Winter in Haarlemmermeer

Reed plume cleared up
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Shot like this is a quintessential winter shot to me. It's so typical for january in the Polder. Wind, grey skies grey water...

Cleaned it up just a tad with neat image. Because of the lack of light I had my camera set to iso800.

Hyacinth

Hyacinth
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Toying with my 50mm and some flowers on the table. Just an experiment to to gain some experience with RAW processing but it turned out really nice.

6000 views on my flickr album

Boeing 737
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

To celebrate I'm posting this KLM Boeing 737 that just landed in rather heavy crosswinds on the Polderbaan of Schiphol airport.

Shot in RAW and processed in Photoshop. I'm slowly getting the hang of that whole RAW thingy. In this case it allowed me to depict the fact that the plane just had a bit of sun on an otherwise rather miserable day.

Baked some buns

Buns 3
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Baked some of these as a treat for Sunday lunch using that excellent flower I buy at windmill "de eersteling". Decided to take a few shots while they were cooling.

I'm quite pleased with the light. Did a WB measuring on the outside of the coverage of the warm light I have over my stove. This way I retain some warmness without getting excessive yellow.

New glasses

Showing of my new glasses
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Went to the Pearl yesterday to pick 'm up. Getting used to it but I think I like 'm. All the women I know think they're a good choice.

Just discovered sellaband. Brilliant new concept to discover artists. Here's a lady who could and should be going places:

Jenae Johnson on SellaBand

Not you and that camera again!

Not you and that camera again!
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Portrait of my friend erica. 50mm 1.8 and SB600 of the opposite wall. Looks like I captured her at an inconvenient moment but mostly she's nice and harmless.

Visit to Meise

Flower
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

To spend some time with my friend Erica, drink too much wine and the next morning a visit to the National Botanical gardens where I shot this.

feeling a bit silly

brandmelder
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

Know the feeling, an art exhibition that just doesn't appeal to you much? You end up shooting things like this.

Also, just noticed that my album has 5,375 views. Not bad for an amateur I think.

Finally got another 50mm 1.8

keyboard
Originally uploaded by j_wijnands.

When the last one died I realized just how much I was missing it. So I searched a bit and found an old non-D version with the HS-2 hood and a real Nikon skylight filter for 100 euros.

After getting it home I was toying with it a bit:
Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/2
Focal Length: 50 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
ISO Speed: 800

I went to see the latest James Bond, Casino Royal tonight. First time in 5 years I went to the cinema by my self. Very nice to spend some time doing something without anyone else.

The film itself was rather good. Of course it only loosely followed the book but hey, that's 53 years old now. What it did have was a lot more feeling of the real James Bond. James is, let face it, just not a very nice guy. Daniel Craig is, in my opinion, possibly the best James Bond since Connery did Dr. No in '63.

Script did keep some of the unexpected changes of direction the book also had. Eva Green playes a nice Vesper Lynn, sexy in a way you wouldn't expect in a major hit film these days. All in all, highly recommended! IMDB gives it a 7.9 which might be the highest rated Bond ever.

Now why can't I shoot these (yet)

caroline test 1
Originally uploaded by sven.

Excellent use of DoF, good light, nice expression. Practice, practice I suppose.