The days are getting longer of course. I now get to the barn with the last bit of light of the day.
My mood is lifting which might be definitely is related to the fact that we have had full sunshine for two days in a row and I got to soak it up for a whole hour yesterday at work.
Here’s to a sunny weekend with lots of resting and planting and welcoming spring.
Just before it drops below the trees.
Just a few more weeks and these fields will be lush and green again.
The beautiful sunny but icy weather continues. It was so good to be out in sunshine two days in a row! The horses had gotten their shots the other day, so we just took them for a stroll through the woods.
I can’t describe just how much I love this photo:
It was late afternoon and the sun was already deep in the sky.
Our woods at the barn are so beautiful and though the route is always the same, they look different every sunday.
I can so read his thoughts here (“Wonder how that branch over there tastes and if I’ll manage to distract her so I can sneak a bite”):
Lots of trees have come down during the long snowy weeks so even our usual paths are a bit of an adventure these days.
I live for these days.
dark clear winter nights.
The biting, icy wind blew away any trace of stress. Though most of it had been good to begin with, it was just what I needed.
My favourite place in the world.
I don’t really need to comment these, do I? Except to say that, no matter how stressful the day at the office was, what could be better than to come home to light as glorious as this:
And a peaceful sight like this:
And suddenly, everything is good again.
The first color shots out of my Holga are finally done and scanned and I am in love (again). Unfortunately medium format color film is pretty pricey but I will have to splurge on it once in a while I think.
These were all taken at the last rodeo at the barn:
Aching feet after a day’s riding:
Yummy candy for sale:
The oppressive heat we’ve been having has been hard on the horseys as well, with little shade and lots of flies on their pastures:
And, to save the best for last (something I always find very hard to do…anyone seen the movie ‘Remember Me’? I have my dessert first too):
Okay, I vaguely remember promising sunset photos 😉 So here comes the third installment of Ameland photos.
First of all, some wildlife: there are thousands of birds on the island, mostly sea-gulls. Large areas of the island serve as nature reserve and are pretty much left alone.
While the days were sunny, the dew in the morning made for some nice photos too (this one was taken with my Macro Snap-on lens Raynox DCR-250):
The island was so deserted that we hardly met any people at all. It is amazing how fast you get used to this quiet. When we even went to a beach cafe where there were people and especially on the way home on the highway it was a total culture shock!
This buddy lived at the place where we were staying (highly recommendable by the way) and made it very clear he was used to coming inside and treated like a Prince. This is his ‘Are you thick? Go on open the door’ look.
Ok, here’s the sunset photos at last! I took so many and it was hard to narrow them down. I still cannot decide which of these two would be better for the shop? I’d love to hear your suggestions on that!
number 1
or number 2?
The technical data for these are: Canon 450d, 50mm 1.4, f22, ISO100, manual metering, shutter speed between 1.3 and 2 seconds and I used a tripod (obviously).
After the sunset we hurried up to the dunes to photograph the lighthouse. It actually gets dark very quickly once the sun has set and when you’re standing on an empty beach all alone and the lights on your bike don’t work it’s kinda creepy. We pretty much hurried home after a few shots.
And here’s the last one, another sunset on a different day and a different beach. We almost stayed home because it was cloudy and we were tired and it was freezing…but boy, was it worth it!
You can’t see it in this photo but there was a seal swimming and hunting mere meters away from us in the water! We’d see his head popping up now and then, he was probably wondering what the two girls were doing, just standing there for 45mins in the cold on a deserted beach 😉
Ok, here’s the second installment of Ameland photos. These are from our second day here, enjoy!
We went to the village Nes and booked a tour to see the seals which live between the Wadden Sea and the North Sea.
These little dutch villages are full of pretty old houses and typical dutch decor.
Onboard the boat
On our way to see the seals we saw many small fishing boats like these. They were being followed by hundreds of sea-gulls, hoping for fish.
The seals live in the water near the islands. At high tide they swim and hunt but at low tide sand banks appear where they lie down in the sun and rest.
There are lots of sheep on the island as well and at every turn you can see the cutest little lambs jumping and running about.
I’ll close with another beach shot. We’re leaving for home tomorrow but there’ll be at least 2 more installments with pretty pictures over the next few days. We had an amazing sunset yesterday and shot some pretty awesome photos, but hey, gotta save the best for last right?
little home by hand 