Abstract nominee

A fresh layer of snow, beautiful as Always... I wanted to capture it in a different way, try something new. I found a cilindrical lens in the locker, a lens that I made about 25 years ago, and I tried to put it in front of my smart Phone, just to see what it would bring. Using double sided tape, I attached it to my Phone and went outside. With this trick, a surreal world became visible, mystic and bright… The 'prof' mode of the phone's camera made it possible to play with the exposure times, and I found some over-exposure more pleasing to me.
This is just one of the many images I've made this morning (Januari, 23)and for sure, they won't be the last....

My name is Rik ter Horst, 53 years old and I live in the North of the Netherlands. My daily job is best described as the design and manufacturing of optical instruments for large telescopes. And one of my hobbies is photography...

Using the camera of my dad, I learned very well how NOT to take pictures, so I decided to experiment myself through the world of photography trying to do things differently. With home-made optics, a lot of time and dito effort, I learned to work with extremely long focus lenses, playing with depth of field and removing perspective in the image. The night-sky is my favorit target, but these tele-lenses proved to be also very useful during day-light. Very recently I tried taking pictures through a cylindrical lens in front of my smartphone.....

Being an Optician, I feel priviliged to have so many optics laying around me to be used for experiments. I've never had exhibitions myself (let alone awards) and it never has been a goal. Now, I just want to give it a shot, hoping to find courage to further expand my photographic activities and skills.