Texel Island, NL, 2024: Renovations

 

To be honest, I thought I had already posted about our January trip to start some renovations in Jaap's bungalow, as a gift from Astrid's deceased brother, Sander.  

But no, I didn't.  So this is the gist:

After years of surviving on a dorm-sized fridge, we all agreed it was time for something larger

that would still fit in the space.  Astrid did the prep, while Jaap "supervised."

The same thing for a new stand-alone freezer, which needed a cabinet to protect it.

We were gone when the appliances arrived, but the photos from Jaap 

proved that all Astrid's hard work paid off!

So, that was why we were there in January.

Segue now to early March when Astrid and I returned but without Jaap.  Astrid didn't like the back of the freezer cabinet because it wasn't adequately stabilized.  So here at home she prepared a new back which she was able to install this trip.

And, yes, it did the trick!

And with that done, we spent the rest of our time (6 days total) traipsing all over the island, "practicing" with our new "Sanders" (iPhone 15 Pro Maxes).  

All the photos following, from this March trip, are with my iPhone 15 Pro Max:

Let's start with eating out!

A café in Oudeschild.

Outside that café in living color.

A café in Oosterend and, yup...I'm still on that penchant for the NOIR option.

The same café in Oosterend in living color outside, of course.

Before and after eating, as you'd guess, we were taking photos everywhere, whether at the beach (North Sea) or in the vicinity:

Again, always "practicing" with the new iPhone 15 Pro Max.

And, yes, we even visited a couple of wee churches:

This one is the Reformed Church in De Waal.

And of course, a windmill:

This one is Het Noorden near Oosterend (yes, near that café).

But the crowning success of the Texel trip this time, hands down, was my first visit to the The Slufter salt marsh, nature area.  OMG.  Where have I been all my life!

From L to R:  The Netherlands, then Texel island, zooming in to where The Slufter is.

Using the pano option, we're looking out to the sea from the inland entrance to the salt marsh.

It totally made my day, the trip, and my new "Sander."

Enough for now to say we're both totally thrilled with our new iPhones and wonder how often we'll use our Canon PowerShot cameras going forward.  Will we always want to carry BOTH cameras with us, for the rare times the Canon might actually get a better zoomed-in shot??  I guess time will tell....

Clarification:  all non-collage images have been tweaked in PhotoShop,

which means they are not SOOC (straight out of camera).

Den Bosch, NL, With Our New iPhone 15 Pro Maxes

 

Believe it or not, it was a month ago that I posted about our new iPhone 15 Pro Maxes, the gifts Astrid and I received from Sander's inheritance.  But it was 6 days later, on February 17, that we drove to Den Bosch (53 km/34 mi from home) to "practice" in earnest with them in the St. John's cathedral there.

Which is to say I need to quickly catch up...since we just returned from 6 days on Texel again, where we really "practiced."  But first, Den Bosch.

I've already made 2 posts on Den Bosch, first in 2010 and then in 2019.  So this isn't a post about Den Bosch, per se, but about the abilities and power of the iPhone 15 Pro Max camera, about which we're still learning and loving.

As we left the parking garage to enter the city, Jheronimus Bosch welcomed us.

This was new for me, so, of course, out popped the iPhone for the first photo of the day.

On our way into the city, I checked the camera's zoom.

I can't bend down like Astrid (fake knee hurts when I do), so would the 5x zoom be good enough?

So far so good but you'll see it better later, inside the church. 

As we're wont to do, just outside the church we whetted our appetite with a latte macchiato.

See me practicing on the photo-blur focus (bottom-left)?

Then it was all about using the B&W options...in this case, the NOIR:

All 3 of these images were further tweaked in PhotoShop to make them warmer.

But it was clear to me that day that I had a penchant for the 16:9 size ratio and the noir option.

However, once inside the cathedral, I first started with "normal" photos,

How would the camera handle the low-light ?

The nave.

The organ.

The pulpit.

All of my COLLAGE photos in this post are SOOC (straight out of camera)

with tweaks inside the PicMonkey software.

But would the zoom be strong enough to capture details I could get with my Canon camera???

This was my answer:  see those 4 pillars near the "seeing-eye" cupola (top-left)?

Yes, the zoom works!

As you see, I then reverted back to my penchant for the 16:9 size ratio and the noir option,

further tweaked in PhotoShop.

After the church, we had a delightful lunch where I practiced again with depth of field/blur.

It takes getting used to but is actually very user-friendly.

Den Bosch, February 17, 2024:  our first photo hunt with our iPhone 15 Pro Maxes (our Sanders, as our Dutch friend, Marjolein, calls them!).  It was a great start on the learning curve....

But wait till you see Texel again, this time through our Sanders.  In both photo hunts, I never once used my Canon PowerShot camera.  That doesn't mean I'll never use it again, of course, but one does wonder what the advantages will be for taking it along on every trip?

As a BTW, we both had iPhone lanyards around our necks holding our phones the entire photo hunt,

which we highly recommend for those fearing loss, dropping or grabbing.

They're also nice for those hand-free times you need.