Two days ago I introduced myself here on Hive, I told something about myself, where I live and a bit about my photography.
Since I got such a warm welcome after my first post and a my post even got curated I like to tell you something more about the place I live in, Arnhem, the Netherlands.
City of Arnhem seen from Sonsbeek park, looking south.
Arnhem
The city of Arnhem is the capital of the province of Gelderland. One of the largest provinces in the Netherlanders. This province is in the mid- eastern part of the country and borders with Germany. The city has a rich and long history but is probably most known for it's bridge that played a crucial part near the ending of the second world war. The famous "Bridge too far" is the bride over the river Rijn south of the city.
The bride too far on a foggy morning in November.
History
During the liberation of Europa the allied forces stumbled upon heavy German defenses in the city of Arnhem. A massive airborne operation including Canadian, British and Polish paratroopers, was launched. The operation eventually failed and took many lives. The allied forces had no choice to continue east into Germany. Half a year later the war was over and big parts of Arnhem were rebuild.
Although you might think the battle of Arnhem was a deception, it is still extensively remembered every year by the citizens of Arnhem and the Dutch in general. There are many memorial sites in the surroundings of Arnhem and yearly many people come to Arnhem to remember. Including many veterans and relatives from all over the world.
Airborne War Cemetery.
Nature
Arnhem is the only city in the Netherlands that actually has some hills. Mostly in the northern part that stretches into the biggest national park of the Netherlands, called: De Veluwe. National park De Veluwe reaches into the city center, and that part was made into a city park, called Sonsbeek park.
Sosnbeek park.
Photography
As mentioned in my introduction, I started photography in 2018. And most of my first pictures I made, like most of us, in the surroundings of my house and city. And since the city of Arnhem has a lot to offer in both history as nature I had plenty of options to explore. That doesn't mean it was easy though. ;-) But eventually I started to understand my camera better and learned to capture what I intended to capture. I think that's an important part of learning photography. Being able to capture what you intent to capture.
Foggy morning in national park: De Veluwe
Common pitfall and learning photography.
I believe a common pitfall when starting photography is thinking that your surroundings have nothing interesting to offer. It's all dull, nothing interesting to shoot here.. Believe me, I thought the same about Arnhem. But it is not that your surroundings are dull and uninteresting, its you not able to see yet. Photography is about seeing differently than you did before. And because you see differently then others, your pictures become interesting to others. I strongly believe that in every city or town or village interesting photo's can be made. It's just about looking differently to that place, looking for the light, shadows, depth, color, contrast ect. And yes, it keeps to be a challenge to do that and find the interesting images, but that's also what makes it so much fun to do!
Blue hour in Arnhem
A bridge too far, Arnhem.
To wrap it up
This is my city, it's history and it's surroundings. My journey in photography started here. I believe everybody can learn photography in their own city and surroundings. The trick is to see differently that you did before. And if you're able to capture what most of us overlook, your photography becomes interesting. And that is when the fun starts! Let me know what you think.
Best Thijs.