"I find that the colour red emerges quite a lot in my street photos and this photo will be part of a set of others from the city centre where red stands out quite boldly!"
After all those weeks and months wandering The Hague with my camera(s), it's fair to say that I have quite a large collection of landscape, architecture and street photos. When you put them together, you have my perspective of this lovely city (that I'm now missing greatly!)
In deciding what to do next in terms of projects with my photography, I decided: why not make a photo book of The Hague that brings everything together in one collection? So that's what I have started to do! 😊
When you put together the beautiful and famous scenes of the city alongside images of the daily life and people, you start to get a true sense of the place. Of course, there are photos that stand out as my favourites that I just know I have to include! Then there are others that are a tougher choice, often because they need to have a coherence with the general message that I'm trying to get across.
So, I've now started to design my photo book with a view to eventually making it available on Amazon. It's going to be a long process of choosing the right images and layout.
It's an emotional experience to revisit all my photos of The Hague - so many good memories and feelings lie behind most of them (you may have read about some of them in my 'photo stories' where I try to share these). It's also quite hard, because COVID has meant that so far, I have not been able to return since I came back to the UK last November. Looking at the pictures makes me want to be there again, to stand in those same places and relive the atmosphere there. For now, my pictures are my escape back to those days.
Now, a little about the picture above - this one will be part of my book, alongside other images of this area of The Hague (the Binnenhof in the city centre). You'll see many pictures around of this scene, but here you see the people behind the pictures (the lady on the left is taking a photo on her phone!) This particular location is where the city began and the Binnenhof itself (now part of the government buildings) has a very long and intriguing history involving monarchs and scandals. It has seen the whole city grow up around it!
I find that the colour red emerges quite a lot in my street photos and this photo will be part of a set of others from the city centre where red stands out quite boldly!
One of the wonderful things about The Hague is its international vibe. You see a mixture of locals, internationals and (some) tourists in the city. It's a place that doesn't seem to feature as a travel hotspot (that title seems to belong to Amsterdam), yet it has so much about it that is unique and interesting. Something that all residents of The Hague appreciate is its city attributes that contrast with its suburban, relaxed atmosphere, all nestled within a tapestry of history and fascinating stories that most visitors to The Netherlands bypass in favour of the Amsterdam museums and canals!
As I keep adding to and developing my book, I'll keep you updated on how it is progressing! Are there any of my photos of The Hague that you particularly think I need to include? Let me know in the comments, via email on via my social media channels! 😀