At the beginning of 2024, I was living in Istanbul, a paradise for any photographer. This photo is taken from Karaköy, viewing the lit-up New Mosque on the other side of the water, just after sunset. Passing by is one of the many ferries, leaving a beautiful light trail, matching the color of the domes. Curious about more of my shots taken during my time in Istanbul, take a look at the Istanbul gallery.
Every night, at nine, Kız Kulesi, also known as Maiden’s Tower, is beautifully lit for a couple of minutes. For months, I had the idea to combine this spectacular light show with a moon alignment. Unfortunately, there was always something messing up the plan, most of the times it was the weather. Luckily, in one of my last weeks in the city, the conditions were good. Kız Kulesi, the laser show, and the waning crescent moon, both in the sky, and on the Turkish flag. All in all, one of my favorite shots of the year.
Being back in the Netherlands after six months in Türkiye, I really missed taking photos from the historical center of Dordrecht, my hometown. This photo is taken from the city hall square, towards the Voorstraatshaven.
After seeing photos from previous years of this spot, I was eager to visit it myself this year. Windmill “de Vrijheid” in Beesd is beautifully located next to the river Linge and the only road leading to it is a dike. This dike has many beautiful blossom trees on both sides, providing a perfect natural frame. This is in combination with the dramatic sunset makes a great image.
Tulips. Besides being very bad for the environment, it creates a beautiful sight. I discovered this spot near Hillegom using Google Maps. I traveled to Hillegom train station and walked a few kilometers to a place where I could legally fly my Drone. Now it was just a waiting game, waiting for a train. After ten minutes this train passed by and perfectly complemented the composition.
In the same period as the blooming tulips, also the wild garlic was in full bloom. This beautiful estate is located close to the Port of Rotterdam and there is an abundance of wild garlic. That, in combination with the many roe deers, made it a moment not to forget.
Flying around with my drone above the city center of Dordrecht is one of my favorite things to do. And this shot I had been chasing for quite some time. After many failed attempts, the light was finally right. The beautiful warm light shining on the leaning church tower, and the pink hues in the sky make it a summerlike image.
Talking about moments, this is by far my favorite of the year. After a failed northern light hunt earlier in the year, this night, everything came together perfectly. Together with my brother, we drove to the iconic Kinderdijk windmills, hoping the northern lights would show. After twenty minutes I started to see some green color on the back of my camera screen. Around 00:30 the aurora also became visible to the naked eye, seeing blue, green, and pinkish colors. Kinderdijk is located next to Rotterdam, and therefore far from dark skies, making it extra special to be able to see it so brightly. After two hours of watching the light show, we returned home. A memory never to forget.
This is maybe not the most spectacular image of the year, but the story behind it makes it special to me. Around an hour before midnight, the moon would rise, and with clear skies predicted, I jumped on my bike and cycled around twenty minutes through the pitch-black forest. I arrived just before the moon rose and could only see fog, nothing but fog. While waiting for the moon to rise, I was accompanied by the howling of a wolf. After half an hour of waiting the moon rose high enough to light up the foggy heathland and backlight the trees in the distance.
After receiving some alerts that a storm was approaching from the south, I went to a nearby rural area to watch the incoming storm. I quickly launched my drone to capture the impressive shelf cloud rolling into Dordrecht. A bit later my drone got caught in the strong winds, and had to land in one of the nearby fields.
One of my summer holiday destinations was the High Tatras in Slovakia, a very underrated mountain range in Central Europe. This photo was taken in Štrbské Pleso, at a beautiful lake, from the iconic Hotel Patria. The backdrop makes the view even more impressive.
After the Slovak mountains, the next stop was Prague. These two photos were taken on a very early morning to capture the idyllic Prague streets without any people. The rising sun gave the buildings some extra color and made the pictures even better.
The last destination of the summer holiday was in Swiss Bohemia. And no, this is not in Switzerland, but in the Czech Republic and Germany. This photo was taken just across the border in Germany, where you can visit the Schrammsteine. The stunning rock formations in combination with the lush greens and blooming heather made this one of my favorite images of the vacation.
August 12 was the peak of the Perseids meteor shower. Luckily, the skies were clear, but because the sun was setting quite late this time of year, I had to wait for quite a while before it got dark enough to properly see the meteors. At around 00:00, I started seeing some meteors, and over 1.5 hours I captured multiple meteors and combined those into one image. Quite special to see this so close to home, without real dark skies.
At the beginning of September, the heathlands were in full bloom and this morning was one not to forget. The nice tones in the sky of the rising sun, the purple of the heather, and fog collecting in the lower parts, makes this a nice shot.
This is a bucket list shot. I had this shot in mind for months, not even knowing if it was possible. First I had to make sure that the line of sight was clear, and that one was checked. The second thing is, will the moon line up nicely with the tower, and if so, when? Using the app Photopills, I determined a couple of moments when the full moon would be in the right position. After multiple failed attempts, because of bad weather, it finally happened. A perfect full moon alignment with the Groothoofd gate. The photo has been taken from the other side of the river using a telephoto lens.
Just like the prior photo, this was a photo I had in mind for a long time. A beautiful sunrise, enough wind for the flag to wave, and coincidentally it was exactly 07:00
Around one and a half hours before the closure of the World Port Days I situated myself on Katendrecht to have the best view of the fireworks. Due to the wind, it was hard to get a good shot, but this is one I’m very happy with.
Sometimes there are days when just every photo you take is a winner. This morning was one of those moments. The combination of very high humidity and the sun shining created fairytale-like conditions.
On social media, I saw many photos of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), a comet visible to the naked eye. Taking a photo of the comet itself wasn’t much of a challenge, and was already done by many. Therefore I was looking for an alignment, preferably with a recognizable object. After careful planning, I figured out that the comet would align with the Nieuwe Haven in Dordrecht, resulting in this amazing image.
This photo has been taken on one of the foggiest days I have ever experienced. I waited for around twenty minutes to get the perfect composition, because unfortunately, swans don’t do exactly what you would like them to do. Because of the fog, the image looks super clean, without any distractions.
After many days of grey weather, the predictions showed that there might be a nicely colored sunrise the next morning. So, hoping for the best I took the ferry from Dordrecht to Zwijndrecht and situated myself among some local fishermen. After fifteen minutes of waiting some orange and pink hues became visible, and ten minutes later it looked like the sky was on fire. Moments like these make you forget all the times you got up early without a result.
On Boxing Day, in the Netherlands also known as the Second day of Christmas, I took the train to Amsterdam, planning to get some shots of the Christmas lights and the canals. Here you can see the Spiegelgracht with at the end the Rijksmuseum.
After shooting the Christmas lights, I stopped at the classic Damrak to get the classic shot. A photo that has been made by thousands of people already, but because of that not less beautiful.
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© 2024 Daan ten Brink