Zomaar *11 (Just Like That *11)

Early Morning Sunlight and Late Afternoon Sunlight are magical.
These photographs are also the result of a character deviation. Always I’m looking for pictures. Even at home.
Up: Diemen, 12/03/24, 7.23 am
Under: Diemen, 12/03/28 7.37 pm

Treinraam (Train Window)

Nowadays the train windows are sometimes partly covered with signs and phrases. They can spoil the view, but the 2D eye of the camera makes a surreal image out of it.
Up: Haarlem-Leiden. 12/02/09 10.09 am
Under: Venlo-Nijmegen. 12/02/09. 2.40 pm

Zelfportret # 158 (Self portrait # 158)

Last train home.
Amsterdam, 12/03/21. 0.33 am

Het land langs # 11 (Along the Country Side # 11)

Some haze on the water, a cloud in the sky, a little bit of wind, one doesn’t need much for a photograph.
IJsselmeer (NL), 12/03/15, 4.29 pm

Zelfportret # 157 (Self portrait # 157)

The photographic lines may be blurry ( bad macro & some movement because of lack of light), the image I consider as sharp.
Diemen (NL) 12/03/11 2.01 pm

Diemer Plek # 62 (Sites from Diemen NL # 62)

Nowadays my photography has no actual obligation to what is called reality!
It takes an amount of elements from time and space at a certain spot. With the help of me as a photographer these elements are turned into a realism of its own: the reality of the created image.
This reality should have only a very tiny link with original reality of the ever existing subject which was photographed.
To put it in another way: A photograph of mine has some autobiographical elements, but after all it’s just fiction.
(And yes: Diemen has a rocket!)
Up: Diemen (NL) 12/03/08. 4.31 pm
Under: Diemen (NL) 12/03/12 3.43 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (99) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (99)

Rain & shop window Light , especially in the twilight hour, can cause fairytale reflections on dull cobble stones. The red umbrella was a small present of the God of Time.

Amsterdam. 12/03/7. 5.27 p

Zelfportret # 156 (Self portrait # 156)

It’s not a painting, but a photograph stupid!
It annoys me that many pictures made by photographers use the esthetics of classical painting. Photography has developed its own set of rules of what is esthetical & what not. So use it. In this way the slicing of time for instance plays an important role, which is one of the blessings of the medium.
Diemen, 12/3/6. 10.33 am

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (98) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (98

Last weekend the opening of the new European Apple Store took place. It was like a religious service:
A temple for the Apple believers. Yes, I am using a PC. And yes, sometimes I’m working on a Macintosh. They’re good machines. But they’re not divine.
Anyway, it is a beautiful store. An Apple Cathedral. With a stairway that brings you into the Apple Heaven! (& with your feet back on Mother Earth)
Amsterdam. 12/04/03. 3.55 pm

Het land langs # 10 (Along the Country Side # 10)

Another form of physical exercise I practice: cycling along the country site.
In this time of year, especially when the sun doesn’t shine, the scene is very gloomy.
There is an atmosphere of stillness in the air.
Up: Zuiderwoude (NL) 12/02/26 4.30 pm
Under: Abcoude/Geindijk Noord (NL) 12/02/23 3.29 pm
(To enjoy these images properly: Click upon them to enlarge them)

Zelfportret # 155 (Self portrait # 155)

Made after my weekly swimming exercise. 1250 meters!
(And yes, I’m my own voyeur!)
Diemen, 12/02/16. 3.11 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (97) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (97))

Something I love to do: combining elements of two or more different visual worlds into one slightly surreal image.
Wow, it’s one of the hidden magic powers of photography.
Up: Amsterdam, 12/02/24 2.59 pm
Under: Amsterdam, 12/02/24 1.59 pm

Diemer Plek # 61 (Sites from Diemen NL # 61)

I’m taking photographs in Diemen for about 6 years now. In this way I am able to show the changes that occur in the landscape. Look here how it was.
The observant follower of yhis blog can also notice that I was using a more wide angle lens in the past. Nowadays I tend to exploit a more normal angle for my images of the scenery. Feels better somehow.
Diemen, Diemerpolderweg (NL). 12/02/22. 2.55 pm

Het land langs # 9 (Along the Country Side # 9)

Our way of looking at the (Dutch) landscape is strongly influenced by the art of painting. For many photographers making a picture that looks like a painting is the highest goal. Afterwards they want a print on canvas.
IMO this is completely wrong. Photography has the means to play with vanishing points and perspectives. Of course a painter can also do this, but a photographer moves more around before the scene is caught on the sensor. This results in more vivid images compared to paintings.
A photograph also has a greater sense of time.
(made yesterday, it was a beautiful afternoon to bike around in the country side)
Railway bridge Weesp (NL). 12/02/20 4.19 pm

Diemer Plek # 60 (Sites from Diemen NL # 60)

It is a strange sight, this spot of Diemen, the Amsterdam suburb where I live. A new town center has been planned and new, already grown trees are planted. Meanwhile there is a sense of decay, especially during the bleak day I took the picture.
Diemen (NL) 12/02/13 3.35 pm

Zelfportret # 154 (Self portrait # 154)

The Wicked Eye!!
Diemen (NL) 12/02/12 10.05 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (96) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (96))

Something I already loved to do when I was young: Being at the station and watching crowds at the other side of the tracks.
Amsterdam. 12/02/04. 7.40 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (95) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (95))

One of the benefits of a cold winter’s day is the crisp ,clear sunlight. It sometimes creates a a slightly surreal atmosphere which I like a lot.
Amsterdam, 12/02/06, 4.00 pm

Zelfportret # 153 (Self portrait # 153)

It was cold at the station, the train was running late, but at last I could sit.
Amsterdam-Diemen (NL) 12/02/04 7.55 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (94) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (94))

Sometimes I like to make pictures which can be considered as cryptograms of reality.
Up: Amsterdam 12/01/27 4.03 pm
Under: Amsterdam 12/01/27 4.19 pm

Nieuw boek (New book)

Last year I was in New York, because of the exhibition ”Dutch Delight”, as regular followers of my weblog may know. I spent quite a lot of time with the set-up and the lay-out of the show (together with Dutch and Agniet) and some more organizational affairs. Still I had plenty of time to discover New York (and Washington for a day) and make lot of photographs.

