Liebster Blog Award

This morning I got a suprise from Nelleke from Langius Design. I received the Liebster blog award. Thank you very much Nelleke I will pass it with Love.

This liebster Blog Award should be given to people with less then 200 followers. When you receive this award:

-Thank your giver and place the link to this person on your blog

-You pass the award on to 5 other blogs ( please inform them by leaving a comment on    their blog)

-You hope that the award will be passed on with love.

Ik would like to give the Liebster Blog Award with love to:

- HelderMeer Meer knows how to coach you with using an inspirational writing method

- Kieknou!  a blog with beautiful nature photo's from Jowan.

- Kiekis ! Michel knows how to caputure nature in his own and beautiful way.

- Oefening baart kunst?? De uitdaging! Beautiful nature is challanging Loes to take beautiful pictures.

- MariaKallin Makes beautiful photo's from flowers and beautiful still lifes..

Vanochtend werd ik verrast door Nelleke van Langius Design met een Liebster blog award. Heel erg bedankt Nelleke ik geef hem met liefde weer door. 

De Liebster Blog Award wordt gegeven aan blogs met minder dan 200 volgers. Wanneer je deze award ontvangt:

- Dank je de gever en plaats je een link op je blog

- Geef je de award door aan 5 andere blogs (je laat dat weten via een reactie op hun blog)

- Hoop je dat de award met liefde doorgegeven wordt.

Ik wil graag de Liebster Blog Award met liefde doorgeven aan:

- HelderMeer Meer weet je via een inspirerende schrijfmanier te coachen.

- Kieknou! Een blog met prachtige natuurfoto's van Jowan.

- Kiekis ! Michel weet de natuur op een mooie en eigen manier neer te zetten.

- Oefening baart kunst?? De uitdaging! De mooie natuur daagt Loes uit om te fotograferen.

- MariaKallin Maakt prachtige foto's van bloemen en lifestyle

My prickly friend

Finally snow again. Great.... I hope it will snow some more and that it will stay for a few days. I love it, I love the cold. It's better then rain for me.

Because I heard there was snow coming I decided to work in the garden on Saturday. Everything is dead and hanging on the ground. It really is a mess. I just wanted to cut the long stems and leave the leafs on the ground. A lot of people unfortunately remove all stuff from the ground but you should really leave it there.

Why? .........For the hedgehogs.(egels) Hedgehogs give birth in september, oktober. Not many people know it. So they need the dead leafs for their nests but also during wintertime as a hiding place. That's also why you see a lot of dead hedgehogs on the road during the autumn because this is the time they are going to look for food for their babies. 

And if you see a hedgehog on the road during the day it is almost certain something is wrong. 

Most of the times it is a young hedgehog looking for food. They only walk during the day if they are hungry.... unfortunately that mostly happens when mam didn't return to the nest. So after waiting for a long time they are looking for food on there own. If you see one try to monitor it from a distance to see if there are more. And if you see them check if the mothers around and otherwise bring it to the hedgehog care or give them a call.

They are specialized in this. Many people put milk on a plate for them but that will kill them. So please don't do this. You can give them cat-food. But please do give them milk,give water instead.

So when Saturdaymorning the sun was shining, I put some old clothes on and took my tools and went into the garden. After a while I looked up and saw something moving around in the garden. It was too small for a cat so I looked again and saw a hedgehog walking on the small garden path. I waited a while and when it moved to the house I quickly passed it and took my camera. I didn't want to come close so I took my tele-lens. I went outside again and that was the moment he saw me. It freezed and looked at me. I made myself small by laying on the ground and took some shots. I did it quickly because I didn't want to scare him. I went back in the garden and watched him from a distance. He came back into the garden and went to the neighbors. They always go this side. I didn't follow him but now I am checking every day to see if there are more or see something strange. 

So please if you have a garden be aware of them and leave the old stuf on the ground.

