photo session in the forest

Last week I asked my sister if she woud like to visit the forest with me, so I could take pictures there. It was a very warm day but we thought the temperatures wouldn't be that warm in the woods because of the shadows... which was actually not true - it was warm everywhere.
Before I start a photo dsession I always look for a little inspiration first. I have my own style in photography and creativity but I always love to find new ideas.
For some of the pictures I used inspiration from Lieke Romeijn, one of my favorite photographers.
I also like to create an inspirational moodboard on my tumblr which you can see here.

It was on a wednesday afternoon, so despite some parents with their children there were not many people there. Which was good I think - I love quiet places.
In between the two parts of the forest there is a heather field so we also went to the heath.
We also found a very fork-shaped tree, which I climbed with some help of Sanne. She took a photo of that but..., that one is for my private life photo collection hihi...

I'd like to share some of the pictures we took there, I will not post all of them because I like to save some of them for my instagram posts/stories...
My sister took the pictures with me on it, I took the pictures of her. Which is obvious, I think.
But hopefully you'll like them.

there were so many pinecones!

a good day to you all,

Sasja

plans for this summer

• sending out some snail mail packages to Claudia from Austria and Lotte from Belgium
• hopefully pass my driving test in a few weeks.. I can't wait to drive all by myself even though I took a 4 month break from my lessons this year
• going to France 
• maybe design a new clothing piece for Fonty design team - any suggestions?
• run at least 3 times a week, 5-6 km each time. i have been doing this for a while this spring, but sadly i have a knee injury now so i can't run as fast as i like to at the moment
• take a lot of photo's for this blog and instagram 
• doing a photoshoot for something i can't say too much about just yet
• photographing the stars - again yes
• collect more flowers to pick
• find a wicker basket in a second hand shop! i've been looking for one for a while already but haven't found a good one so far.

This week I will visit the thriftshop again to look for a basket and also a bag for my camera. I will also visit the library, edit some photo's and prepare the lesson for saturday's childrens church service. And last but not least, taking driving lessons. 

my sister walking on the trees in the forest yesterday 

I'm sure there's much more to happen this summer since I dont really live a strict planned life, which is fine to me. I'm not very good at keeping a strict schedule in life, I just see what comes and goes day by day - life is full of surprises.

What are you special plans for this summer?

Sasja

trying out astrophotography

A couple of years ago, on 28 september 2015, there was a lunar eclipse visible here in the Netherlands, so I set my alarm around 3 or 4 in the morning and went outside. Back then I didn't use a tripod nor the manual settings of my system camera. Eventually the pictures turned out very hazy, there was movement visible and I couldn't really even see the red moon. I was very dissapointed and a little upset because it didn't work out while I knew that it must have been possible tot take clear pictures of this special moment. In the end I went to bed again that morning, without any pictures of the lunar eclipse.

After this happened I wouldn't expect it to succeed again, let alone taking good pictures of the starry sky.

But - it happened, and I'm glad it all worked out! On friday night I set an alarm on 1.30 in the morning to take pictures of the stars. But, before I forget to mention this, I spend a couple of hours before that night to research which settings to use to take pictures of a starry sky.

I found out that I absolutely needed to use a tripod (which I have, luckily). I also needed a bright nightsky without any clouds, and when I checked the weather forecast on my phone I saw that it would be bright on friday night. And you also need a camera where you can manually edit the settings (which is most likely always a DSLR or a system camera).

About the settings: there is never one standard setting I can give you for a certain situation, because every situation, especially in nature, is always differnt. Sometimes there's more light than other times, but it also depends on the quality of your camera.

My sister suggested to go outside together, so we did, on friday night on 1.30. I was very tired but it was worth it all!

I know the pictures are probably not as sharp or perfect as you can see in magazines or on photography websites, but I consider myself a beginner still so I'm happy with these results.

I'm already checking the weather forecast on my phone everyday again to see if there will be a bright night sky soon (the days are very bright and hot at the moment, around 35 degrees, a heat wave), but the nights are somehow a little cloudy. So hopefully the stars will be shining soon again for us.

