Nationaal Park Utrechtse Heuvelrug in Black and White
Trip-wise, this was a short one, a quick over-nighter. Utrecht is just over an hour away, so we headed out early on Saturday morning (just after it was light enough outside to see) and arrived at the De Kaapse Bossen entrance to the National Park Utrechtse Heuvelrug fairly early. I think we were the fifth vehicle to arrive at the parking lot and, fortunately, there was a nice little spot that the bimobil fit in perfectly (the mound behind the parking spot had a big dip that allowed me to back the tire holder over the mound and the vehicle fit in fine lengthwise without jutting into the driving area).
Despite having all of our gear (for me that means my Fuji X-T5 with 6 lenses, my LUMIX point-and-shoot, the Q2MR, filters, etc in a backpack and my tripod), Ann suggested we “go light” and scout around a bit first. So she went light with a camera body and an extra lens in a small side bag, and I took the Q2MR and LUMIX in my coat pockets (I really like that Fjallraven Greenland jacket for those pockets). We then headed out on foot, roughly following some trails we’d found on Alltrails. I say “roughly” because I got disoriented a bit and we took a slightly different trail than I’d planned because I forgot to verify which way to turn (or not) at an intersection. Still, it wasn’t like we got lost, plus it was all in the spirit of wandering.
This is the point where I start waxing philosophical because this is where the trip turned interesting. There are times you go to a destination and you know it should be incredible (think Goblin Valley State Park), and it is, and you’re making photographs knowing that they’re wonderful photographs (ok, maybe not wonderful, rather not too shitty). There are other times where you go to a location not expecting very much, but are blown away by it (for me it was the Lamar Valley) and you feel like you’re making amazing photographs while you’re doing it (or at least think you are, or aren’t sure you are, but you’re hoping you are). I’ve had plenty of both. But I’ve rarely (read: never) had a location where I’m exploring, seeing an interesting thing here or there and making the occasional image now and then but not thinking too much of it, and then been stunned by the way an image looks in both the viewfinder and on the LCD screen (and ultimately when I get it back home). But then, it’s back to the mundane, for some incredible image to appear again, and then mundane. Well, I guess there is a first for everything, because this was my Saturday. We would walk through a perfectly fine, but not exceptional woodland, and I’d come across something, pick up the camera and then WHAM! There was something amazing in the viewfinder that one really didn’t see with the naked eye. Then, I would continue on with pretty much a normal, albeit nicely changing woodland landscape and WHAM! The images kept coming, but the in-betweens were . . . not exceptional. I’m still scratching my head about that.
It didn’t start out that way. Like much of the woodland walkabout photography Ann and I have been doing lately, there is a lot of areas with dense undergrowth at the De Kaapse Bossen. But we did notice that, although overcast that day, it wasn’t the heavy overcast we’ve recently seen and whenever the forest canopy thinned out a bit, it offered some nice lighting conditions. And the diversity of trees at De Kaapse Bossen helped too.
But the start of the hike had little to offer photographically, which meant I turned my focus onto looking at things at a different scale just to be able to pick up the camera. Really, there’s no harm in doing that, it lets one appreciate the environment and it helps to keep the seeing/photographing skills honed and alert.
But then we entered an area of the forest that was somewhat different. I told Ann, “Wow, I wonder what this would look like . . . “ I don’t even know if I finished my sentence. As I do, I just wandered over to where I thought an image was to be made and . . .
Wow.
We spent awhile along that stretch of trees and I have several other images that I think are very interesting but are perhaps variations on a theme. I need to live with them awhile to figure that out. Some seem better than others, and then the occasional image just jumps out at you.
There was a real presence to that part of the forest.
And then it was back to plain old woodland. Not to disparage woodland because it’s lovely to walk through and appreciate, but from a photographic perspective, nothing much jumped out at me. Which is fine, one needs to work to find good images and that’s part of the joy of photography - the exploration of the environment. You might see something, try to make a nice composition of it, and maybe press the shutter . . . or not. It’s a process and if you don’t enjoy the process, well that’s unfortunate, because having it be all about the images can become very depressing very quickly.
Then at one point I saw Ann looking upwards, and that opened up a new world. I made one image that I thought was interesting, but then a few hundred yards (I should say meters) down the trail I came across another cluster of trees that was much more dynamic.
With these more graphic images, I can’t tell you exactly why I feel some are stronger than others, I just do. I place the frame around the subject, and then make adjustments until it feels right. It’s not about rules or even real principles, once the frame is up, whether it goes a little bit in this direction or that is determined about what something inside me says is right. And once something seems “right” it’s time to press the shutter.
