Tuesday 15 April 2014

Flowers and kimonos : Keukenhof Spring 2014 ( part 2 of 3 )

This is part 2 of my visit to the Keukenhof Flower Show with people from the Kimono de Jack NL.
(This post is in three parts, Click Here to go to part 1
After all the group photos, we looked for locations to take some individual photos.
In a garden this large, there's plenty of them.
I especially wanted to get pictures out of the sun, because I don't like the harsh shadows it creates on people's faces. I used a flash in every picture to soften the shadows.

Jente , posing under a blossoming cherry tree, wearing a furisode and a purple hakama.

Jente and her friend Maxime.

Closeup , showing off her hair ornament.



Stephanie and Jente.

Jente and her friend Jordy.

Carolien, sitting on a fountain.  She is wearing a hitoe tsumugi komon with temari ( japanese stringballs) motif.

Youandi , in a kimono with yabane ( arrow fletch) motif.

Maxime, looking very smart wearing a black beret.
 
 Maaike.
 Jente.

Wonderful! Found some sakura blossom to pose by.



and Carolien found this bench to pose on.  Great! The sun is starting to set and the low sunlight from behind is perfect. 



The life of a model is not a path of roses. There were always people walking by in the background, but at one point a lady kept standing there watching us. Youandi went over to persuade her to move out of the scene...


After some negotiating , she agreed to leave. Thank you so much Youandi ! ( This will save me lots of time of  'photoshopping' her out of the background ).



Ever since the first time I started photographing kimonos, I've been thinking about changing the photos to black and white , because I wanted the beautiful patterns of the kimono to show up more, without being distracted by the colours. I have also tinted these sepia , to give them a warmer appearance.

Youandi, posing under the sakura.



Carolien.





Linda.





 To look at the photos in full size, just left-click on any of them.

In the third part of this post , I'll return to the garden for pictures in the setting sun and include some panoramic shots. (This post is in three parts, Click here to go to part 3)

6 comments:

Linda Kentie said...

Oh my! I love the sepia, black and white version!!! Just Amazing! Can I share some later this week on my blog.

Kumiko said...

Beautiful photos!
They look fabulous in their kimono,under the sakura trees!
Black-and-white photos are nice,as well as colour photos.
Their kimono style is perfect!
Thank you for sharing this,Walter!

Kumiko said...

How amazing!
These photos are breathtaking.
And I'm surprised with the variations of daffolis.
They are beautiful,and they have their own names!
This is really a superb view.
Keukenhof Garden,I would like to go there before I die.

Ray's Rabbit Hutch said...

If I could go to the Netherlands, I definitely go in Spring and never miss visiting Keukenhof.
I like Linda's Dutch themed musubi. Is the musubi made in Japan or the Netherlands?
Anyway, thanks Walter for sharing lovely pictures.

Walter said...

Thank you all for the nice comments.
Ray, Linda designed and made that Dutch themed obi herself. So it's handmade.

Ray's Rabbit Hutch said...

She did an amazing work, didn't she!