Category Archives: Sony A7iii

Road trip to Brugge

It’s been yet another strange year. It was filled with fewer dramatic shocks but with more sustained anxiety levels. I can confidently say I wasn’t alone in that, at least not outwardly. The internal ruminations were more active than ever, partly attributed to shit tons of therapy.
Yet another lockdown (I’ve lost count) was imposed in the country around Christmas time. This is the time enjoy the festive vibes that other people give, more than celebrating it (which I don’t). So all I wanted to do was just sit in a cosy cafe or a bar and see people. Luckily, some close friends agreed to jump on a drive towards Brugge.

I’ve been to Brugge probably a dozen times; the town was pretty as ever and quiet as never. It was a shame that most cafes were closed. And I enjoyed it just the same.
After a long hiatus from the camera, I managed to take some pictures and had moderate success shooting my favourite freelensing style.

We started by walking along the cobblestone streets.

The square at the center was devoid of loud parties and only had people casually strolling about.

The lights suspended the place in time and space, or so I felt. However the daylight proceeded to wane past us oblivious to my feelings.

Lit Christmas trees transforming into surreal bokeh in the pictures had me feeling nostalgic.

A note “A world without covid-19” hung on a wish-tree gave us a chuckle.

We sat by a cafe for some hot drinks as the night dawned and the winter chills took hold. 5:30pm felt like it was 9pm as we slowly started our long drive back to Amsterdam

Winterparadijs

Christmas is here, which means lots of fun markets and fairs, which translates to expensive food, shitty drinks, random music but good company of friends and excellent opportunity for capturing some photos. That last two bits usually makes braving the cold on a weekend afternoon, quite worthwhile.

Winterparadijs event is one of the largest that happens in Amsterdam and despite me living in this city for almost 7 years, its the first time I ended up there.

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Spottersplaats

It literally just that a spotters place, for spotting airplanes, near the Schiphol Airport. This particular spot is right beside the westernmost 18R/36L runway of the Schiphol Airport, which also happens to be the longest.

Every time my father visits me, we make it a point to go visit and often. Armed with my favorite lens (135mm f2) and the camera (Sony A7iii), I set out to capture some night shots

What sets this place apart is the proximity to the runway, with a little fence and a moat to separate, while being just a stone’s throw away. Such a lax and relaxed existence around airports is quite an unimaginable sight either in India or the US.

I particularly enjoyed watching people watch airplanes and capturing the silhouettes they cast

The sight of the airport infrastructure twinkling in the night on the horizon had a pretty dystopian feel to it.

Sunny Sunday in Amsterdam

It was a sunny day. After vegetating for most of the weekend, I decided to step out and cycle around for few hours exploring some of my favorite spots and discovering some new ones.

Reeds with the advent of spring have found themselves growing out of their oblivion. I never get tired of taking pictures of them.

I proceeded to bike towards the sluice locks Oranjesluizen, which connects river Ij with Buiten-Ij. I discovered that it has been around for close to 150 years (opened in 1872).

The red bridge Schellingwouderbrug stood out separating the deep blues on either sides of the horizon today.

What surprised me further was the fact that the water level towards the inland was much higher than Ij.

I leisurely biked around, exploring the dijks on the other side of the sluice locks. The house boats, all bunched up looked exceptionally pretty

The underbelly of Schellingwouderbrug looked quite dramatic and so stopped to capture few shots. I then took the ramp on the right to get onto the bridge itself.

After crossing the bridge, I followed onto Zuiderzeeweg and reached a spot near camping zeeburg. I often pass by this area when I am commuting to work on bike. Today I took time to stop by and explore

Then sunny backdrop was quite deceiving and it was quite cold all throughout my ride. My fingers were going numb and so I decided to call it a day started to circle back home.