HDR Photography
Though boats are an everyday part of Dutch life, the large fraction of these boats that were occupied by people living and traveling in them (thus not leisure-craft nor houseboats) leads me to believe that I observed the river-and-canal-going equivalent of the caravans also visible at the edges of the image.
Rules make for symmetry-breaking behavior. Bicycles traveling above 30 kph in the Netherlands require the rider to have a helmet. This means that bikes are either clearly much slower or, once they’re fast enough to demand a helmet, a lot faster.
The Netherlands’ relationship with water and land is such a long and complicated one. This site, Ommermars Natuurspeeltuin (which I believe translates to “nature playground”—Dutch speakers, get in the comments!), feels like it might be prepared to cast some sort of deep, ancient magic to influence that relationship.
This bucolic Dutch morning puts me most in mind of Iain M. Banks’s science fiction utopias. That may sound “out of pocket,” but allow me to explain: His far-future settings often feature people who are choosing intentionally charming but low-tech lives doing what they enjoy in beautiful settings. These boaters traveling down the Vechte feel part of the same vein. Though they live in one of the most advanced countries on Earth, they can still choose relatively simple experiences and ways of living.
At CSI Ommen, Geoff Case coaches through a warm-up for the jumpers.
As an American enamored with the idea of walkable towns and cities, I was curious on visiting the Netherlands whether it could stand up to its reputation. I was surprised to find a country that resembled nothing more than the vision of utopia as it is typically presented in American science fiction. Now, I know the Netherlands is a real place with real challenges and limitations, but the infrastructure alone paints a very different vision of priorities. Consider this bridge in Ommen over the Vecht river: Less than 50% of the width of the bridge is allotted for motorized vehicle traffic. The majority is covered by bike lanes and pedestrian areas, including benches and art.
Saturday night at CSI Ommen was action-packed; before the Puissance, equestrian artist Laury Tisseur demonstrated feats of horsemanship including what I might best describe as horse-skiing.
Having won the CSI Ommen Grand Prix, Hessel Hoekstra and Comthago VDL took a victory gallop around the ring.
This winning moment from CSI Ommen’s Saturday-night puissance (jumping an increasingly tall wall of hollow blocks) is impressive to me for two reasons. The most obvious is the incredible height this horse is successfully clearing. Just as amazing to this American is the huge turnout of spectators present in both the foreground and background—far beyond what is seen at most US events.
Utopian mornings begin with a friendly boat trip into town.
Windmill, bicycle paths, boats… This is an extremely Dutch picture.
A blue hour expanse in the Netherlands with everything expected of the location: steeples, windmills, bike paths, fields of grasses, and… A beach? Given the sub-15ºC weather, this felt particularly charming but out of place.
The summer sun in the Netherlands is still scattering through the sky well after 10:00 PM, providing a companion to the reflection of this tin soldier museum on the grassy banks of the Vechte River.
Decaseconds 