Inge Thinks...

I know that you are not much of a birthday person. I jump up and down when it’s still days away, but to you it is nothing more than just another 365 days around the sun. But to me, birthdays are important and so is your birthday. And though I can’t be with you today, and you probably won’t feel very much like a birthday boy: today is the day that you turned 18! Eight and ten, the year of change. You’re officially ‘grown-up’ now, you’re officially studying medicine at a university and you are, which I know you love, allowed to vote. All these cool things that you suddenly are allowed to do, all these people seeing you as an actual grown-up, that’s really awesome.

So enjoy! And be grateful for the years that you have been given already. The wonderful years, and especially that last one. Count your blessings and see that they are actually too much to count. Eighteen years of blessings, eighteen years of laughter, joy, happiness, wonder, gratefulness, togetherness and eighteen years of love, and I hope – so many more of these years to come (:

Happy birthday, sweet Joshua. I love you <3

[click the photo for a bigger view]

‘God, who hung the northern sky and suspended the earth on empty space.
God stores water in clouds, but they don’t burst, and he wraps them around
the face of the moon. On the surface of the ocean, God has drawn a boundary line
between light and darkness. And columns supporting the sky tremble at his command.
By his power and wisdom, God conquered the force of the mighty ocean.
The heavens became bright when he breathed, and the escaping sea monster
died at the hands of God.

These things are merely a whisper of God’s power at work.’

- Job 26

Wow. Amen.

This time I was interviewed by the sweet Maria from the site Photographic Project, which is, again, Spanish. Though the interview was originally in English, they translated it for their Spanish readers. But I don’t speak Spanish and I guess you guys don’t either, so here’s the original text in English:

1 – How did you begin in Photography?
How I started in photography.. Well, I guess that was about two years ago. My dad bought a Nikon D50 around that time and I figured I’d give it a try. I really liked it, joined Flickr and tons of people started telling me that I really had a talent, so, I continued until it really became my most favourite thing to do! : )

2 – How do you define your work?
Wow, that’s a difficult one! My goal in photography is always to picture the things that people usually don’t see. That little flower by the side of the road that you would’ve walked past without noticing if you hadn’t seen my photo. I want to take pictures of things and make them beautiful, make people amazed by God’s amazing creation! So the goal of my photos is showing beauty and I do that by mostly using vivid colours and a whole ton of bokeh, haha. So the definition of my photography would be, using Coldplay’s words, life in technicolour!

3 – Which picture would you like to take you haven’t yet?
Ohh I soooo badly want to take a picture of a beautiful girl with a ton of freckles in a yellow field when the sun is setting. That is my biggest photography dream right now, haha. Sadly enough, we don’t have golden fields here in Holland :/

4 – What’s the best photographic advice that you have received? What would be your best advice to us?
Ehm, advice. I really can’t remember that, actually. My advice would be, don’t try to find extraordinary subjects but try to make something simple extraordinary. You don’t need gigantic churches, golden fields or journeys to a far away country for good photos, a good photographer can make an amazing photo of the grass in his backyard, for example.

5 – Which photographers inspire you?
So many of ‘em! My greatest inspiration is and has been Katrina though. The light in her pictures always challenges me to look for that golden sunflare everywhere. And also Siebe Warmoeskerken and Natalie Franke are really awesome.

You can see the entire interview, with pictures, here at Photographic Project.

I can feel it. It’s in the air, it’s everywhere. When I wake up in the morning the sun is already up high in the sky (and that’s not because I wake up late!) and I hear birds everywhere. When I go outside I’m greeted by a flow of warm air that swirls around me, wraps me up in sweet scents and leaves me speechless. Summer is really here. The ice creams (yay!), long afternoons at the park with my boyfriend, the tanning in the backyard, the big glasses of icy cold water and the smell of sunscreen, hmm.

But I knew for sure that summer was here when I grabbed my camera, an hour or two ago, jumped on my bike and cycled for five minutes, arriving at the small forest just outside my hometown. The sun trickled through the fresh green leaves of the trees and the ground was covered with amazing amounts of tiny little flowers, plants and weeds. I sank to my knees in amazement and an hour later I found myself lying on the ground, covered in insect bites and scratches, with over 400 photos on my camera.

When I biked home I felt so full of God’s amazing creation and His glorious works that I couldn’t help but singing, with strange looks of a few people as a result. That feeling, that feeling of joy, of happiness and of wonder, that is summer. I’m in awe of God’s amazing skills and creativity, how He manages to let the sun fall on leaves and so many different weeds and flowers and make everything look so gorgeous. I’m absolutely in wonder of God’s fabulous creation, of His shining, divine, gorgeous, ravishing and glorious summer. I am in awe. It is summer.

Hello there! All this spare time, I love it! Time to go to awesome concerts of friends and take pictures and edit them that same night, hihi. I went to a small, outdoor, concert by J-Force. J-Force is a band consisting of five young and really awesome boys. When their lead-singer Maikel asked me whether I’d like to take pictures at their concert I of course said yes! The gig was really awesome. The guys wrote their own (awesome and christian) songs and their performance was awesome, except for the rain, haha. So, here’s a sneek-peek!

We can dance if we want to – we can leave your friends behind,
because your friends don’t dance and if they don’t dance
well, they’re no friends of mine.

I say, we can go where we want to – a place where they will never find
and we can act like we come from out of this world,
leave the real one far behind.

We can dance!

…

…

…

.. and sometimes, you just need to take a break (:

Alexander is thirtheen, turning fourteen this summer. He loves his guinea pig, computers, watching TV and playing videogames. Most of the time he’s a little crazy and oh – he never has to do any homework. Alexander is my little brother (:

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^ that one is a lot more awesome like this

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an outtake, haha:

So if you girls want to date my brother.. let me know!

Anyone who looks at my pictures every now and then, might notice something. My colours are always slightly off. This is due to the fact that I change the colour balance quite a lot (more red, I think that’s pretty) but it’s also because of my use of cross processing. This technique, which I use through the Photoshop plugin Nikkon Efex Pro, is really awesome and gives your photos a really different look.

I will show you this through several edits of one photo. I have used three different types of cross processing, and I also edited the colour balance afterwards. Results!

The original

One

One with colour balance

Two

Two with colour balance

Three

Three with colour balance

And even black and white..

.. is fun with cross processing

So, if you feel inspired, you could get yourself a free Picnik account, which also offers cross processing! Go, and.. be creative!

Holland’s pride: De Keukenhof. Enjoy!

.. and of course, me and me sweet mumsy <3 (Who bought me a veeery big ice cream!)

1. Find time. (This might take a while, time always hides somewhere. Try looking under your bed!)
2. Install Photoshop on your computer, and don’t forget to get the Nikkon Effex Pro Plugin, which is real cool.
3. Then, go take some pictures.
4. Upload them to your computer and open them in Photoshop.
5. Have fun!

My results, all edits from one picture, this one:

First, the basics. Nothing tops a good bunch of cross processing:

1

2

and 3

.. but then, the scary stuff came out. Watch me turn into a real cool, freckly, old women.

Much freckles, too much?

and I don’t like the colours either. Some colourbalance adjustments will do wonders!

Oke, so maybe a little less of the freckles..

And then, of course, there’s black and white!

1

2

3

And.. what’s up with these?

And now, of course, I’d like to know what you think, hihi!