Looking for the perfect tulip picture at a magical sunrise in Midwoud

Midwoud, 6.15 am. Today Jean Paul Bardelot has set his alarm clock and he goes – armed with a camera – into the tulip fields. He likes nothing better. “The world is awakening. You have the sounds of the birds, you are nice and alone. It is more magical than in the evening, I think. With this beautiful weather you have to go out into the fields now. It can be over in a minute.”

It is indeed quiet when Jean Paul arrives. The tulip field on the Broerdijk is beautiful. The windmill and the beautiful weather do the rest. All the ingredients for a beautiful series of photos by him are present.

Passion

The passion for photography came about ten years ago. And after the phone was exchanged for a professional camera, the followers came on his Instagram page soon. “I am sometimes asked to take pictures abroad. For example, I have been to Switzerland and Tunisia. You suddenly find yourself on a mountain photographing the sunrise.”

All hobby, although that has changed. “I was an export manager for 25 years, but since two months I have been working as a creative photographer at an online wood trade. So I have turned my hobby into my profession. They know that it can happen that I show up a little later at work during the tulip period. Fortunately that is not a problem.”

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There is little time to lose. The sun is preparing to reveal itself for the day, so Jean Paul quickly takes his position in the field. “They call it the golden hour, but it actually only lasts a few minutes,” he says. “The runways here run beautifully towards the sun. That makes this field extra beautiful. It is beautiful today”, he beams when it is still half past six.

Carefully he chooses the lanes with tulips that he wants to capture. After a series of photos, he quickly looks at the result. About twenty minutes later he gets back on his feet, satisfied. “You can see the glow on the red tulips, beautiful.”

Enemy

Jean Paul is expected to have only a few days left before the head machines and tulip heads put an end to the beautiful sight. “Whether that is the big enemy? Actually, of course, but I understand it from the farmers of course. But it is always a shame if they are headed.”

Jean Paul quickly packs his things and leaves. The regular working day can begin. “But actually the day has already passed.”