blue | Flights. Camera. Satisfaction.

While touring the Royal Palace in Amsterdam you pass behind the famous balcony on which royals greet the public in Dam Square. These chairs sit in the hallway behind the balcony, and presumably are where said royals wait before heading outside for the special occasion.

After I took this shot I wondered what that must feel like, what they might be thinking as they sit on these chairs. Do they look upon each engagement as a burden, a chore or a privilege? Is living a life prescribed to you from birth easy? I imagine not.

I loved the amazing blue here, which I have since noticed is very similar to the colour used by the Dutch national airline KLM. I suspect it’s not a coincidence, but I have no idea. Maybe someone out there knows the answer?!

To give the colour a bit more emphasis I decided to make the rest of the image black and white. Fortunately it was pretty easy in Lightroom. I just had to decrease the saturation for every colour other than blue to zero.

As we descended into the ice of Mer De Glace there was one thing that struck me more than anything else – the colour. I just couldn’t believe how incredibly blue it was! It’s certainly unlike any ice I’ve seen before. The glacier ice is compacted over an extensive period of time, and so it becomes very dense. This gives it a very different structure to your every-day ice on the street, which just so happens to strongly scatter blue light.

This shot was taken just before entering the glacier. I thought theses crevasses were fascinating! You’ll see some safety fencing toward the top of the shot. Believe it or not this is for the benefit of the (slightly) crazy folk who like to spend their spare time skiing down the glacier. I have to say it looks like fantastic fun, but perhaps a little bit close to impending doom for my liking. They were skiing right by these crevasses, so one false move and you’re in serious trouble!

Have you seen the amazing blue of glacier ice? What did you think of it? Maybe you’ve skied down a glacier?! I’d love to hear from you.