1st day of christmas on the beach

[Michiel de Brieder]

Dear friends,

we don't celibrate christmas at our house because of a family accident some years ago.... Well, I won't bother you with that, but my mother and I went down to my mothers' birthcity and we took a nice long walk along the beach. Of course I took my camera with me and here are some of the shots I took:
http://www.pbase.com/giel/image/37933078.jpg
kite-surfing:
http://www.pbase.com/giel/image/37906890.jpg
A windmill:
http://www.pbase.com/giel/image/37908411.jpg
a picture shot into the sun.. I like it :D
http://www.pbase.com/giel/image/37908213.jpg
The big peer of Scheveningen (as this place is called):
http://www.pbase.com/giel/image/37944632.jpg
I hope you like them and if you want to view some more photos (I have a very nice large pano up in the gallery) please take a look at the entire gallery:
http://www.pbase.com/giel/scheveningen_2004
So I hope you enjoyed coming in.
Regards

[Thiago Sigrist]

the three last pictures on your post are *da bomb*, IMHO!

Especially #4... I think it's foggy, hazy, moody look is quite special.

Lovely work!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Take care!

-- thiago

[gus]

Great stuff michiel. Deep colours :thumb

A lot of kite surfing here but not with my 3x :cry

3,4 & 5 are amazing

[Nir]

Great set! I too like the 3rd best! Its a special shot!

[Ann McRae]

Great shots Michiel. I particularly like the last three.

Yesterday, it was -20C here, and there were some folks kite skiing on a freeway construction site near my house. I didn't brave the cold nor the police to get close enough to photograph them! Tragically, during a freak windstorm a week or two ago, a fellow that was kite skiing on a frozen lake was killed. Extreme sports are not my thing, but they must be compelling for those that do them in those extremes.

ann

[Dee]

a picture shot into the sun.. I like it :D
http://www.pbase.com/giel/image/37908213.jpg
The big peer of Scheveningen (as this place is called):
http://www.pbase.com/giel/image/37944632.jpg
Regards

I like these two the most, the big peer because I've never seen anything like that before. What kind of peer is it?

[Michiel de Brieder]

Thanks Thiago,

the weather was excellent for shooting! Lot's of light even @ f/5.6 (70-200 f/4 + TC) I could get some really fast shutter times @ ISO 100, and 400 was a killer :D

Thanks for dropping in!!

[Michiel de Brieder]

Thanks so much 'gus!! I had to take the surfers on at 200mm + 1.4 TC :D it worked out okay, but they were quite close to the beach so that helped!!

Nice of you to drop in!

[Michiel de Brieder]

Thanks Nir :D I really like it myself!!

[Michiel de Brieder]

Hey Ann!!

Thanks for the kind comments! I must say, I'm very much intrigued by the Kite skiing thing.. I'd really love to try sometime.. in warmer weather of course :wink it was 4 degrees celcius, but there was a strong wind..

Thanks for dropping in!

[Michiel de Brieder]

What kind of peer is it? I've done a little research for you :D And this peer was actually built as a walkway in 1898 to accompany a bathhouse built in 1818 (some pictures of the bathhouse are here: http://scheveningen.fol.nl/kurhaus.htm , the text is dutch but the photos speak for themselves I think :D)
Some pictures of the old walkway and the modern peer can be found here: http://scheveningen.fol.nl/pier.htm the text is dutch again, but the pics are okay :wink
Here's a photo I took of the bathhouse (It's called "Het Kurhaus")
http://www.pbase.com/giel/image/38054186.jpg
It's not the best photo of the outing but hey, it illustrates the story :D
here's some history translated from the page about the peer:
1901 - the peer is officially opened by Prince Hendrik
1943 - after a fire in "Café-Variété" (on the walkway) the walkway is partially destroyed
1948 - The first designs for the actual new peer are being made
1955 - The old remains of the walkway are taken away
1959 - the building of the new peer was started
(381 meter length, and a towerheight of 45)
1961 - the opening of the new Peer by the late Prince Bernard
1993 - the start of renovations on the peer
Thanks for dropping in Dee! And kudos on the Calendar it is awesome!!!!