Formerly known as the Diamond Wheel, this giant 55m high travelling ferris wheel called "The View" visited Geleen during the fair in 2015. Together with Weert, the annual fair in Geleen is known as one of the largest of Limburg (and even The Netherlands). On the technical side: image taken with the Panasonic GH2 at ISO 800; impressed with the relatively low noise and plenty of details - not bad for a small m4/3 sensor! (2015)

Burning unprocessed gases at one of the plants at the Chemelot site, a large industrial complex built on the former site of the Dutch State Mines (DSM). This so called "flaring" is a way to prevent these gases to end up in the environment. Flaring can happen when a plant has to shut down unexpectedly, but also for maintenance to clear the pipes. The flame in this image is just a small(er) one, but this process can make a lot of noise and sometimes the sky lights up all orange! (2017)

ENCI is short for "Eerste Nederlandse Cement Industrie" (First Dutch Cement Industry) and its core activity has been the digging of marl out of St. Pietersberg to make cement. Dug-up earth has been used to create a hill: "d'n Observant", which can be seen in the back - this green hill is one of the highest 'summits' of the Netherlands at +170.8m above sea level 🙂 As of 2020 the factory has been closed down and now nature can take back the quarry. This has already started: a pair of Eurasian eagle-owls have been nesting at the ENCI quarry since 2001! (2016)

Giant bucket wheel excavators in use for strip mining lignite at Tagebau Inden, north of the city of Aachen (Germany) and right across the border with Limburg (The Netherlands). The coal is used for the power plant next to the big pit. Mind you, this image was taken with a telephoto lens at 200mm and is only marginally cropped. These machines are massive! This mining pit is scheduled to be closed around 2030, after that the pit will be filled with water to become a big lake. (2019)

Looks like someone took the sketch on graph paper a bit too literally when designing this building 😉 Seen near the Maasboulevard in Venlo (Limburg, The Netherlands) (2017)