De Kat Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

A visit to Zaanse Schans near Amsterdam is like a travel in time...In a moment you find yourself living back in 17th century. Among the other things to see in this small traditional village are the big industrial wind mills, still working. The Zaan area once upon the time was the first industrial park in Europe!
In 1646 paint windmill "De Kat" (yes, you guessed well...means The Cat) was built at its present day site on the Zaan, later to become part of the Zaanse Schans. It was the Golden Age in Netherlands, when the need of colors for painting was high! In 1782 the mill was destroyed by fire but was rapidly rebuilt again. At the beginning of the 1900’s, when windmills were being replaced by steam engines, the mill was demolished to the height of the platform. In 1960 the eight-sided paint mill "De Duinjager" was removed from its former position owing to urban development and placed on top of the old storehouse of "De Kat". The mill is once again grinding raw materials such as chalk to make pigments for paints in the traditional way.

Liora, avigur_11, petertee, Motrem, aznegrao has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Bos (615) 2004-08-21 3:46

Nice dutch scenery you've got here, though i think the boards on the house are a bit too dark, and maybe a tighter crop would have been better.

Liora (1857) 2004-08-21 5:06

Great capture George! Beautiful view and well defined colors. I like your choice of "bigger scene" - I think the details in the background provide some context and prevent this photo from becoming a postcard. Well done!

hdl (6735) 2004-08-21 7:18

Nice sight, George. You have chosen a very good subject and brought it to us excellently in good sharpness and colours. I just wonder how this picture would be if you places your mill somewhat away from the center.

francis (695) 2004-08-21 17:02

Such rich color. And a very interesting subject. Very well done.

avigur_11 (21273) 2004-08-21 18:29

I do remember this mill from Zaanse Schans very well. I wasn't lucky to have such a blue sky, then. a very well captured shot, good position of the windmill, and perfect sky. Very well done.

yesterday (9787) 2004-08-22 5:09

I do like the old tinks, mabye becouse I am nostalgic.

Beautiful old mill, great strong color and contrast in photo, good compoced.

Tip. in my eye, you could crop the photo on the left side of the bue boat, and only have the front mill in picture, think it would be good.

Pts later, I am out fore today.......Regards Kaj Nielsen

technogran (1339) 2004-08-22 9:39

Very nice composition, what a wonderful mill with the nice colours on the vanes. It is what I would expect and want to see if I visited Holland. When you think of the ingenuity of the people hundreds of years ago to use such mills to work their grinding machines, it is incredible. Good to see you back George.

Motrem (2392) 2004-09-25 17:04

Beautiful photo and well defined colours. I like your composition and details in the background. Good shot!
Belle photo et couleurs bien définies. J'aime votre composition et les détails à l'arrière-plan. Bien vu.

aznegrao (10230) 2004-10-16 4:15

Grande imagem, muito clara, com cores saturadas porem naturais e uma boa nota. Saudações.
aznegrao.