ameland part 3

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 😉

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ameland – part 2

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?

ameland – part 1

Hi everyone! Just a short hello from Ameland, a beautiful little island in the Netherlands, which separates the Wadden Sea from the North Sea.
We (my friend Dana and I) left on Monday at 5am and arrived at the harbour in time to catch the 9.30am ferry. The ferry takes about 30-45mins to Ameland and then another 15min bus ride to the little village where we are staying.
We’ve had lots of sunshine, great food and lots to see so far and are enjoying every minute of our stay!
Here are some impressions of our first day:

The lighthouse, the islands most impressive landmark. We will be trying to get a good night shot of this (Dana brought a tripod, yay).

The beach at low tide (this is the North Sea side. We haven’t yet been to the Wadden Sea on foot but it’s on the agenda today). I have until now resisted the temptation of buying a pair of brighty chequered wellis, though I did splurge on some souvenirs.

I just like the colors in this one. See the amazing blue sky we had the first day!

Say cheese! We visited a cheesemaker and asked if we could see their workrooms. We are here out of season, so there is literally no one on the island except the inhabitants and so they allowed it!

I can’t even begin to describe how delicious these homemade cheeses are! We bought different types and are feasting like kings!

We left the car on the mainland and are getting around on bikes here (everyone in Holland owns a bike). Lots of fun, but we rode around so much that first day that we were really sore and had to take a break from the bikes yesterday. ‘Fietspad’ means bike path and in the background you can see the grass dunes which lie before the sand dunes on the beach.

Enjoying the evening light at the beach.

Sunset at the beach. We had originally planned to photograph until the sun really went down, but with the wind picking up and the sun losing its strength it was just freezing and we had to head home earlier. We’re hoping for another beautiful clear sunset tonight.
Hope you enjoyed these and stay tuned for pictures of quaint dutch houses, fishing boats and seals coming soon!