Pictures and posts on the way

Reflection

2012-02-02T09:48:00.001+01:00

Reflection, a photo by elivaos on Flickr.

Blue sky, flowers and sun. :)

Ufff

2012-01-03T14:31:00.000+01:00

It has been too long since my last entry in this blog. In the last months I've been busy writing and finishing the book for my PhD defense. The good news is that the date for my defense is set (april 5th) :). I just have to finish minor details in the book, and it is ready for printing. The cover was designed by Koleia :) A super wow cover! :) Mil gracias Kole. :)

With all this work going around, I've neglected friends. Calls, emails, cards ... are growing in my 'to-do' list. Also, clean up here and there, send photos around to people, put some buttons in pants/skirts... just name it, and you'll see it in my list.

A nice point is that I started yesterday with a new job: Post-Doc position @ Erasmus. I'll continue with research in the same field I did my PhD research.

We bought Carcassone (inspired by Miguel and Lina) and we have played almost every day. W. has won every single game. :P

I'll be aunt! :) from my Sis Laura and from my very good friend Sarah :) Nice year starts. :) Let's see how it develops.

Something else?? well. Happy 2012 to everybody! :)

Degenerated Grid

2011-03-10T18:15:00.000+01:00

African violet (update)

2011-01-26T17:47:00.000+01:00

And this is how it looks today! :)

I like how the "hairs" of the leaves are visible in the photo!

Sarah's flower

2011-01-25T15:39:00.000+01:00

I got a plant to "babysit", and now it is starting to bloom. Here 2 pics. The first was take last january the 13th and the second one today. Checking fast in internet, it is an african violet.

Melting snow

2010-12-21T11:41:00.000+01:00

Another photo from Muenster. :)

Photo taken last Saturday 18-12-2010.

Snow on branches

2010-12-19T01:13:00.001+01:00

Today we were in Muenster, Germany. Charming little city! :) We took some pics. from the city, but what stole most of my attention were the trees and the snow on them. It has been snowing for quite a while, and the city was just like a xmas postcard. Here one of the photos I liked the most. Other photos can be see here.

Art within Interpolations

2010-12-15T12:51:00.001+01:00

As it happens many times, I came across a beautiful image during my work. This is the difference between two interpolated CT images using different window functions (Lanczos and Welch) in a Windowed Sinc Interpolator. The cold areas indicate that the 'colors' of the resulting images were almost the same, while warm areas indicate larger differences. In general you can see a kind of a grid, which is an aliasing effect (at least, that's my theory...).

Winter outlines

2010-11-29T14:55:00.000+01:00

Some pics of frozen dew in the garden, taken yesterday around noon. :)

Happy winter! ;)

Orange star

2010-11-16T18:13:00.000+01:00

macro of the star of an orange I ate today! :)

Buying olives

2010-11-08T13:31:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday in the market @ afrikaanderplein.

Fall colours

2010-11-03T12:42:00.000+01:00

The new NeRD of the family! :)

2010-11-03T12:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we picked it up! :) :) :)

Willie Colon in Amsterdam

2010-10-10T20:26:00.000+02:00

Last friday was Willie Colon performing in Amsterdam. W and me were there!
WOW! :) :) :)

Image filtering and a lion

2010-09-06T15:00:00.002+02:00

Filtering some CT images (for my last project in my PhD), I came across some nice and "wise" face of a lion(?)

or here only the face:

PS: CT is a computed tomography. Let's say that it is a "picture" or the interior of, in this case, a human being.

Strawberry and keyboard

2010-07-15T15:36:00.002+02:00

Summer in the garden

2010-07-04T23:27:00.002+02:00

A pair of damselflies (waterjuffer in dutch or caballitos del diablo, o libelulita in spanish).

A papaver (klaproos in dutch, amapola oblonga in spanish) in front of our pond.

Friendly bird

2010-07-04T23:24:00.002+02:00

On the way to the office, we come across this guy often... He stands with its wings fully extended till its wings are dry (that's what we have heard). Any idea of the name of the bird?

