My 100 best pictures from the last 5 years

What do you get when you mix the following ingredients:

a person with a ‘more is more’ mentality,
an enthusiastic photographer, armed with two cameras,
someone who sees the beauty and fun in everything around her,
and a traveling life?

More then 10.000 pictures per year, THAT’s what you get!

Insane, right?!

“Learn to kill your darlings, girl. Separate the excellent from the average.” I know…and believe me, I try… I’m just not very good at it;-).

For this post I worked hard to choose only 100 pictures from the 10.000’s I took in the past 5 years.

My personal favorites of children are these ones:

1.
I love this picture!
The fun that splashes of all their faces, the naughty boys, the jewelry of the mother and the babygirl, and the indigo-blue from the Holi-color-powders (that the children were putting in bags for sale) …
…. looking at this picture makes me very happy!
Even though it was taken in a slum in Mumbai, India.

2.
It was Chinese New Year and these two girls, sisters I presume, are showing their pink traditional outfits for the camera.
Taken on the artistic, colorful Alkaff Bridge in Singapore.

3.
Slum girl with Holi-powders all over her. Those eyes!

4.
Slum boys, Mumbai, India.
Partly the same boys as in the first picture of this post.
I love how naughty and bold they look and pose.
They fought to be in the picture and formed this group-pose in a second, creating a perfect composition.

5.
Girl, sitting next to her father at this vegetable stall at a market in Pune, India.
Apparently she sits there with him the whole day.
When her father told her to sit still for the picture, she practically froze till I was done. So cute!

6.
Slum children packing indigo blue color powder for Holi. The girl in the front has a beautiful face and gave me the most intense looks.

7.
Grandfather, puppy and granddaughter in fabric shop in Pushkar, India.
They were enjoying each others company so much; very sweet.
I could warn you not to check out the guy’s underwear, but that would work out the same way as telling you NOT to think of an elephant, right?
Oops….;-)

8.
This little girl (?) had huge dark eyes that stayed glued on me the whole time I was there.
I love the soft look of her hair and the delicate golden jewelry she is wearing.
Backwaters of Kerala, India.

9.
A wagon with a whole bunch of children of all ages, holding on to dozens of Ganeshas in all sizes, all covered in red Holi powder. What a colorful ensemble!

10.
Little girl in her grandparent’s shop.
Initially she was not too keen on me taking her picture,
until her grandfather told her it was ok.
Bangalore, India.

11.
Little street artist with hoola hoop.
Chingay, Singapore.
I love the ambiance and feeling of this picture.

12.
A little pink princess in front of a blue princess;-).
Cute girl in Mumbai, India.

13.
Two very serious looking schoolboys.
Mumbai, India.

14.
Little girl in her Chinese New Year dress, looking all cute and pretty.
Chinatown, Singapore.

15.
“Take our picture, take our picture!”
Schoolchildren, Udaipur, India

16.
There were hurricanes going on for days, but when I was able to go out, I caught these two sweeties on camera.
Manilla, Philippines.

17.
Being a Dutch lady myself, I could not resist taking a picture of this signage, while a malay girl in schooluniform happened to run by.
Johor, Malaysia.

18.
Little boy in traditional attire during Chinese New Year.
He instantly made the V-sign, which I often refer to as ‘doing a singaporean’ or ‘doing an asian’, because it seems an epidemic. It both amuses and annoys me.
It’s so very, very cliche, predictable and boring to always, always, always make this sign as soon as a camera is in sight….
Not blaming the kid of course. He just copies others and he still looks supa-cute!

19.
These Chinese girls were in town because of Chingay, one of my favorite festivals in Singapore.
Don’t they look fab in their bright colors and intricate hairdo’s?!

20.
Same festival. What a gorgeous traditional costumes. From India?

21.
This little boy walked in a parade in Goa, India, and was entirely ‘in his role’ as a fierce deity.
Adorable!

Sunsets never cease to amaze and impress me with their stunning beauty:

22.
This sunset -and the following one- was at Bintan Island, Indonesia.

23.

24.
Sydney, Australia.

25.
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.

26.
Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

27.
Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia

28.
Kochi, Kerala, India

29.
On the beach in Thailand.

30.
Hong Kong.

31.
Singapore.

Although I adore animals, I find it hard to get good pictures from them. They do not particularly ‘sit still’ in front of your camera, right?;-)

Anyway, these are some of my favorite animal captures:

32.
Dead fish lying on the footpath next to the Singapore river.

33.
I adore flamingos!!!
They are so weird looking and photogenic.
AND they are one of The Symbols of Kitsch and Camp. Huge fan!
Hong Kong.

34.
Seagull love.
Sydney, Australia

35.
Iguana.
Sydney, Australia

36.
Bull oxes dressed up for a festival.
Pune, India.

37.
Dressed up horse.
Udaipur, India

38.
Where did the elephant go?;-)
Agra, India

39.
Herding the ducks. Or are they geese?
Bali, Indonesia

40.
Happy strolling puppy.
Bangalore, India

41.
King Fisher bird
Bukit Brown Cemetery, Singapore

42.
Pinguini at Halloweeni;-).
Hong Kong.

43.
Dressed up for the weekend.
Singapore

44.
Stray cow eating garbage.
I love this picture because of the colors and the scenery.
You can almost feel the heat of the sun and it is such a typical Indian sight!

