes us to Iceland where some great waterfalls were captured!
Scroll is written by I’m the Author, who contributed a great waterfall image.
Bullyboy takes us to various waterfalls in India in his post in Travel387.
Catherine’s blog, Images off the path, is simply stunning and her post is one that you just have to see!
Ron’s post in Progressing Into Solitude shows some rather impressive water falling!
Judith found a little bit of a different interpretation of falling water in her post in Nature Knows Best: rain! Bravo!!
Leave it to Susan of Musing with Susan to also put a different spin on the theme with her experience of failing water! Well done!
Marie found us a beautiful fountain with water coming out of a lion’s mouth in her post in The New 3Rs: Retire, Recharge, Reconnect!
The post in Locating Frankenstein’s Brain finds us admiring a rather nice fountain in Nelsonville!
George, the Alchemist of the Woods, takes us to Umstead State Park for some fantastic flowing water.
Miriam takes us Out an’ About with a dazzling array of wonderful waterfall images and reflections!
Khürt’s post in Island in the Net provides us with some amazing shots of rain falling; his images are absolutely stunning!
Debbie gives us a wonderful post in ForgivingConnects, inspired by Mother’s Day and falling water!

This is another great set of images, posts and participation! Thanks to each of you for taking the time and being creative! Tomorrow’s theme is already written and scheduled! See, if you can guess what it is 🙂

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Falling Water

Go with the flow!

Welcome to Week 56 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge.

This week I had no problem coming up with an idea for the challenge, as it came to me rather quickly. Many of you may know that I enjoy photographing water, as it is always a subject of inspiration. So for this week’s challenge I propose Falling Water! There’s nothing like the sounds and sights of water following the course laid by gravity and I’m sure that you will go with the flow!

As you well know, the only request I have is for you to have fun with the theme and just let your creativity flow like the water. There are many ways, in which water can fall, so I’m curious to find how many you will cover.

Here’s one of the images that came to mind when I thought of this week’s theme…

Chapman-Falls-IMG_0902 — *Chapman Falls*

Chapman Falls are located in the Devil’s Hopyard in East Haddam, Connecticut; I was introduced to this picturesque location by my good friend and excellent photographer, George Fellner. The trails in this area are wonderful to explore and full of scenic views. On this particular day, I was enthralled by the beauty put in front of me.

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)!!

Very much looking forward to all of your great images! Should be a fun week!

Warped Wednesday – pt. 6

Water, water, everywhere!

In last week’s edition, I talked a little about experimentation and the fun that I have with it, as a means of finding new inspiration and ideas. Part of my process is to also look at ways of interpreting different materials.

One of the materials that has been part of my entire life is water. Growing up in the Netherlands, one is surrounded by water all the time, which is why swimming is standard curriculum in elementary school. From swimming to sailing and ice skating, a lot of life focuses on the very same water that the Dutch have learned to move out of the way and tame over the centuries.

This set of images show some of my exploration of at least two states of water: solid in Frosts of Atlantis and Primordial Lemonade and liquid in Phase Transition, Search for Tranquility and Calm Motion. Each brings out a different aspect of this wonderful substance that makes our planet so very liveable!

Frosts of Atlantis

Phase Transition

Primordial Lemonade

Search for Tranquility

Calm Motion

In each of these images, there is a slightly different approach. Frosts of Atlantis centers on the structure of the ice, which appears to reveal a city of high civlization. Primordial Lemonade is all about the flow of Pleistocene Kool-Aid! Phase Transition takes us on a ride jumping through inter-dimensional space-time. Search for Tranquility challenges us; can we find tranquility within this image? Calm Motion is truly serendipitous; as I was eyeing the flow of water in a small stream, I noticed that there was an inherent structure to it and that it was hiding a deeper message…

Each time that I go out and shoot, I keep an eye open for the unusual and novel. Sometimes it is right out there, while at other times it lies well beneath the surface. Whichever is the case, the search is the best part! Hope you go out there and find your special treasures!

Three Line Tales – Danger

What lies beneath…

It’s great to participate in Week Fifty-One of Three Line Tales run by Sonya of Only 100 Words!

three line tales week 51 - danger deep water — photo by Sean Tan via Unsplash

****

Water seems placid,
Sky reflected in stillness.
Cautionary tale.

****

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

You’ll find full guidelines on the 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 New Horizon

Embrace what we see…

As we’re looking toward the future, we strive to reach beyond what the horizon obscures and understand all that may occur. In doing so, do we lose track of what each and every day holds for us? Appreciating each and every moment, while making decision that bode well for our planet, humanity, our family and ourselves, allows us to live truly full lives.

Look toward each and every new horizon, and embrace all that you see as today’s realm of possibilities.

wachusett-reservoir-in-fog-img_2394-orig — *Morning on the Horizon*

Inspired by the WordPress Photo Challenge – New Horizon.

	Stephen Greaves on Tuesday Photo Challenge…
	pensitivity101 on iPhone Friday
	jansenphoto on iPhone Friday
	pensitivity101 on iPhone Friday
	jansenphoto on iPhone Friday