boat on the Keizersgracht passing under a bridge

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

It is worthwhile to browse through your old photos occasionally, as it can allow you to find photos to post-process that you previously didn't think were worthwhile. Similarly, it can allow you to find photos that you might want to have another go at post-processing.

This photo is an example of the latter - I originally post-processed it as a black and white photo and posted it in this blog post. However, I was never really happy with it. When I saw it again recently, I noticed how I had managed to blow out the sky and the water behind the boat. As a result, I decided to run it through Adobe Camera Raw again, and used the Silver Efex Pro 2 plugin for Adobe Photoshop from Google's Nik Collection.

This re-visited edit is much more pleasing to me - as much more of the tonal range has been preserved, and the sky and river are not blown out. I have also cropped the image a little tighter, removing some of the water from the bottom of the frame, and some of the trees from the left of the frame.

What about you?
Do you prefer this edit? Or do you prefer the original edit?
Do you occasionally go through your old photos and find some previously-missed gems, or photos worth re-editing?

An old boat lies partially submerged in a canal in Marken, in the north of Holland.

old boat in the canal

Marken, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

While on holidays in Holland last year, we had spent the day exploring Marken and Volendam, two historic tourist towns in the north of Holland. In the evening, on the way out of Marken, we decided to stop at a convenient cafe for some dinner. The cafe was called Cafetaria De Verkeerde Wereld (literally translated, it means "Cafeteria The Wrong World"), and we had a great dinner there.

While waiting for our meals to be served, I noticed this old boat in a canal just across the road, and took the opportunity to take some photos of it.

While exploring Amsterdam on foot and by boat, it is hard to miss the many different bridges over the many canals. Here is a selection of black and white photos of some of the bridges encountered in Amsterdam.

A boat on the Keizersgracht (emperors' canal) passing under a bridge. This is where the Keizersgracht intersects with the Brouwersgracht (brewers' canal):

boat on the Keizersgracht passing under a bridge

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

A bridge over the Bloemgracht (flower canal), where it intersects with the Prinsengracht (princes' canal):

bridge over the Bloemgracht

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

The narrow wedge-shaped building in the photo above, at the corner of Prinsengracht and Bloemgracht, is an art gallery called "Galerie Josine Bokhoven". The shape of the building is due to the two canals not crossing at right angles.

There are signs on each side of the bridge in the photo above that say "ZINKBUIS RIOLERING". As far as I can work out, this refers to zinc pipes used for sewerage. If anyone can shed any more light on exactly what this means, please leave a comment.

While in Holland last year, we spent a day exploring Amsterdam. The many canals throughout Amsterdam see quite a bit of traffic, and there are also a lot of houseboats moored along the sides of the canal. Many of these houseboats look like they haven't been moved for years.

boats along the Prinsengracht

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands

This is a view down the Prinsengracht (Prince's canal), with the Westerkerk visible in the distance. This photo was taken from the bridge near where the Brouwersgracht (brewers canal) crosses the Prinsengracht.

In the Netherlands, the humble bicycle gets a lot more use than in Australia, with many people regularly using their bikes for commuting. There's also a type of bike designed for carrying more cargo, typically known as a "bakfiets" in Holland (probably best translated to English as "cargo bicycle" or "freight bicycle").

Here are a few bakfietsen that I saw while walking around the city of Utrecht.

bakfiets outside a bike shop

Utrecht, The Netherlands

While travelling around Holland in June/July, we quickly gained an appreciation for the numerous canals criss-crossing the country, as well as the many drawbridges that allow traffic over the canals.

The drawbridge shown below is in Ruischerbrug, in the province of Groningen, and as we drove towards it, the drawbridge was raised (see second photo), to allow a long barge through. We pulled over for a closer look and some photos, and the photo immediately below was taken once the barge had passed through and the drawbridge was lowered again.

"Borgbrug" drawbridge over the Eemskanaal

Ruischerbrug, Groningen, The Netherlands

The name of this particular bridge is the "Borgbrug", which I suppose could be translated as "Borg Bridge" ;-)

This whale tow boat is one of the sights to see at Albany's Whale World.
The water in front of the flensing deck at the Cheynes Beach Whaling Station was too shallow for the whale chasers, so they would tie whale carcasses to a buoy a few hundred metres offshore. Tow boats such as the one shown below were then used to tow whale carcasses the last few hundred metres to shore.

an old whale tow boat

Whale World, Albany, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @34mm, 1/1000 sec, f/6.3, ISO125

This is the final resting place of one of the whalechasers used at the Cheynes Beach Whaling Station in Albany in the 1970s. It's now one of the attractions at Whale World, where you can explore the various nooks and crannies of the boat.

Cheynes IV whalechaser

Whale World, Albany, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 10-22mm @10mm, 1/200 sec, f/6.3, ISO200

The Cheynes IV was originally built in 1948 in Norway, and used for whaling in South Africa for a number of years. In 1970, the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company bought it, renamed it the Cheynes IV, and used it for whaling off Albany until the closure of the station in 1978. It was towed to its current location at Whale World in 1981.

Here's another one from the Red Bull Air Race qualifying in Perth. This is Kirby Chambliss in his Edge 540, banking hard after passing through the start/finish gate.

Kirby Chambliss

Red Bull Air Race qualifying

Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 70-200mm f/4L @280mm (1.4x teleconverter), 1/200 sec, f/14, ISO100