// text and photography by Marjolein den Hartog
slate.jpg

Abstract

National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC, USA

National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC, USA

The building's ornamental bronze-coloured metal lattice is an homage to the intricate ironwork crafted by enslaved African Americans in Louisiana, South Carolina, and elsewhere

Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales

Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd, Wales

Not only the skies are grey in Wales: piled-up slate in this historic mining town

Hamburg, Germany

Hamburg, Germany

Nautical details in the harbour make for a colourful abstract

Talisker Bay, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Talisker Bay, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Wavelets of sand reflect their aquatic counterparts as the Atlantic Ocean leaves its mark

Zeeland, Netherlands

Zeeland, Netherlands

A mushroom in the Zeepeduinen dunes

Zoutkamp, Groningen, Netherlands

Zoutkamp, Groningen, Netherlands

A jellyfish or a fishing net?

Snæfellsjökull, Snæfellsnes, Iceland

Snæfellsjökull, Snæfellsnes, Iceland

Hvítur (White): the glacier's peak, famous for its role in Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth

River Waal, Netherlands

River Waal, Netherlands

A shrub on the banks turns out to be a lost artwork by Jackson Pollock

near Vík í Mýrdal, Suðurland, Iceland

near Vík í Mýrdal, Suðurland, Iceland

Svartur (Black): the wind uses black grains of sand to make ingenious patterns on the lava beach

Berlin, Germany

Berlin, Germany

This fairground attraction near the Jannowitzbrücke leaves a colourful rainbow pattern behind in the sky

Tempelhof Airport, Berlin, Germany

Tempelhof Airport, Berlin, Germany

Tyre marks on the runway at the former airport

Sognefjord, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway

Sognefjord, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway

A passing boat and the remainders of a jetty are all that's needed for a wavy, striped water pattern

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

As a way of avoiding raising the Nazi salute to commemorate those who died during Hitler's infamous 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, many citizens of Munich took a detour through a back alley. These golden cobblestones – tracing the route in the city's Viscardigasse – are a reminder of this civil disobedience during the Third Reich

 The beautifully yellowed pages of a 1933 English-Dutch dictionary

The beautifully yellowed pages of a 1933 English-Dutch dictionary

Husavík, Norðurland Eystra, Iceland

Husavík, Norðurland Eystra, Iceland

Beautiful erosion has marbled this wooden fence

 An amaryllis petal: almost like rustling crêpe fabric

An amaryllis petal: almost like rustling crêpe fabric