World cup 2010

2010-07-04T23:20:00.003+02:00

And the Netherlands is still on the game! It was amazing that they sent Brazil home. The whole country will be watching next match against Uruguay, the last south-american team.

Summer Leaves

2010-06-25T18:43:00.003+02:00

Photo taken the day before yesterday on our way back home. I think it is a hazelnut tree. We have a little one in our garden, which I've intended to photograph.

>> Yes, the sky is overexposed... that was the idea ;)

Estaba la pájara pinta...

2010-06-25T18:29:00.002+02:00

A photo of a bird and her/his food.. :)

Taken this morning (around 9h) close to the office. The bird was standing on a hedge for long time, till we came out of the car.

The title of the post is a child songs: Estaba la pájara pinta sentada en su verde limón, con el pico cortaba la rama, con la rama cortaba la flor. :)
So far in time and space...

Reunion

2010-05-25T16:18:00.005+02:00

Great weekend with friends. :)

Audrey, Carlos Vanegas, Sebastian, Eliana, Miguel. Wouter took the photo!

A ver pues cuando se repite!

Leaves and kids

2010-05-25T14:50:00.000+02:00

Leaves

Don't forget to look up! :) The silver edge of the leaves is produced by the strong sunlight.
Photo taken in the gardens of the Versailles palace, last weekend.

Kids reading

Photo taken last weekend in the metro of Paris.

Two weeks in Medellín

2010-05-13T17:52:00.003+02:00

I went for 2 weeks to Medellín to be with my grandma and my mom for their birthdays.

Night photos

2010-04-20T18:36:00.003+02:00

Last march 30th we took some photos of Rotterdam @ night. I chose water reflections as theme. For today, we had to chose the three best shots. Here I included another photo, the last, that is my first experiment with HDR.

Flowers

2010-04-14T14:03:00.001+02:00

Spring :)
Flowers of two cherry trees (??) and other blooming tree.

Bunnies

2010-04-14T13:19:00.009+02:00

Spring is finally here! :) And to emphasize it, the bunnies are all around us. Amazingly enough, there are many bunnies around the hospital, close to my building. Yesterday I took some photos and here there are :).

30

2010-03-30T11:41:00.004+02:00

And today, ladies and gentlemen, is my 30th birthday! :)
Hoy cumplo 30 años! no muchos, ni muy poquitos... justo los que son! :) :)

Series

2010-02-16T18:52:00.003+01:00

A new homework for photography class:
create a series of "my ...", where you could choose what the ... was.
o "My aquarium": the one I got for xmas. :) Taking these photos was not as easy as I thought. Auto focus did not work, then manual focus, and the fishes just swim all around: then lower iso (and its noise) and large aperture to get some decent photos. No wonder why so many snails found place in the photos! ;)
o "My garden (in winter)": we took some very dark and beautiful photos from the garden, using the super tele-lens.

Let's see what will be the next homework.

Conga

2010-02-09T18:16:00.003+01:00

If you would live in one of the congas we've got at home, and W would come and play and hit and play, this is what you would see.

Starting up again

2010-01-26T16:17:00.003+01:00

Soooo... It's been a long time since I wrote anything here. I've been busy busy busy lately, writing papers, abstracts and so.

Little summary of the last days:
o My mom and two cousins came for a visit in xmas time. This has been the coldest winter since I live here... and I heard it is the coldest since 15 years or so... then my tropical mom and cousins enjoyed a cooold xmas, full of snow (charming) and ice (slippery). :)
o Baby jesus gave me a little aquarium! :) :) :) Now I have some fishes at home, including 8 cardinal tetras (the blue and red little fishes in the photo), 1 hillstream loach (Igor, the one on the glass) and 2 snails (not in the pic). Actually, many other snails that came with some plants are happily reproducing and populating the tank. Not that bad.

And that is it. Again, I'll upload some photos (I've postpone that since june last year) and include a link around here.

Shark, eel and calamar in the market

2009-11-16T22:51:00.005+01:00

Green-eye shark - Tiburon oji-verde

Eel and Calamar - Anguila y calamar

... and one of the eels went into our stomach!

