• After a long time it was time to visit the Horton Plains National Park. The weather looked good after all. As the crow flies we live about 20 km away from the entrance of the park. To be honest I don’t go there enough, but that’s another story. We drive via Boralanda to Ohiya and there the road climbs up to about 2100m altitude. Clouds get stuck on the mountains that dominate the landscape, we end up in it, it also brings rain. After a steep climb we arrive at the Main Gate and pay the entrance fee. It is drizzling and the clouds hang low so that the view is limited, it gives a spooky atmosphere to the whole. We drive slowly further passing the Staff bungalows, here we are still in a section with trees and large rhododendrons that bloom with red flowers. The question that comes to my mind how do they get here, I can’t tell. Slowly it changes into grassland, these are inhabited by the illustrious Leopard and the Sambar deer. It happens more and more often that you can see the leopard, as long as you come early. A little later we see the sambars grazing in the grasslands. The rain becomes heavier, a little later we arrive at the Park office. There they check the bags and backpacks for plastic bags, which are prohibited in the park. From there we can choose from two walking routes, the circular route of about 8.5 km or to the mountain top Kirigalpotta which is 7 km away from the park office. Please note that the opening hours of the park are 6 am in the morning to 6 pm in the evening. There are also possibilities to camp but that is limited. We choose the classic circular route. We walk anti-clockwise towards Bakers fall in the drizzle we climb the first paved hill and the path becomes a bit narrower and rougher, good walking shoes are required. The hills are mainly covered with grasses and rhododendrons, also various types of ferns and small wild flowers can be admired. Actually the idea today was to photograph birds, but they hide well. The species were limited today to the cinerous tit and pied buschat and jungle fowl, the lizards were also hard to find, eventually we saw the black cheeked lizard and that is endemic to Horton Plains. We descend to Bakers fall, no one to be seen, normally it is quite busy here, not this morning, it is of course because of the drizzle. I like it this way and to be honest the scene today is special. Low hanging clouds give a different atmosphere here than a clear blue sky, it is also a lot more interesting photographically I think, it gives atmosphere. After a little hour we continue the route towards World’s end, it goes downhill and on the view there is something clear here, the drizzle has stopped for a while. We pass some hikers, who ask if it is still far to the waterfall. In the meantime we enjoy the views. It is very quiet, no birds or animals to be seen here, we walk briskly, the drizzle is back unfortunately. We walk over a small bridge with clear water, sometimes you can see trout swimming here. In the distance we see Belihul Oya river making its way through the hilly landscape. Clouds hang against the mountains here. The view is quite limited on this part of the path. We take some pictures of the wild flowers and ferns. A few minutes walk we arrive at World’s end, this part is the most visited place in the park, it is a kind of plateau that ends with a steep wall, with a great view of the surroundings it looks a bit like a field with broccoli. In clear weather you can see the lakes in the Udawalawe national park in the distance and a little closer the water reservoir Samanalawewa near the town of Belihuloya. Beautiful view. From here the tour continues to Little World’s end. The path further that leads towards the Park office, here is a difficult part of the path very slippery over fantastically beautiful colored stones. A pair of Blackbirds are looking for food and the path continues towards a section with more trees to come out again on the overgrown grassy hills a little later. In clear weather you can see Adam’s peak in the distance, unfortunately not today the view is limited with the low hanging clouds. Our walk ends at the park office, there is also a small museum and shop with useful information, you can also ask questions about the flora and fauna to the park officers, who answer them in all friendliness. A little restaurant with some items is also nearby, also ice cream and limited soft drinks are available. On busy days there are some Sambar deers around to for begging food, they get used to this behaviour. 

The gear:

OM System OM-1 

12-40mm f/2.8 Pro

7-14mm f/2.8 Pro

40-150mm f/2.8 Pro

300mm f/4 Pro

Leofoto tripod and Olympus photo bag.

To be honest, I started buying photo books made by fellow photographers late. I actually had no idea until I came across Julian Briard on YouTube with his What’s on my bookshelf. I participated as a photographer in the Natural Landscape Photography Awards and ordered book year one. Now I have also year 2 and 3 and these books are very beautiful, well printed and casebound. Now my bookshelf is slowly expanding with several books.

I recently discovered Kozubooks. 