45.
Stepdaughter Simone cuddling one out of a bunch of pugs in a shop in Haji Lane.
Cute overload!!!
Singapore.

46.
One of several cats that live in this cute little shop in Haji Lane.
Singapore.

47.
Peacock.
Mysore, India

48.
I found it so funny how this buffalo stretched his hind right in front of our canoe.
Backwaters of Kerala, India

49.
Insect on flowers.
Goa, India

50.
Crow chat?
Goa, India

51.
Biscuit is her name and she tries to blend in with the sand of this Goan beach.
Pretty successful, I must say;-)
Goa, India

52.
This is Cash, the sweetest dog of the universe.
The prettiest one too, with an ever smiling face. He belongs to my BFF in Singapore: Celeste.
I am his godmother. We have the same hair;-).

53.
Kissing and cuddling an elephant.
Quite one-sided, since the animal was not really impressed with me;-)

54.
In Sydney’s Botanical Gardens are some trees with hundreds of fruit bats hanging in them; a strange sight.
They have blond-brown fur that lights up beautifully in the sunlight.

55.
Lunch?
Bali.

56.
The first time I came across an elephant in the middle of town, I was stupefait!
India.

Flowers are so pretty, versatile and photogenic; hard to choose just a few. But I did!

57.
Cactea in Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay.
I love succulents with their blueish hues.

58.
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.

59.
Orchid in Botanical Gardens, Singapore

60.
Orchids in Botanical Gardens, Singapore

61.
Gardens by the Bay, Singapore. Edited with app Tiny Planets.

62.
Cannon ball tree flower and small lizard in background.
Botanical Gardens Singapore

63.
This was at a giant outdoor flower exhibit in Guangzhou, China.

64.
I like this picture because of the contrasting red and green and the contrasting round shapes with the coral-shaped red stems.
Goa, India.

65.
A variety of orchids.
I like the spiraled shapes.
Singapore.

66.
The flower market in Mysore was beautiful. All those colors!

67.
Flowers, used here to adorn milk pots, carried on heads during Thaipusam festival.
Singapore.

As observant readers probably have already noticed, I like to do some post-editing on my pictures from time to time. Especially if I feel it makes the picture better, stronger or more special.

One procedure I like a lot, is taking out all the colors in a picture but one.

Sometimes the many colors in the background take away too much attention of the real subject. Leaving only one color takes care of that problem.

Other techniques I use are filters and apps.

68.
This little girl was standing over a lamp shining up from within the pavement.
Her dress captured the light bundle and turned into a lampshade.
I did quite some editing to create a magical atmosphere.

69.
Here I played around with a green-blue monochrome color, a bit of twirling and some diamond-shaped light specs.

70.
Here I only left the color of the flower and took out the rest. I also added the small light points.

71.
Experimenting with Tiny Planets app; fun effects!

72.
This temple tower was pretty as it was, especially since it was lit up beautifully at night.
That did not stop me from doing some experimenting with filters and effects.
Some people are against post-editing. Not me.
As long as you are open and transparent about your pictures. Aka: don’t lie about it.
I see the kind of editing that I do as a form of creating, of artistic experiment and of making something new.

73.
The same picture, different editing.

74.
Another experiment with Tiny Planets.

75.
In this picture I kept only the greens and blue, thus emphasizing the peacock feather merchandise.

76.
And in this picture I kept only the reds and pinks, drawing the viewers attention to the woman and her activity.

77.
In this picture of Wheelock Place in Singapore I reversed the colors and enhanced the graphic effect.
I like the result. You?

Over the years I visited numerous temples and saw hundreds if not thousands of deities. Many of them were a delight; the decorations, the colors, the exotic nature.

78.
Indian temple, Singapore

79.
Ganesh festival, Pune, India

80.
Pune, India

81.
Hong Kong

82.
Hong Kong

83.
Pune, India

84.
Pune, India

85.
Pune, India

86.
In India there are altars all over the place.
This one was in the basement of our hotel during Ganesh festival. It was there for the hotel staff.

87.
The deities in this temple in Taipei had XXXXL eye-brows.
Intriguing.
I tried to find out more about these deities and their brows, but did not find a lot.
Anybody know more?

I guess that by now you all know that I am a big fan of (street-) art:

88.
Mumbai, India

89.
Manilla, Philippines

90.
Manilla, Philippines

91.
Manilla, Philippines

92.
Nek Chand Rock Garden
Chandigarh, India

93.
Bali is famous for it’s woodcarvers.

94.
Nek Chand Rock Garden
Chandigarh, India

95.
Nek Chand Rock Garden
Chandigarh, India

96.
Woodcarving, Bali.

97.
Mumbai, India

98.
Hong Kong

99.
Kochi, Kerala, India

100.
Kochi, Kerala, India

Are these really my 100 best?
To be honest: I’m not sure.This selection is slightly random, as I it’s not only possible, but even likely that there are other pictures in my archives that are as good or better.

And where are my pictures of architecture? Of events and festivities? Of people, other then children? Of clouds and skies, food, hotels?
Well, some of these topics will be covered in my other blogiversary posts this week.

But the hundred pictures in this post are amongst my favorites for sure.

Do you like them? Which are your favorite ones and why?