Rainy reflection of plant

2009-11-03T19:00:00.000+01:00

The reflection of plant in my office window, after an rainy afternoon.
-- exposure time: 1 sec.

Fall - Otoño

2009-10-30T15:46:00.002+01:00

Oenerdijk

2009-10-30T15:21:00.004+01:00

The street in front of my house. :)
Large exposure time again (6 sec.)

Photography lessons - Homework 3

2009-10-30T14:12:00.005+01:00

A whole week passed by without uploading the homework here... but here it comes.

We learned (learnt?) about shutter speed or exposure time.
This is a very intuitive concept, it controls the time that shutter remains open to allow light to go into the sensor or film. Small number, e.g. 1/500 sec., means that the shutter opens and closes very fast. Large numbers, e.g. 20 sec., will open the shutter for longer time (20 sec.) and close it again.

For example, if you are in a park and take a picture of a pigeon starting to fly, then you can have very different results depending (among others) on the exposure time you use. A 1/1000 sec will give you the image of the pigeon in the air, just floating there with the wings in a "flying" position. In contrast, a larger number (maybe a 1 sec.?) will create an image where the parts of the pigeon that are moving are blurred. You could say that the first image is a static image, and the second a dynamic image. Some photos about this will come in the future (cross my fingers).

The homework was to play with long (exposure) times in the night and use small light sources. There are lots of beautiful photos taken like this: light graffiti. There are even movies, for example PiKaPiKa (thanks Wilco). All these examples keep the camera still, and move light sources around to create the figure you want... well, our homework was to do the contrary. Use a light source and move the camera, and here are some of my photos:

(click on the images for a larger image)

Olympus e-510

2009-10-19T12:10:00.000+02:00

I'm the proud owner of a dSLR. :)

Photography lessons - Homework 2

2009-10-12T16:42:00.029+02:00

We learned about aperture, and how it changes a picture.
Long story short: large aperture (small f/ number) will blur the objects that are behind/in front the object you focus on. Small aperture (large f/ number) will let everything sharp.

Then, the homework was to take two photos of the same object with the largest and smallest aperture available and see the results.

I chose a plant with beautiful orange "peppers" in F&F's garden.

Small Aperture
f/22

Large Aperture
f/3.0

But the nicest result was by accident. Look at the little green plant next to the peppers, that stands out in the photo with large aperture.

Small Aperture
f/22

Large Aperture
f/3.0

Photography lessons - Homework 1

2009-10-05T11:24:00.003+02:00

Homework:
take a photo of something you see/do in the morning and in the night. And one more from your work.

Morning: the clothing cabinet... and the little mess of shoes. Although I should say that most shoes are wondering around other corners.

Work: That's my desktop. Teapot, articles, etc and the plant.

Night: The kitchen while we were cooking some delicious pasta.

Mussels in Utrecht

2009-09-17T09:54:00.006+02:00

Last week we went to Utrecht to make a couple of tramits. That day we ate delicious mussels, and here are some photos.

...............

Some garden visitors

2009-08-24T23:25:00.016+02:00

The red butterflies:

The orange butterflies:

The workers of the hive:

The white one and the scary one:

The cats:

The caterpillars:

The slimy ones:

The jumpy ones:

and the "sophisticated" ones:

These photos were taken in our garden, between july and august 2009.

Dishes in the south

2009-08-24T11:33:00.001+02:00

So many satellite dishes always indicate a neighborhood of foreigners in the Netherlands, and I imagine almost everywhere else in Europe.

This building is in the south of Rotterdam, an area full of aliens just like me. :) (although I've not yet bought the dish...)

Graffiti

2009-08-06T19:09:00.001+02:00

in the south

Lazy cat

2009-07-21T11:45:00.000+02:00

This stray(?) cat loves our garden.

Tea trio

2009-07-20T11:37:00.001+02:00

Dragons and flowers

Colombia 2008-2009

2009-07-10T00:12:00.005+02:00

I got time to upload some photos from the trip to Colombia last year.
The album is in picasa.

