Sometimes I would like to use Dutch names instead of English names for plants species. Take this one, the Meadow Thistle…..quite a regular name. However, translated from Dutch it becomes the ‘Spanish Rider’….wow! I photographed this one on the island of Schiermonnikoog, where they are just beginning to flower. I used the ‘zoom-effect’ to create a focal point on the flower. By using a little amount of fill-flash I could freeze the plant and the nearby grasses. The result is a dynamic photo, that still has the elements that I wanted to show.

Cheers, Niels

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I was on holiday in Twente with my family (reason for the late update), where we visited a small wet woodland. A lot of spring flowers have already stopped flowering, but for a few it was the perfect time. Looking for some of these speceis I found this one, Herb Paris Paris quadrifolia, quite to my surprise because it is very rare in that region. Although its Dutch name ‘Eenbes’ refers to the single berry in the flower, everything about this plant is related to the digit of four: the leaves, the stamen, the petals and even the shape of the single berry. Soon the berry will be the only that is left of the simple, but beautiful flower.

Cheers,

Niels

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