Amsterdam Canals, Bridges and Rooftops

Yesterday was our second day in Amsterdam and it was a hot one at 26°C.

We had a late start after the late night of photography on Tuesday. We actually returned to some of the locations from Tuesday so that I could re-take them with blue sky and a few clouds.

Jan dragged my camera case, in cities I use a Peli 1510 wheelie case. It easily holds my 2 Mamiya 7 cameras and 4 lenses.

If I had known Amsterdam had mostly cobbled and brick streets which make dragging a case difficult I would probably have used my usual carry case and a rucsac.

I've taken 16 rolls of Ilford FP4 120 film so far. Hopefully a few more today but more clouds.

We walked miles. Most of the good shots were in the south and west. It was dull in the centre when we were there.

I took quite a few rooftops with the short telephoto, 150mm lens. I don't often use it but it was good for these.

Last of all I wanted to repeat the bridge shots from Tuesday. It was too dark when we reached the best location and I wanted more detail in the buildings behind the bridges.

The bridge and street lights came on at about 10.30pm. It was a lighter evening than Tuesday so I could take the shots I wanted and have more detail in the shadows.

Another late night, finishing after midnight. I much prefer doing night shots in the winter, I can start at 4pm and be finished by 6pm!

Today the forecast was for clouds and it's sunny. A bonus day!

Amsterdam Day and Night

We are on a short photo trip to Amsterdam. It's quite a few years since I was last here but Jan had meetings here in 2011.

It was an early start yesterday to catch the 7am from Manchester. The day was mixed with some sunshine in the afternoon, the odd shower of rain and quite a lot of cloudy periods.

Mostly the shots were of the canals and their bridges, with a few buildings thrown in for good measure. Lots of walking in warm humid weather.

Jan found us a very nice restaurant that she knew then, at 10am, it was time to start the night photography as it was starting to go dark.

I had several canal bridge shots lined up but all but one weren't lit up fully. They all have strings of light bulbs outlining the bridge but quite a few were unlit. One of the problems of not being able to do night photography until most people are in bed! Not many boats moving around after 10pm so not much need for illuminated bridges.

We finished about midnight. Round 2 today. Overcast now so I will look for smaller bits in the landscape and keep the big views for when the sun comes out later.

Will try and find some wifi too so that I can pick up emails and post this to my blog. In Starbucks with free wifi so fingers crossed this goes.