As with many of the parks in the Netherlands, there is a café in the middle of things (in this case by the parking lot) and we stopped for a good lunch, followed by another hike down other trails to be explored.
While not as exceptional as the morning, that same pattern of things seeming to be nothing much would suddenly change with a nice tree or groupings of trees that compels one to lift the camera up to the eye to see what it looks like within the frame. And while you can see why many of these images were made (the subjects are just lovely), they don’t necessarily make for the strongest photographs for any number of reasons.
No matter really, it’s a journey that is always rewarding if you let it be, and part of letting it be means you can’t expect to always make wonderful images.
But if you stick with the process - keep going out, exploring with your eyes, seeing what is being offered instead of tying to make what you were expecting to (or even worse, “should”) make - the images come and even if they don’t, at worst, you get to spend the day outside among the trees.
As we finished our second loop through the woods we decided it was time to go. Leaving a packed parking lot made us understand just how big the bimobil is and to be aware on later trips that exiting a small packed parking lot may not be as easy as parking in a near-vacant lot. Not that we had any problems, but there were a few tight squeezes that had onlookers watching (perhaps hoping?) that we wouldn’t make it.
But the purpose of the trip wasn’t for photography, really, it was to test out our vehicle camping routine, even if it was just an over-nighter. Still, when trip planning photography is always on my mind, so in preparing for this one I spent quite a while checking out different locations to stay at and ultimately settled on one that let me check two boxes. First, it was a farm campground. We’ve learned that over here (in Europe), like in the US, there is a growing number of farmers, wineries, etc, that are more than open to having folks in self-contained vehicles staying on their property. In the US, the biggest is under the Harvest Host umbrella. In Europe, there are several different organizations (one very big one in France involving wineries), and I decided on trying out one under an organization called SVR, which stands for Stichting Vrije Recreatie (Free Recreation Foundation) with the sub motto Kamperen bij de Boer (Camping by the Farmers). They have locations in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany and Sweden. Generally, these campgrounds are substantially cheaper than RV campgrounds, but may have some limited services. For us that wasn’t a problem, we can be fully self contained if needed. They usually have fewer spaces available (good for avoiding crowds like we do) and often sell local farm goods to boot (we picked up some local honey and blueberry sauce for pancakes). Box checked - we’ll definitely go the farmer route when we can!
Second, it was right next to the Leersumseveld, which is a forest area on the southern part of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, though I don’t think it is officially part of the park. Still, one could walk directly into the forest from the campground and very quickly get to some lakes that, from Google maps, looked interesting. It would give us something to photograph (or at least hike around) for the afternoon and early next morning. Second box checked.
I deserve a pat on the back for this selection!
As we walked towards the main lake it was obvious that much of the area is lowland and several parts were flooded. As we were packing in Didam, Ann was smart enough to suggest we bring our waterproof muck boots, and in preparation for leaving the campsite suggest we wear our muck boots. As usual, Ann had it right. Which meant that walking over to marshy edges to get a photo or two wasn’t a concern (or through thick mud puddles in the trail). In addition to our mud boots Ann suggested we go light yet again . . . so we did.
It was at the first of our “stops” that I recalled why I love water so much and again was stunned at how a scene can transform into something stunning in the viewfinder. The reflections in the water were captivating, even more so than to the naked eye.
We eventually made it to the main lake/pond, which has a tree-lined berm that cuts through its middle. We didn’t even get beyond exploring a small portion of the lake. There was a big, lovely, tree that Ann wanted to go explore (and me too), which had much to offer, so we wandered over to it. Ultimately, I was less than satisfied of my image of the tree, but the view back from where we’d come seemed rich in textures.
So we headed back in that direction, and the shoreline there kept giving us images as the sun sank lower and lower towards the horizon.
The images seemed to come, one after another. Nothing much seemed striking to the eye - just another lovely woodland - but whenever I raised the camera to my eye and looked through the viewfinder, it seemed like a new world opened up (much like earlier in the day).
To be honest, it wound up being an amazing day photographically, without the environment seeming to be awe-inspiring. It was odd, but I’ll take that over many possible alternatives. There are quite a few more images I need to develop, and then study, because there is just something about them. I guess you can’t beat that for a short weekend outing.
The trip wound up being even shorter than we’d hoped. It started raining that night and carried on through well into the morning. We didn’t get any more photography done (which was very disappointing - we were hoping for a bit of fog), and the wet conditions led to a very messy return home. But that’s the way it goes sometimes. You have to take the bad with the good and this trip definitely had the good.
Just to let you know, Ann and I have already talked about returning to the campsite . . . and sooner rather than later.