Flower Poem

The past week the weather was a bit better however i did not took my camera on the road but stayed inside to play with my pictures to see what I can do more with it. I wanted to try something different instead of color just for fun. And browsing on the internet I found this beautiful poem and just wanted to share it with you.If you like to see some of my animal portraits in black and white just take a look here.

Song of the Flower XXIII by Khalil Gibran

I am a kind word uttered and repeated 

By the voice of Nature; 

I am a star fallen from the 

Blue tent upon the green carpet. 

I am the daughter of the elements 

With whom Winter conceived; 

To whom Spring gave birth; I was 

Reared in the lap of Summer and I 

Slept in the bed of Autumn. 

At dawn I unite with the breeze 

To announce the coming of light; 

At eventide I join the birds 

In bidding the light farewell. 

The plains are decorated with 

My beautiful colors, and the air 

Is scented with my fragrance. 

As I embrace Slumber the eyes of 

Night watch over me, and as I 

Awaken I stare at the sun, which is 

The only eye of the day. 

I drink dew for wine, and hearken to 

The voices of the birds, and dance 

To the rhythmic swaying of the grass. 

I am the lover's gift; I am the wedding wreath; 

I am the memory of a moment of happiness; 

I am the last gift of the living to the dead; 

I am a part of joy and a part of sorrow. 

But I look up high to see only the light, 

And never look down to see my shadow. 

This is wisdom which man must learn.

 Have a nice weekend!

Painted Reflections on High Water

The past few weeks the weather haven't been that great. It kept on raining every day and lots of wind. So no macrophotography. 

We are living very close to the Waal river and it was rising every day for the past few weeks. We couldn't drive or walk on the low road because it was completely gone. The grass-lands were gone, only the tree tops were above the water.

Since the beginning of last week the water was finally going back again. 

Last monday I had to go on an assignment for photography and the weather was great. I was very lucky. So on my way  back to home I decided to drive along the Waal to see how it was now. The sun was already very low and the water was very smood. Almost no wind, it looked magical. It started with pastel colors because the sun was coming from the side. 

The smooth water gave great reflections like it was a painting and I love that. I waited for the birds to fly over the water surface to make this shot. It was so peacefull.

As I drove further the sun was lowering more and I took some shots right into the sun. I love the warm colours and silhouetshapes. However don't do this on a summerday with hard sunlight. It can damage your camera and your eyes. Airplane stripes were marking the sky.

Further up I saw beautiful pollard willows. Ducks were swimming in front of them. I waited till the sun was shining behind one of the pollard willow to take the shot. Unfortunately I didn't have my filters with me, that would have dimmed the hard contrast of the sun more. 

All the water you see below on the picture with the bridge on the horizon is normally grassland.

At this moment it's already grassland again. It lowered very fast past week. 

For the picture below I played with the colours in Lightroom to get a more painted feeling

and old look.  

It was a great way to end the day.

Autumn Memories

First of all the very best wishes to you all. I hope you had a great time with christmas and New Years evening with the ones you love. And that you may have lots dreams of inspirations for this year.

The past few weeks I didn't have any time or chance to take new pictures. The weather wasn't helping either. Rain, Rain and more rain was falling down. The whole garden is soaking. So that's why I jumped in my archive again. Too many pictures and it is time to sort them out. Last year was a really great year. I have seen nice places. For the first time I photographed toadstools and I really loved it.
And some of my pictures were placed in magazines. So a great year. See at the media page. And my first small exhibition is showing 15 photo's at the fysiotherapie bergstraat at Amersfoort till march. http://paintedbylight.blogspot.com/p/exposities.html

As ever I want to learn a lot in photography. That will never stop. So I hope to go out soon again with the camera. Till then I just show you some more shots from last year.

In the Autumn I went to the Posbank a beautiful place. The ferns were all dried out but still beautiful in the sunlight. It looks like they were glowing in gold.

And of course there were enough toadstools as well.

I also went to the Remmerden Heide near Rhenen. Early in the morning with the dew still on the toadstools.

I hope you enjoyed watching my autumn memories. See you next time.