C. H. Photography: Amsterdam

Seven years ago this summer I purchased a camera and began to study the art of photography. I had been living in Amsterdam for almost a year at that point and the urge to illustrate to my friends and family outside of Europe how beautiful this city is lead me on a mission. Now after 8 years I still love living here. The idea that I will one day make the perfect picture of this city is “mission impossible” but like many great quests I have enjoyed the journey and rarely thought much of the destination. I’m look forward to continuing for many years to come. One thing in particular that I find interesting to photograph is reflections in the canals. The idea is an obvious one as there is water everywhere; it's difficult to take a picture without a canal in it. I wanted to try something a little less common that would highlight the city in a subtle way. There are a number of ways to get unique images of the city but the most accessible wasn’t to change location, it was to look at it differently.

- Kloveniersbugwal -

Oudezijds Voorburgwal + Oudezijds Achterburgwal

I have written a few posts on the usage of ND filters on this blog. Capturing Amsterdam in a unique way was one of the leading motivation for me to go get one in the first place. The city really began to shine for me. After a lot experimentation I am finally starting to get some of the results I was looking for. I love the way the filter makes colors rich and darkens the contrast almost like an old dutch painting. Of course the glassy reflections on the water is the first thing that catches the eye but I’m still just beginning to learn what these filters can do. A number of the images involve clouds, which I would like to do more of but I also want to capture crowds of people at some point as well as traffic patterns like these images in Light Trails. There are never enough hours in the day when you are having fun. Here is a slice of my time here in Amsterdam shown through my favourite toy. As always, hope you enjoy.

- Casey