Birds of prey
Last weekend I met up with a group of people to photograph some amazing birds!
We all met at a well known falconry in the Netherlands, De Valk.
Fun fact is that on this day I met with 2 friends who I haven’t seen for 13 years, it was really a warm welcome by them and the people from the falconry.
After a little coffee and briefing about the day we headed out to start photographing some ducks in the pool on the property, swiming in the pool were tufted ducks, common pochard and ????
White tailed-eagle
The first bird the owner of the falconry showed us was Hertog, a white-tailed eagle. This eagle is flying through a soccer stadium when one of the local soccer teams is playing a match, so he is quite famous!
It really is a beautiful eagle and it is very cool to see this bird from such a short distance.
We were able to see a lot of birds today and a special guest.
This pygmy mouse was just too cute to be true!
Super small but super active with climbing up and down the branch, quite difficult to capture it sharp and in the right position.
The owners showed us a few of my favourite birds, owls!!
I really love the look of them and how silent they are wen flying 10cm above your head, quite impressive!
Below you see the Ural owl, Oohoo, Long-eared owl and a Little owl.
All in all it was really a great day among the birds!
Spontanious winter photoshoot
Winter photoshoot
Tom and I made a weekly appointment, just to catch up and have a ride on the bike.
Last week there was snow in the Netherlands and we took our gravel bikes to go for a 2h loop in the Veluwe area.
It was full with overcast when I met Tom at the parking area, covered with enough cycling clothes we set out for the ride.
As soon as we took the road in to the forest the road was white, just beautiful! The ride started on some tarmac roads with a short climb to warm up the legs.
When we got on to the gravel sections the sun was slowly burning away the overcast and a some beautiful sunlight was spread out over the open field. We headed to the highland cattle monument that stands on top of a hill in the open field.
I had my camera strapped to my back and just as we got to the monument the light was perfect and I made this backlit shot of Tom.
First light of the day.
The highland cattle momument standing tall in the snow, Tom focussing on the path ahead.
As we continued our ride we found sections with more snow, but also this tree on it’s own which made a great spot for a photo together!
I had to set up my mini tripod and camera, select the right focus point before we came cycling up the hill. With the remote in my hand I pressed the shutter button as we came cycling up the hill, rolled down to the camera and it was spot on the first time!
2 Frozen faces and a tree, it was minus 5 this morning… Brrr
Further on the ride we came past beautiful snowy lanes with some nice sunlight.
Thanks Tom for a great ride in the snow!