My new teapot

2009-07-09T16:17:00.001+02:00

... a present from Sarah :)

Caterpillar

2009-07-07T11:29:00.003+02:00

lodging in the yellow flowers (ragwort) in our garden. Oruga o gusano?

update: they are Cinnabar Moth (Tyria jacobaeae) Caterpillar, and they will turn into this.

Questions of an orange

2009-07-06T17:09:00.001+02:00

Marks after peeling

Cat

2009-07-03T17:40:00.001+02:00

Friendly cat

Adios Benedetti

2009-05-18T12:53:00.002+02:00

An incredible writer died yesterday. He is Uruguayan, or better, he is latinamerican.
His books and poems were always present in the school, but it is one of those authors that crossed the borders of school assignments and took a permanent place in your life. I copy here two of his beautiful poems.

Táctica y estrategia
Mi táctica es / mirarte / aprender como sos /quererte como sos
mi táctica es / hablarte / y escucharte / construir con palabras / un puente indestructible
mi táctica es / quedarme en tu recuerdo / no sé cómo ni sé / con qué pretexto / pero quedarme en vos
mi táctica es / ser franco / y saber que sos franca / y que no nos vendamos / simulacros / para que entre los dos / no haya telón / ni abismos
mi estrategia es / en cambio / más profunda y más / simple
mi estrategia es / que un día cualquiera / no sé cómo ni sé / con qué pretexto / por fin me necesites.

Hagamos un trato
Compañera / usted sabe / puede contar / conmigo / no hasta dos / o hasta diez / sino contar / conmigo
si alguna vez / advierte /que la miro a los ojos /y una veta de amor /reconoce en los míos /no alerte sus fusiles /ni piense qué delirio /a pesar de la veta /o tal vez porque existe /usted puede contar / conmigo
si otras veces / me encuentra / huraño sin motivo /no piense qué flojera /igual puede contar /conmigo
pero hagamos un trato / yo quisiera contar /con usted
es tan lindo / saber que usted existe /uno se siente vivo / y cuando digo esto /quiero decir contar /aunque sea hasta dos / aunque sea hasta cinco / no ya para que acuda / presurosa en mi auxilio / sino para saber / a ciencia cierta / que usted sabe que puede / contar conmigo.

Amazons 2008 in picasa

2009-05-09T03:28:00.002+02:00

I got time to upload some photos from the trip to the amazons last year. There are some photos that need to get additional light and better contrast (that'll come later), but in general you can get an idea of the trip.

The album is in picasa.

Spring photos

2009-04-27T18:02:00.002+02:00

Lately I've got few time for uploading photos to this blog and to Picasa... Picasa's last album was 200805!! that's almost a year ago, and there are many many nice photos I would like to publish... Specially the last weeks I've been a bit crazy taking photos of the blooming trees and flowers during their spring wake up. Anyhow, I'll try to catch up. :)

Second paper accepted for publication

2009-04-21T18:50:00.000+02:00

I got an e-mail from the editor of Med. Phys. saying: "I am pleased to inform you that your revised manuscript, referenced below, has been accepted for publication ...". without any "However" or "Nevertheless"!!! :) :D :D :)

The last flower before the summer sleep

2009-04-15T12:00:00.002+02:00

It's a fact that my plant likes autumn and winter. Now it's preparing to sleep till next autumn, or as they say, it will take a long siesta... :)

Mr. Fish

2009-04-04T15:22:00.001+02:00

The guy that bought it will cook it whole... :)

Walking in the forest

2009-03-30T15:44:00.001+02:00

On my birthday

Annie after the concert

2009-03-25T01:03:00.002+01:00

A blurred photo from my shy phone-camera :)

Annie Sellick and Pat

2009-03-25T01:02:00.001+01:00

Concert @ Borne :) she and her voice are amazing!

Joe Robinson and a friend

2009-03-24T20:49:00.001+01:00

He got smoke from his guitar. ;) Concert@Borne, nl.

