To the travel photographer the Netherlands offers a wealth of opportunities, from its beautiful gardens, to its quaint old market towns to beautiful landscapes filled with windmills. It has a lot to offer and what’s more it’s practically on the doorstep for the UK and most of Europe as well. There are plenty of airlines flying to Holland, however for UK photographers (and European ones as well) I suggest taking the car. It gives you so much more freedom and there are plenty of ferry operators to choose from. As for the attractions well I’ll name just a few of the many possibilities.
Keukenhof is, you might say, the Dutch equivalent of Kew Gardens. This 32 hectare park, only open from the 18th of March to the 16th of may, is dedicated to that famous Dutch export the Tulip. In fact it is full of all sorts of bulbs; daffodils, hyacinths and many more as well as thousands of tulips. The park has 15km of trails and it offers amazing photographic opportunities with fields of different coloured flowers. It is well worth visiting Holland in the spring, just so you can make the most of the opportunity.
Keukenhof. Photo by Peter RobinettThere are a lot of beautiful Dutch towns and here I will just name a few of them with their most important attractions. Alkmaar, established in 943, is the cheese capital of Holland. On Fridays from the 2nd of April till the 3rd of September, between 10am and 12.30pm, there is a traditional cheese market, it is an amazing site. The rest of the town has beautiful architecture and canals to give you more photographic opportunities than just the market.
Edam and Volendam are located a stone’s throw away from each other. Edam is the world famous town, that has exported its cheese all over the world and Volendam is one of the only Dutch towns where it is still possible to see people wearing the traditional costume, especially if you go on a national holiday. Both towns have great architecture and are located near the big lake the Ijsselmeer, offering opportunities to photograph some traditional Dutch boats.
Gouda is the other famous cheese town in Holland; it has some nice old buildings. This includes the church of St Jan, which is the longest church in Holland and it has an amazing 70 stain glassed windows. There are also various museums and other exciting buildings.
These are just a few of the wonderful old Dutch towns; there are many others that are worth visiting, Maastricht, Delft, Haarlem to name but a few. I recommend getting the Rough guide to the Netherlands to see what other delightful towns his country has to offer.
The polder landscapes, dissected by waterways and windmills, provide excellent opportunities for landscape photography. In Kinderdijk, not too far from Keukenhof, there are 19 windmills, in 2 opposite rows, these provide great photographic opportunities. Especially on Saturdays in July and August when all the windmills operational. However you don’t need to go to Kinderdijk to see windmills, there are still around 1000 windmills in the Netherlands.
Windmills at Kinderdijk. Photo by Jack VerslootFor wildlife photographers, the Netherlands can also offer some great opportunities; there are lots of water birds, due to the amount of ditches, canals, rivers and lakes. The beaver has also recently been reintroduced in the Biesbosch national park. The Hoge Veluwe, in the middle of the country is the biggest national park (at 5500 hectares) in the Netherlands. Some of the wildlife you might be able to photograph there includes red deer, wild boar, pine martins and the introduced mouflon.
All in all Holland offers some great photographic opportunities and one of the best things about is that is practically on the doorstep for much of Europe.
Hotels Combined can help you find the best Dutch hotel deals.
If travelling from the UK the following ferry services are available.
Harwich-Hook of Holland with StenaLine
Hull to Rotterdam with P&O Ferries
Newcastle to Amsterdam with DFDS
Cheese Market in Alkmaar. Photo by Paul Downey
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Tags: holland, landscape, netherlands, wildlife, windmills
We arrived in San Jose after a gruelling 15 hour flight (including a layover in Atlanta) and headed straight for a hotel near the airport. The next morning we left on our Natureair flight to Puerto Jimenez. The flight to Puerto Jimenez was both beautiful and sad. The beauty of the rainforest and coastline was so nice to see, although those feelings were tinged with sadness as you saw the devastating effects of deforestation. Thankfully large parts of the Osa peninsula (where we were headed) were being preserved both by the Corcovado national park as by private conservationists, often in collaboration with ecolodges. Bosque Del Cabo our ecolodge was one of these, it is a small lodge with accommodation for 40 to 50 guest’s maximum yet it is preserving 700 acres of rainforest. To get to Bosque del Cabo we were picked up at the airport in Puerto Jimenez, where we had to be careful when landing as an old lady pushed her bike across the runway. The trip to Bosque took about an hour and when we got there we were met with a welcome drink. The accommodation was superb, overlooking the pacific ocean and one day we had howler monkeys coming to sleep right outside our bungalow. That was an amazing experience, although they did wake us up at 4am. Fruit trees are planted all around the accommodation area and we saw toucans and Scarlet macaws almost straight away. To be fair the accommodation area and an orchard of fruit trees near the Titi trail seemed to provide the best photographic opportunities as the birds were more in the open. Photographing in the rainforest was quiet difficult as the subjects were usually pretty high up and in the shadows. You really need a flash X-Tender to make the most of the opportunities in the forest.
The highlight of our stay in Bosque del Cabo was seeing a Puma staring at us on the last day. We spent a lot of the time hiking and that gives you the best chance of seeing the wildlife. Should you go there I really recommend the Titi trail as it is furthest away from the accommodation and provides the best opportunity of seeing wildlife.
