Egyptian goose
Spring is my favourite season of the year. When the weather forecast predicts a clear sky, no wind and early morning fog, I get excited and can’t wait till my alarm clock is buzzing to get up! Unfortunately those days are quite rare in Holland. This picture was made in one of those rare mornings. I was attempting to take pictures of hares, but they were out of sight. Luckily a group of Egyptian goose were landing in the field, where I was lying in the cold and wet grass. I was crawling towards this pair of goose and I placed the early morning sun as a backlight behind the birds. This pair was having spring on their mind and were very interested in each other and did not even noticed me. At this moment, the goose looked each other in the eyes and the shapes of their necked formed a heart. I placed them in the centre of the frame. In the corner of my eye a woodpigeon flew towards the goose. Luckily I had my camera in motor drive. As the pigeon flew into the frame I pushed the button and I heard the rattling noice of the shutter. With swetty hands I looked on the LCD screen, and yes, I managed to capture this romantic moment in birdlife.
Laughing Red Dzao lady
This picture has been made in het north of Vietnam,
in the city of Sapa. In the early morning we saw people from different kind
of minority tribes arriving from the mountain trails, with all their selling
ware stucked on their backs. They come to sell and buy vegetables, herbs,
chickens and clothing on the Sapa market place.
In the evening we were quite exhausted and hungry, it had been a day with
many impressions and I had taken many pictures of the local people. It had
been a very hot and humid day. It started lightning and soon it started to
rain enormously. The people on the market got ready to go home again. Despite
the weather was very bad and they already were a long day from home, the ladies
were chatting and laughing to each other constantly. One of the ladies even
tried to sell something to us during her walk towards home. Although we were
not interested we had a nice talk, she gave me a never to forget smile.
Fes, Morocco
Fes is the oldest of the imperial cities of Morocco. Its narrow winding alleys
and covered bazaars are crammed with every sort of workshop, markets as well
as mosques and tanneries. It's difficult to find your way in this narrow streets,
but when smelling the odeur of animal skins you know you are on the right
way to the tannery! In this part of the medina you only find leather shops.
The owners invite you to their shop and to take a look from their terrace
at the tannery below. The pits of the tannery are filled with colourful pigments,
some of them are being used for many centuries. The tannery is known for the
pictures made from the terraces overlooking the colourful pits. I wanted pictures
from the craftsman working the hides. One of the guides of the tannery took
me to a small and dark workshop. The first moment, I didn't see anything,
only smelled terrible odeurs and heard some noise. When my eyes got used to
the dark I saw a man busy working a hide. This setting was amazing, like going
back in time.
Kuching, Malaysia
Kuching is a very colourful city. Buildings are decorated in different kind of colours and everyday you can visit different kind of markets. From food, fish to clothes markets. The locals meet each other over here and do there daily shopping. When I am travelling, I love to visit markets. It’s the perfect place to photograph local life. We walked around the clothes, shoes and fabric market of Kuching. I was attracted by the beautiful colour of these fabrics. I was wandering how the make a nice picture of this, when suddenly a mother and little child passed by. The mother had a look at the fabrics. At that moment I kneeled down on eye level of the little child and started making pictures. The child saw I was photographing her and became a little bit shy. She hid behind her mother. She was a little bit shy, but also curious what I was doing. She took a look from behind her mother’s leg. At that moment, I took this shot and knew that this would be a nice picture.
Tavira, Portugal
Tavira is a small, authentic village in the west of the Algarve. We walked
through the small streets of the village when we saw an old Portuguese lady
who was barbecuing sardines at the front side of her house. I was very impressed
by this scene. In the Netherlands we are not used to cook at the front of
our house! I personally like to photograph this kind of local habits. I asked
the lady if I may take some pictures of her. She was very honoured. I first
took some pictures of the lady herself at the front of her house. Then her
husband arrived on his bicycle, he just came back from the local harbour where
he had a chat with his old mates. He probably smelled dinner was almost ready!
This picture of the two of them, was the perfect ingredient to show the simple
and peaceful way of Portuguese living.
Ithala N.P., South Africa
It was late in the afternoon, when I saw this white rhino mum with her calf
in a valley in Ithala National Park. I hoped the two of them would walk upon
the hill so that I could photograph them with the hillsides of the other mountains
as background. After a little while, they did where I was hoping for. Out
of the corner of my eye, I saw there was another rhino coming. This was daddy
rhino. The moment mother and child saw father coming, they literally turned
their backs on to him!