At last I made a final selection of the image and completed a pod book: “NYC fragments & Some more”. You can see a preview here.
The photo you see today was made in my hotel room. Every night at 2.00 am the garbage was collected right under my room window. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed my stay, also because of the warm welcome by Kenneth & June and Leendert.
Photo: New York Cidela Bed&Breakfast 11/05/10 10.47 pm

Diemer Plek # 59 (Sites from Diemen NL # 59)

This photograph is about the vanishing point outside the right side of the frame of the picture. Many things are skew, except the pylons which are very straight. This gave me a very weird feeling when I was cycling bye. Something is wrong at this spot, but I don’t know what.
To feel the strange space, you’d better click on the image to enlarge it.
Diemen, Diemer Zeedijk, 12/01/24, 3.32 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (93) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (93))

How far can one go in creating a world of its own by ripping elements from the real visual world?
I mean at what point does a photograph lose meaning to become just a personal toy of the photographer?
(This one was taking from a departing subway train.)
Amsterdam, 2012/01/21, 7.06 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (92) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (92))

Combining details in the visual environment can result into a slightly surreal photograph. I took this picture standing on the new pedestrian bridge across the railway tracks of the station. Luckily the sun wasn’t shining that day. It was a bleak, gloomy day which resulted in a balance between the strength of light on the bridge (which had a roof) and strength of the light outside.
Zwolle (NL), 01/18/2012, 1.46 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (91) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (91))

These pictures are not about meaning. It’s just a play with shopping, signs of SALE, reflections and movement in the street. Simple enough. But I love to do it.
Up: Amsterdam 2011/12/30 2.48 pm
Under: Amsterdam 2012/01/16 1.56 pm

Diemer Plek # 58 (Sites from Diemen NL # 58)

We’re having a very gloomy winter at the moment. I am longing for some snow & ice, instead of this grey weather.
Photograph: Diemen (NL) Julianaplantsoen 12/01/11 2.37 pm

Jo Hameleers

My friend Jo Hameleers is a very gifted painter. I always photograph his paintings. Doing that, I can’t resist making some pictures in his workshop, which is to be found at an attic in one of the old canal houses in Amsterdam. Beautiful spot, a bit cold during winter time.
Currently Jo is having a show at the Amstelkerk in Amsterdam. See his website for more details.
All photographs Amsterdam 11/12/06

Zelfportret # 152 (Self portrait # 152)

Red is a weird color. It is at the border of the visible light, it is frightening. It is a bit psychedelic, it means stop!, it tells you there is danger ahead of you. So when I saw a red traffic light at my eyes’ height, I couldn’t resist myself to take this picture.
Photograph: Amsterdam, 12/01/05 22.04 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (90) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (90))

It is intriguing me: the interaction in the photograph between the commercial signs like texts, letters in shop windows, on walls, on billboards on one hand and fragments of street life on the other hand.
It is a form of street photography that I love to perform.
Some kind of (my) inner life that is projected into the outside world.
I am fully aware of the fact that many self appointed street photographers don’t call this street photography.
Up: Antwerpen (Bel) 11/10/11 2.54 pm
Under: Amsterdam 12/01/04 3.43 pm

Diemer Plek # 57 (Sites from Diemen NL # 57)

New Years ‘day in Diemen-Noord (NL)
The 1st day of the year was a grey and gloomy one. Bluesy atmosphere, emphasized by the streets covered by what seemed to be blood.
Up: Zeezigt. 12/01/01 3.20 pm
Under: Meerkoet. 12/01/01 3.17 pm

Zelfportret # 151 (Self portrait # 151)

Self Reflection.
Photo taken through a double glazed window.
Diemen 11/12/29 11.56 am

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (89) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (89))

As regular visitors of my weblog may know, as a photographer I am particularly interested in the way the outside world is reflected in shopping windows. And also in the way the content of the shopping window can beautifully combine with the outside street life. Often resulting in a bit surreal image.
Up: Amsterdam. 11/12/23. 1.16 pm
Under: Amsterdam. 11/12/23 1.19 pm

A happy Christmas and a very good & healthy 2012!

Diemer Plek # 56 (Sites from Diemen NL # 56)

Vertical lines in the photographic composition, especially if they’re not quite straight, sometimes emphasize the subject. In this case the dull peace of a grey winter’s day in a sleepy suburb of Amsterdam.
Up: Diemen Zeezigt. 11/12/7. 12.31 am
Under: Diemen Schoolstraat 11/12/15. 3.01 pm

Zelfportret # 150 (Self portrait # 150)

One doesn’t need eyes to express age.
Taken during a train ride Eindhoven-Amsterdam 11/12/17 7.37 pm

Nieuw boek (new book)

Yes, the book 11/11 is ready! You can see it here.

As mentioned before every day has its own two pages: right a photographic image, left layout and some words. It has become a sort of diary of the month. The picture you see has been made on that specific day. Enjoy.
Photograph: 11/11/12 Amsterdam. 1.50 pm