After we left Bosque we flew to La Fortuna and picked up a rental car and then drove to Leaves and Lizards a great little accommodation with fantastic views of the Arenal Volcano. Unfortunately we hardly saw the volcano as it was usually covered in clouds when we were there. The accommodation was comfortable and also overlooked an area that the owners are looking to reforest. /there were already some mature fruit trees there, which attracted a lot of birds. Overall I was slightly disappointed by the Arenal area it seems to be a real tourist trap centred on the volcano, but the apart from the volcano itself the actual scenery and wildlife was pretty disappointing. It’s good if you’re into zip lining and the like, but I was disappointed with the photographic opportunities. One place I did like was Cano Negro which is a wetland habitat about 1 ½ hours from Arenal. It is teeming with wildlife, primarily birds, but we also saw sloths and monkeys.
From Arenal we drove to Monteverde, don’t believe everything you read the road is perfectly fine to drive, although I do recommend Sat-Nav. Granted we had an SUV, but I’ve driven in worse roads in Canada and the USA. I was again slightly disappointed with Monteverde it is a very dense rainforest and we were there for 2 days and hardly spotted any wildlife. When our guide did spot something good, a snake, it was so far away you need a scope to see it properly. In Monteverde we stayed at Valle Cabanas, which is actually a small coffee farm, it was really nice to stay there and my wife says the coffee is amazing, we brought quite a bit back with us. I would recommend staying there, but the accommodation itself was nothing really special, but was good value.
After we left Monteverde we decided to spend a few days on the Guanacaste coast, we drove to Bahia Hermosa and just chose a hotel which had availability and was near the beach. The beach was lovely and quiet. And we even managed to see some iguanas on the beach.
Overall this holiday was a mixture between a good family holiday and a good photography holiday. If you really want a spectacular wildlife holiday I’d recommend the Pantanal in brazil over Costa Rica, however Costa Rica would be a great compromise destination if you have family members who aren’t just interested in wildlife and photography as it has some great activities that provide fun for all the family.
For external Costa Rica hotel reviews and prices please click here.
Golden Howler Monkey, Cano Negro. Costa Rica
Puma, Bosque Del Cabo. Costa Rica
Tags: cano negro, costa rica, nature, osa peninsula, puma, rainforest, wildlife
Whether you’re embarking on a family vacation or your family reunion, it’s going to be a special time. When we think of trips we’ve taken, we tend to remember them best with photographs. Here’s some ideas to enhance your vacation as well as your memories of them.
Location Preparation
- Since you know where you’re going (that’s a minimum requirement), doesn’t it make sense to check out the location before you get there? Create a list of attractions, accommodations, special points of interest, amusement areas, shopping, etc. A good source to help you do this is: the Places and Travel section of msn.com ( http://groups.msn.com/Browse?CatId=179)
- Figure out the photo opportunities for each appropriate venue. Anyone can take a “that’s nice” picture of the kids at an amusement park. Wouldn’t you rather capture a “WOW” photo that could be hung over the mantle?
- Depending on the location you’re traveling to, you can see what books are written about them that highlight the best photo opportunities for the entire area
- If you’re cyber-savvy, start at www.google.com and search using different combinations of: your destination, best photography locations, for images of the location, scenic spots, etc. The options are endless.
- If you’re off to a non-big city area, scout out the national parks in the area. The great thing about national parks is that the scenery is usually so breathtaking, that a so-so shot looks outstanding, just because of the subject. Once in www.nps.gov, do a search on photos and you will be presented with terrific shots of all the parks
Photography Preparation
OK, you’re either traveling through or you’re at a wonderful location full of photo opportunities. You began this leg of your trip at the crack of dawn and as you’re pulling into the most scenic overlook for 400 miles, the sun is just starting to crack the horizon.
You instinctively pull the car over, grab your camera and your tripod, and look for the best spot to set up. Just one tiny little problem… YOU FORGOT YOUR TRIPOD! Rather than smack yourself on the forehead then, why not plan these things now, before you leave?
Your list should include AT LEAST the following consideration…
- Do I need to repeat – BRING YOUR TRIPOD? It doesn’t take up much room, and as explained at www.best-family-photography-tips.com/tripod-photography.html, tripods allow you to capture entirely new categories of photographs that won’t be possible without one
- Memory. Of course, bring all the memory you have, but also pack your portable storage device (explained at http://www.best-family-photography-tips.com/digital-photography-tutorial.html)
- If your camera has a hot shoe, bring your external flash, and any additional equipment that can be used to help with bounce flash
- Remember your external shutter release cable for those long exposures. How else are you going to get that “angel-hair” look of the waterfalls?
- Don’t forget the basics like: batteries, battery charger, camera bag, and additional lenses and filters (if applicable on your camera)
- And just in case you need it, bring the manuals for your equipment.
Finally, don’t get so wrapped up in taking perfect shots that you don’t enjoy the trip. Remember to use the tripod so that you’ll be in at least some of the photos.
Article courtesy of www.best-family-photography-tips.com, where you can see some sample pictures including more photography tips. Copyright 2005 Robert Bezman. All rights reserved.
Tags: tips