It's so incredibly warm at the moment... this afternoon I'll be going for a lovely swim again (already went twice this week hihi).

Here I will share the pictures I took, feel free to ask more about the way it was all done.

For all of these pictures I used a shutterspeed of 5 seconds and an ISo of 800.
I used my 50mm analog Olympus lens on my Canon 600D with f2/8

I hope you will enjoy the warm summer days (and the cold winter days for the people from the other side of the world...)

Sasja

photo session behind the house

A little documentary about a small one hour photo session with my youngest brother. I'm reading so much information about camera settings online and photographing in certain circumstances, so I can earn as much knowledge as I can. And ofcourse practice it everyday since I received my new camera.
I was planning on going to the forest today with my sister but she couldnt'go with me due to a headache so I asked my brother if he was okay with me taking pictures of him, I am glad he was.
Today I practiced getting the right focus on the eyes in portraits, and he also took some pictures of me after me showing him how to use the manual focusing ring and the right composition.

We went to one of my favorite spots to take pictures, behind a very old barn. I don't believe anyone ever really comes there, I hope it's not someone's backyard but I'm pretty sure it's not ha...
At the moment there are many little pink flowers growing there and still white blossoms on the trees, which I really enjoy looking at and photographing ofcourse. This place is only a few hundred meters behind my house so it's only a few minute walk to reach.
I respect my brothers privacy, which is why I am not posting pictures of his face here. I hope you will enjoy the others anyway.

We took more pictures during the photo session but I will post those on my instagram soon.

have a lovely day,
Sasja

a new camera and a thunderstorm

As I am writing this post the rain is pouring and the thunderstorm is roaring. A few times a minute I can see the lightning through my window, lighting up my bedroom. And the street is full of water. 
It’s June - the temperatures are warm but  are usually saying goodbye with a thunderstorm as their final waves. I’m not worrying about it though, as it will be warm weather soon again in the weekend. And beside that, I love thunderstorms.

I’m not here to write about the weather though, but about my new treasure, my new camera. I just love it so much. In fact, I ordered it last thursday and when the postman didn’t show up the next day it was really working on my nerves since I can be very impatient sometimes, especially when waiting for something I really want to have so badly. I got it on saturday though so I’ve got nothing to complain about...
I ordered the Canon 600d DSLR camera. I never used a DSLR before - all pictures I ever posted on my instagram were taken with my System compact camera, the Canon sx40hs. And although I’m thankful I could use it for all these years, I really felt the urge to get myself a new one after four years. My old camera didn’t give my the results I exactly wanted to have which led to frustration and the feeling of a missing link. I absolutely wanted a camera that could switch lenses and my old camera doesn't have that possibility.
If I’m honest I had no idea where to start looking for when I researched buying a DSLR because there are so many types of them..! So I decided to read a FAQ of one of my favorite photographers, Gingerlillytea, and found out what camera she uses, and decided to get myself the same camera as hers because I was sure that one could take good photographs. As long as I would be as creative as she is though. Yes, I know it’s not a very professional research but I can be very impulsive sometimes and often follow my first impression instead of analyzing it over and over again (which is absolutely not giving me a positive outcome sometimes!)
But in this case it was positive and I’m glad I ordered the camera I wanted to get in the first place.

I decided to use two old analog Olympus lenses that were getting dusty somewhere under by bed, and give them a new life. I’m using an adapter to attach the analog lenses (a 50mm and a 70-210mm) to my camera. The negative side about this (I think?) is because the autofocus doesn’t work because of the adapter. But at the other hand it’s probably good because it forces me to use the manual functions which will make me practice it more automatically instead of switching over to the auto function.