I immediately ordered 4 books there that caught my first attention.  Adam Gibbs known from YouTube, Hans Strand generally known for his aerial photographs and less wellknown Martin Rak. 

The books have the same size 30 x 24 cm, 90 to 120 pages. printed on Fedrigoni Symbol Freelife Satin 170gsm, Thread Sewn and hardcover. 

About the contents of the books of these photographers,  Adam who is not familiar with him and delivers a book Quit Light full of his beloved Vancouver Island hotspots and lesser known places,  now and then we see beautiful shots from other countries such as Greenland , China and Scotland, but these are heavily undernumbered, could have been more, all three photographers also pay attention to the different seasons. 

Adam’s content is beautiful and nicely balanced, I always enjoy following his work. 

Then Hans’ work also shows a great diversity in photography included in the books, from river deltas to more intimate photos of snow and ice, his preference for Iceland and Norway is clearly visible, Hans also traveled to Greenland and Antarctica. The Rio Tinto, the most polluted river in Europe, is also included in with the red color of the pollution. This river can be found in Spain. These are two impressive books by Hans, called Beyond Landscape and Aqua. Beautiful. 

Then for myself the most unknown of these three Martin Rak, this book with the Japanese title Komorebi was the big surprise for me, his Woodlands photography is unearthly without words, if Woodlands photography already seems simple to many people, I can tell you from experience, no, it is not, and it takes a lot of time and devotion to understand nature and transform it into something that grabs you, Martin has succeeded. This beautiful book also contains plenty of work to enjoy and will often be opened like the other three books to browse, wonder and enjoy. 

I recommend everyone to follow this link and see if there is something you like: https://www.kozubooks.com 

Just this for myself because I was late with this publisher, I missed the books by Rachel Talibart and Ben Horne. I think it’s very rare and diffecult to find these books. I am most interested in landscape, woodlands. seascapes, and nature in general. 

Last thing to say if you are interested and need some inspiration order some books because these are printed in low numbers mostly 500 included special and collectors editions with signed and numbered print, don’t wait to long, otherwise you will regret it. In the meantime I preordered now ‘STILLNESS. IN MOTION’ By Sally Mason, and looking forward what the future has to offer. 

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https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/stillness-in-motion-by-sally-mason

https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/aqua-by-hans-strand

https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/beyond-landscape-by-hans-strand

https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/komorebi-by-martinrak

https://www.kozubooks.com/books-new/quiet-light-by-adam-gibbs-third-edition

Zoomland a decade. 

Zoomland a decade, 10 years at un regular times and season I visited this forest with vast avenues of beech trees. These avenues used to be the access paths to estates in this part of the forest, these days only the avenues and some narrow canals are the only witnesses of that time. The forest consists mainly of remnants of ice age sand drifts. The diversity is very varied with deciduous trees, pine trees, low bushes and open areas of grass where cattle used to graze. Fens and patches of heather can also be found. Rare and common mushrooms are found in autumn. In spring, some wildflower species can also be found including bluebells. On weekends, the forest is the domain of hiking people with their four-legged friends as well as mountain bikers. It is better to avoid weekends as a photographer. During weekdays it is very quiet generally. If you go on a weekday very early in the morning as an example around sunrise it is pleasant to be there, slowly the sun’s rays hit the water and land and warm the surface so that slowly the moisture evaporates and turns into fog. When it is spring and the leaves come back on the branches, the green is so fresh, tender and beautiful in color, the ferns also shoot out of the ground and the leaves of the beech trees turn from reddish brown to orange-brown, that you actually imagine yourself in autumn. There is much to see and photograph, when you are absorbed in photographing you forget the time and your head becomes very calm. The best thing is to let it sink in and use your senses while photographing, you are in a kind of meditative state and let the colors, shapes and also smells take you in. The forest always smells and that is specially those earthy tones. So I will now let the photos that I have taken over time in piece of the forest speak for themselves. Adjacent forests in the area are Landgoed Lievensberg and Zurenhoek as well as Groot Molenbeek also these are worth a visit if you are in the area.  

The gear:

Olympus EM-1 MK, MKII, MKIII camera body’s

OM System OM-1 

MZuiko Pro lenses 60mm macro

12-40mm f/2.8 Pro

7-14mm f/2.8 Pro

40-150mm f/2.8 Pro

300mm f/4 Pro

Leofoto tripod and Olympus photo bag