Joy and I spent the spring of 2008 cruising the waterways of the Netherlands on board our boat ~Cobweb~.

I took many photographs using a small digital camera. The majority of these pictures were for use in a our logbook. A few seemed to acquire an extra dimension in the terms of how I view landscape and especially when I look at a man made land.

Very little of the Netherlands is in its natural state and the divisions between land and water are not always apparent. The land often seems to float on a bed of water with man made barriers and artifices keeping the two from mixing into a sandy soup.



Living in Suffolk, as we do, ensures that I am aware of the flatness of the land and the enormity of the sky. The same applies in the Netherlands but there my awareness is tempered by the thought that 'man did all of this'.

These pictures arise from my feelings for water and my awareness of its close proximity to the deck of our boat. Water may not appear in a picture but it is very close by or only a metre or so underfoot. The water is generally calm but not always: a fresh breeze can soon whip up a chop.

August 2009: I have revised the book using the new Blurb 'My Page Layouts'

Ian Castle