The 50mm lens is so beautiful... It has a lovely depth of field and bokeh as well. I especially want to use it for portraits mostly. Sometimes it’s a little hard getting the focus right in some situations though, especially when I use the 1.8F opening. I know I can also use a smaller diafragma but I’m not so sure which shutter speed to use in combination with that diafragma. To make a long story short: I have to practice a lot. I can't tell so much about the 70-210mm lens because I only took a few pictures with this lens. The 50mm is my favorite so far because it's a very lightweighting lens as well.
Personally I think that the most difficult thing to think about while shooting manually with your DSLR is actually picking the right shutter speed. If you have much knowledge about picking the right shutterspeed or any other advice, please contact me because I would love to learn all of these things.
I will share some pictures with you here, pictures I took with my new camera, mostly with the 50mm 1.8 olympus lens. As you can see some of them (the sheep picture for example) aren't 100 percent sharp on the focusing point but I'm a beginner with this gear.., so it's alright I suppose.

Thank you for taking the time to read and I wish you all a lovely day,

Sasja

our trip to Siegen, Germany

In the nineteen years that I exist I visited a few countries - Belgium, France, Spain and a few days ago I also went to Germany. I had never been there before so it was a whole new experience to me although we only stayed there in our hotel for one day. I noticed that I saw literally no person riding a bike there, which is very strange to us Dutch people - as Dutch cities are crowded with cyclists.
For the ones who might wonder... My sister and I went there for a concert, not for a holiday. So enjoying the surroundings behind my car window was really a bonus to me. And the other bonus was coincidentally running into my favorite singer Alex Pappas from the band before the show... by the shopping center in Siegen. And talking to him for ten minutes.

We actually didn't go into the woods and over the hills because sadly there was no time left for that. But in our 4 hour drive to Siegen I actually got a few chances to take some pictures of the surroundings which I would love to share.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I was still very young when I visited France and Spain. Still a small child. recently I told a friend of mine that I am really dreaming of going to the France countryside someday, and this particular dream seems to come true very soon in July or August. Hopefully I will be able to take some lovely pictures there as well.

Now I will show the moments I captures on our way to Siegen. It's so special to see the landscapes change as you are driving through different countries!

have a lovely day,

Sasja

tin whistle, the irish instrument

As some of you may know, I play tin whistle. A lovely irish flute instrument. Since about one and a half year - and I love it. I'm writing this post because, after posting a few video's of some tin whistle songs of instagram, people started to wonder what kind of instrument it is and if they could also start to play it.

The answer is yes, definitely yes. Tin whistle is probably one of the easiest instruments in the world, and you can even play it if you can't read sheet music. 

Before telling you about the possibilities of tin whistle, I will tell you a bit about the little instrument first. 

The tin whistle is a six holed woodwind instrument. Don't confuse them with recorders - tin whistles are cheaper, more lightweighed and easier to play. They are very cheap - you can already get a good quality one for about 10 euro's. The most common key used for tin whistles is the key of D, but they are available in many more keys. You can play (irish) folk music, but also classical songs with tin whistle. In fact, the well known Titanic and Lord of the Rings soundtracks are full of tin whistle music. 

The reason why you can play tin whistle without reading sheet music, is because there are many "tin whistle tabs" to find on the internet. In fact, there are quite some people who can play by ear as well. Which is basically: listening to a song several times and playing along with the tin whistle without reading sheet music. 

It is useful though, to be able to read sheet music. But if you really can't seem to learn it, there is always the possibility of playing without reading sheet music. 

I can read sheet music but I mostly play by ear if I'm honest. 

I personally own a Clarke whistle in D and a clarke whistle in C which you can purchase here. These were the first whistles I ever owned. If I am honest: I would not recommend buying these as your first whistle as they require a lot of air. The clarke sweetone is more suitable for a beginner. 

I also own a low D Tony Dixon (a low whistle is one octave lower than a normal tin whistle. they have a very low mellow dreamy sound).

My Bb Generation whistle is probably one of my favorite and cheapest whistles. 

Most people like to play traditional irish songs on their whistle, but personally I prefer playing classical or slower (celtic) songs on them. 

At the moment I love to play Adrian von Ziegler's music, e.g. Moonsong 

Another song I play often and learned to play by this tin whistle tab tutorial is Valley of the Wolves.

Would you ever try to play tin whistle?

Have a lovely day

Sasja