Iron Cape (Oosterend, Texel) in the morning light by Wim van der Geest

About "Iron Cape (Oosterend, Texel) in the morning light"

by Wim van der Geest

About the artwork

I had been planning for some time to take a picture of the Iron Cape near Oosterend on Texel in the morning light. Of course the right weather is needed for that and luckily I had that. I took some pictures of the Cape with the sun behind it when I turned around. There I saw this beautiful cloud coming in, lit by the rising sun. I quickly took this picture of it. It is an HDR shot from 5 different exposures. Because of this both the dark parts (the grass and the Cape itself) and the light parts (the cloud) are well exposed.
A piece of history that can be found on Wikipedia:
The Cape Oosterend or Iron Cape near Oosterend on Texel is an iron sea monkey and in that function as a landmark (day mark) a beacon for shipping.
In 1854, the sea monkey was designed by the architect Quirinus Harder, who worked as a structural engineer for the Pilotage Service. It was designed as a fireproof beacon that was only visible to shipping during the day. Together with the church tower of the Reformed Church in Oosterend, the cape formed a beacon line for shipping in the eastern part of the Texel River. In 1843 there was a harbour near the cape for a short time.
Due to the increase in night-time shipping on the Texel River and the erratic course of the water, the beacon line was moved to the north (the current location) in 1977. A fire beacon was also considered desirable. The iron cape was then removed because of confusion