Just from Diemen NL #15

 (Photographs from the town of Diemen, suburb of Amsterdam, my hometown for the last 22 years.) 

Poppies on the dike of the motor highway A9.

Denkend aan Holland / zie ik brede autowegen / traag door oneindig / laagland gaan. (Thinking of Holland / I see wide motorways / slowly going through /infinite lowlands.)

Heiloo (NL), 23/05/28, A9.

March 17.

Strange spot. These trunks are all that is left from a beautiful park. All because of some motor highways. Progress? Yes, Ladies & Gents I am a romantic soul. Diemen, 4.55 pm.

March 8.

Strange. This spot in my suburbian hometown is so artificial, that I sense about the same mixture of surrealism and poetry I felt yesterday at the Antwerp cemetery. Or was it only the exceptional weather, a very early spring. Diemen, 4.24 pm 

February 12.

The night sometimes seems to keep many, many secrets. Diemen, 8.39 pm.

January 3

My home town Diemen, an Amsterdam suburb, is surrounded by Motor Highways.

Some small parts of rough land are saved. Diemen, 3.01 pm.

Diemer Plek # 75 (Sites from Diemen NL # 75)

In my photographs of locations in my hometown Diemen something is slowly changing. When I started 7½ years ago, my main purpose was to capture the meaning & the purpose of the pictured spot. After that I gradually used a more topographic vision. Nowadays I’m looking for a mixture between those two approaches. To that combination I tend to add pictorial elements like the use of  and sometimes the emphasis on atmosphere and color. Or of course the lack of color and atmosphere at a certain spot.

Up: Tureluurweg 2006/09/29 5.29 pm

Under: De Omloop 2014/02/25 5.10 pm

Diemer Plek # 74 (Sites from Diemen NL # 74)

This winter there’s a lot of bare soil in Diemen, Holland. Combined with bare trees and wintry skies this is giving gloomy feelings.

Up: During a couple of years Diemen is reinventing its center. A new shopping mall has been built and now many parks are being reconstructed. I know one day it will be green again but now it is a very sad sight. Diemen, Oranjelaan, 14/1/8, 3.46 pm

Under: At the same time the motor highway which divides Diemen in two parts is being widened. Many trees are destroyed. Here there will be no new green. Only concrete and cars. Diemen, Kanaaldijk, 14/1/2, 2.47 pm

Diemer Plek # 72 (Sites from Diemen NL # 72)

Meanwhile I can’t stop taking photographs of Diemen, the somewhat sleepy suburb of Amsterdam I live in.  There’s nothing I want to emphasize, I’m not looking for s special meaning of things in Diemen. It is not a documentary of the village either, but of course actual facts play their role. Every photograph has to have a meaning of itself. It could be called autonomous photography. The photograph has to speak for itself.

Up: Diemen (NL) 13/09/23 12.41 am

Middle: Diemen (NL) 13/11/10 4.21 pm

Under: Diemen (NL) 13/11/13 3.44 pm

Diemer Plek # 69 (Sites from Diemen NL # 69)

At the backside of the motor highway that circles around my home town Diemen the combination of graffiti and bare branches & twigs turn the photograph into an almost abstract painting.

I wonder how they got those signs behind those trees. It is a pretty steep slope.

This picture came too late for the exhibition at WV15 next Saturday. I would have loved to use it in the show!

Up: De Omloop Diemen (NL) 13/01/02 4.01 pm

Under: De Omloop Diemen (NL) 13/01/02 4.25 pm