HOLLAND | KLM's Capturing Dreams: The Photographs

Friday, December 30, 2011

The Royal Dutch Airline working with Digital Photographer Philippines and Lonely Planet Philippines launched a photo exhibit a month ago featuring the works of four photographers showcasing the Land of Windmills and Tulips. A week of the exhibit was devoted for my work along with multi-faceted photographer Joel H. Garcia during our amazing seven-day stint shooting The Netherlands.

Aptly titled Capturing Dreams, please allow me to share my humble contributions that graced KLM’s exhibit walls at the RCBC Plaza a few weeks ago.

The first day of shooting was held at The Hague where we were based for the whole week. We roamed its brick-paved streets, passing innumerable old-world structures that I’ve only seen in books. The afternoon was spent chasing windmills along the windswept rural parts of the region. I have to pinch myselft that I really was in Europe.

The busy city of Amsterdam was the next day’s agenda. I was shocked with the flood of people along its streets after coasting along the easy streets of The Hague but still found beauty along its narrow alleys and romantic canals. We also passed through the city’s Red Light District through a gallery of sultry live girls but since I don’t want my camera thrown down the canals by bouncers, I held off shooting.

The morning of the third day found me walking alone and chilled to the bone by an almost zero-degree temperature on a two-hour trail along the Dunes of The Hague before proceeding to the university town of Leiden. The small town was simply beautiful, combining the architecture and canals of Amsterdam and the laid back atmosphere of The Hague, I can walk its streets nonstop and not get tired one bit.

Roadtrip was the keywords for our fourth day. We visited the port town of Volendam, sped through its massive dam, and visited the quiet fishing village of Urk before heading back through the wind turbine laden highway to The Hague. Numerous roadstops and drive by shootings were the order of the day.

The weather turned sour by our fifth day but we didn’t let it dampen our spirit. With cameras wrapped in plastics, we jumped out into the modern city of Rotterdam and photographed its famed bridges and museums. I chanced upon a brick gothic cathedral as we wound our way back to The Hague, unfortunately, like all the church I've seen here, its doors were also closed.

Sunshine greeted us on our last day of shooting. This time we’re gonna photograph one of the oldest castles at Voorschoten, the Duivenvoorde Castle. Joel had his hands full with two gorgeous Dutch models and I had the landscapes surrounding the castle all by myself. The autumn leaves combined with the low afternoon sun made everything golden and dreamlike. The last few rays of sunset was spent at the Scheveningen beach where we’ve been itching to shoot in golden light since the day we arrived.

Seven days was way too short to cover everything around Holland even with our hectic pace; we hardly slept, barely rested, have absolutely no time for R&R's and looked like hell after the week was through but we absolutely thoroughly onehundredpercently enjoyed capturing the dream that is The Netherlands.

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19 comments

  1. Eto na yun eh!! Idol.. hahaha!
    Gusto ko yung picture nung Netherlands Photo Museums..
    Nice shooting at shapes.

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  2. Galing talaga . . . . . Nice one Idol

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  3. busog na busog ako sa blog mo, Christian. pictures pa lang! thanks for posting them! excited na ako sa byahe. paturo ako sa'yo master! (sana libre lang. hehehe)

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  4. that such a short trip would deliver such a wealth of photos.

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  5. The first photo is just lovely. How I long to walk alone in a place like that. =)

    Thanks for sharing us these photos and your stories. And at least kahit na sumama ang panahon ay nakapag-shoot pa rin kayo! Iba talaga kapag determinadong makapag-shoot. Hahaha.

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  6. Panalo ang photos! Ang galing! Not your usual travel photos! congrats again, bro!

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  7. kainggit! we want to travel Europe, too!
    love the panoramic and black & white shots!
    Happy New Year! here's to more trips! Cheers! =)

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  8. This is one of my dream destinations. Way to go sir!

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  9. wow! i actually saw the ones in RCBC during the blog awards. congratulations again Christian! cheers to more years and great photos in 2012.

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  10. All of the pictures are superb... you took everything what Netherlands are being dream to be capture! Happy 2012!

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  11. Simurgh
    Ayan, para sa mga di mga nakapunta sa exhibit, at least kahit maliit na pics eh masilayan nyo man lang :)

    Jaime
    Thanks pre! Set up mo na photowalk natin sa Malabon!

    SoloflightEd
    Nyaha anong master? Pantay pantay lang naman tayo brad :)

    Pinoy Wandering Boy
    Thank you!

    Eli van Ingen
    It's really quite easy to photograph a beautiful country like the Netherlands sir Ely :)

    Robbie
    Di kasi ako marunong ng model shoot kaya nagawi ako jan sa lugar na yan hehe

    The Pinoy Explorer
    Thanks bro!

    MarLiesTravels
    Uy fave ko rin yung panoramic black and white!

    Joniphilippines
    no comment din! hehe joke lang, thanks pre!

    Byron
    Thanks man! Sana pabalikin kami ng KLM dun haha

    Dong Ho
    Oo nga sayang, di pa yung photos namin naka display nung time na yun eh :)

    Ian
    Thanks Ian! :)

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  12. Thank you for the share pards. your works always surprise us with a bang! :)

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  13. Kelangan matuto!

    Willing model here. =)) Charot lang. COngrats again and Happy New Year! :D

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  14. like what i've said before favorite ko talaga ang mga puno shots haha. wish I can experience autumn as well ang kulay kasi...siguro for now eyeing S. Korea para sa dream kong yan...

    congrats again!

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  15. Ben
    Salamat pre!

    Robbie
    Haha okay!

    Supertikoy
    Uy ako nga rin medyo tumitingin tingin sa S.Korea hehe

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  16. Shattered Shutter
    I'm glad my photos inspire you bro :)

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