More fried fish

2009-03-23T18:58:00.001+01:00

Fried fish at the market

2009-03-23T18:53:00.001+01:00

Clear afternoon

2009-03-23T18:50:00.001+01:00

First flower in our garden

2009-03-17T13:16:00.001+01:00

Red lips on the cold stone

2009-03-07T17:29:00.001+01:00

Utrecht, near the dom.

Bio-auto

2009-02-28T15:21:00.001+01:00

Near to the market.

Gudiz verdes para Gie

2009-02-26T16:46:00.002+01:00

My plant seems to like winter days.

2009-02-25T14:35:00.001+01:00

At least one of us likes it.

Colorful bears

2009-02-18T15:10:00.004+01:00

on my desktop, before I eat them! ;)

Ice crystals

2009-01-30T18:36:00.001+01:00

on the mirror of the car.

Fallen flower

2009-01-29T17:40:00.001+01:00

The center is transparent!

Freezing lines

2009-01-27T09:06:00.005+01:00

good morning cold tuesday! :)

A cold day to go to the films

2009-01-23T10:48:00.001+01:00

Some of our neighbors

2008-12-15T19:57:00.000+01:00

A family of geese.

My father's cartoon!

2008-12-07T22:17:00.003+01:00

It was made by one of his students!! :)

During a meeting

2008-12-01T14:18:00.001+01:00

On top of the car

2008-11-24T19:12:00.001+01:00

It snows in the Netherlands

2008-11-23T15:35:00.001+01:00

Tree

2008-11-19T15:21:00.003+01:00

Trees that are emphasized by the sun light :)

Dinning out with friends

2008-11-14T20:00:00.002+01:00

:)

Izkandar and Rozie (and Little Aiman)

Sarah and Aymen

W and Ali (a new collegue)

:) Nice food + nice company = super nice night! :)

Gray, grayish, grayer ...

2008-11-12T16:08:00.001+01:00

Drawings and paintings.

2008-11-11T14:34:00.003+01:00

Por medio de dadanoias llegué aquí
vale la pena pasearse por sus dibujos
y pinturas.

Eating mussels in Blaak market

2008-10-25T17:03:00.002+02:00

Next to the library

Saturday: market day

2008-10-25T13:35:00.002+02:00

Happy square

2008-10-25T13:01:00.001+02:00

So lazy

2008-10-24T13:02:00.001+02:00

I just listened to a very lazy song... so lazy by Kevin Johansen, from Argentina. Let's play it again later!

Autumn

2008-10-23T13:45:00.001+02:00

Flower says hello

2008-10-22T14:55:00.001+02:00

Haribo bears

2008-10-20T23:10:00.001+02:00

All flavors except the pineapple

Tree trunk

2008-10-20T16:25:00.001+02:00

Mushrooms

2008-10-19T22:11:00.001+02:00

Leaves on the floor of the forest

2008-10-19T22:08:00.001+02:00

In one of the forests in Drenthe

Plant taking a sun bath

2008-10-17T11:11:00.001+02:00

Sunny morning

2008-10-17T11:03:00.002+02:00

Good morning! :)

500

2008-10-16T14:18:00.002+02:00

Flower plant in my office

2008-10-15T13:51:00.001+02:00

Cyclamen

Autumn in Rotterdam

2008-10-11T16:06:00.001+02:00

Near kop van zuif

Olives in the market

2008-10-08T12:04:00.001+02:00

Singing and singing

2008-09-30T16:31:00.002+02:00

You go to my head -- sang by Annie Sellick

You go to my head,
And you linger like a haunting refrain
And I find you spinning round in my brain
Like the bubbles in a glass of champagne.

You go to my head
Like a sip of sparkling burgundy brew
And I find the very mention of you
Like the kicker in a julep or two.

The thrill of the thought
That you might give a thought
To my plea casts a spell over me
Still I say to myself: get a hold of yourself
Can't you see that it can never be?

You go to my head
With smile that makes my temperature rise
Like a summer with a thousand Julys
You intoxicate my soul with your eyes
Tho I'm certain that this heart of mine
Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance,
You go to my head.

Beautiful present!

2008-09-29T14:44:00.001+02:00

:) from Wouter's parents.