As the summer begins to wain, I finally returned to the capital.... and promptly left again! Going straight from a busy year studying graduate-entry medicine to a full time summer job and straight back to year two was perhaps a bit ambitious, so I decided a mini-break was in order!
I am fortunate enough to have family recently moved to the Netherlands in a beautiful area between the Hague and Amsterdam. To compliment the scenery the sun also turned out for a one day performance between fronts of rain - thank goodness I decided to take my camera with all its frills/lenses attached!
So, to business. It may be a new location for my blog photos, but the usual subjects came out in force. They put on a good show for me to practise with some new toys too - I recently went on a filter splurge and have a shiny new circular polarising filter for my 70-300mm lens. Im very much learning as I go with this one, but it is already showing its worth in adding extra quality to shots over water.
These two shot of a coot in flight and a fishing grebe were taken from a boat on a beautiful lake. It was quite windy and the choppy water adds a lovely depth to the shots.
The gem of today, however, did not come in bird form. Early in the morning, I walked out of the house and caught a glint out of the corner of my eye. A dragonfly was hanging in the midst of a bamboo hedge in full sun. Que a surge of over-excitement and a dash for my camera. Snap-snap-snap-snap. I had a field day, the dragonfly was most obliging and hung motionless throughout. I even had time to dash inside to replace my 70-300mm lens with my father's Nikkor macro lens and snap a couple in incredible crispness with this fantastic bit of kit. All in all I was a very happy photographer :)
ps - Ive been trying to Identify this dragonfly but to no avail. If anyone has an idea please let me know!
