Zelfportret # 141 (Self portrait # 141)

An vague image sometimes hides the sharpest thoughts.
Diemen, 11/10/02, 7.57 am.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (82) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (82))

If surrealism can be defined as a combination of several realities resulting into a new reality, photography is a perfect tool to create surrealism.
New York (Rooseveld Tramway). 2011/5/17. 9.25

Diemer Plek # 51 (Sites from Diemen NL # 51)

Call it Parking lot Photography. It seems nothing is happening at the scene of the picture. But meanwhile there is a hidden tension. Something is going to happen, but exactly when and where? ……….
Up: 11/9/15, Harmoniehof, 4.37 pm
Under 11/9/22, Wilhelminaplantsoen, 3.55 pm

Klein en Dagelijks # 1 (Small and Daily # 1)

This may be the start of a new series. Sometimes there is an unexpected beauty in small daily affairs.
Yesterday when I was eating my breakfast egg the thought came up. No idea where it is leading to.
Photo: Diemen, 11/9/25, 10.30 am.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (81) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (81))

Sitting in the last train home,
waiting for departure,
at the top of a double-decker train,
people and things get a magical appearance.
Amsterdam Central Station. 11/9/13. 0.37 am

Zelfportretten # 139 & 140(Self-portraits # 139 & 140)

Making self portraits is acting in front of the camera. A slow dance in the dark between man and his own camera.
Up: Randmeer, 11/8/28, 0.35 am
Under: Bakkum, 11/9/3, 23.48 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (80) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (80))

Photography is maybe the most surrealistic art. A photographer always gives a certain twist to the “real” world. Framing, lightning and especially timing are essential.
Up: Kos (Gr). 11/7/27. 8.03 pm
Under: Kos (Gr). 11/7/24. 9.41 pm

Portret (Portrait)

As I already wrote before: A portrait can be made in many ways.
Kos (GR). 2011/7/24. 4.50 pm.

Portret (Portrait)

It is interesting to see in how many ways a photographic portrait can be made.
Ostia antica (I). 11/08/19. 1.29 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (79) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (79))

Stations can be weird places. Especially new & modern stations contain many mysterious reflections. Waiting for a train becomes an exciting visual adventure instead of a boring experience!
A bit surreal.
Zaandam (NL). 10/9/3. 8.24 pm.

Zelfportretten # 135-138 (Self-portraits # 135-138)

Some thoughts.

-The search for one’s identity can (not) be the reason for making self-portraits.
-In many self-portraits the photographer is some kind of an ego actor.
-The easy thing of shooting self-portraits is the fact that the model is always available.
-The difficult thing of shooting self-portraits is the fact that the ego is sometimes blocking the result.
-Vanity is an idle motive for making a self-portrait.
-A self-portrait is (not) an Alter Ego.
-The self-portrait is (not) the image of a photographer.

And so on.

From up to under:
Kos (Greece). 11/7/24. 7.51 am
Liège (B). 11/8/02. 2.11 pm
Randmeer, Dronten. (NL) 11/8/9 10.03 am
Roma (It). 11/8/16. 0.50 am

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (78) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (78))

A bird eye’s view
Liège (B) 11/8/2, 1.09 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (77) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (77))

Taking the boat from Kos (Greece) to Bodrum (Turkey) takes a lot of patience.
To me it looked like a modern Greek version the play “ Waiting for Godot”.
Kos city, 11/7/26, 12.01 am

Zomaar *10 (Just Like That *10)

Hotel rooms often have a very peculiar atmosphere. In Milano we stayed at a very special one. It was like sleeping in a movie. A movie about living at the end of the 19th century. Look at the walls.
The only thing that didn’t fit into this picture was the TV. It had only one working channel: CNN International. Which we watched every night, because of the Libyan developments.
Milano. 11/08/20. 11.25 pm

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (76) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (76))

This picture is all about Voyeurism. As you may already know I love to study my fellow travelers when sitting in trains and subways. Here I was also struck by the yellow atmosphere in the Sunday Morning Subway in Milan.
Milan. 11/8/21. 10.30 AM.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (75) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (75))

Back after a beautiful trip to Rome and Milan with my son. It was very hot in Italy, there were days with 33 C (centigrade) in the shade!
I didn’t take many pictures, having a holiday with my son was the 1st purpose. A decision I did not regret a single moment.
Up: Rome. 11/08/16. 4.02 pm
Under: Rome. 11/08/19. 5.59 pm

Zelfportret # 133 & 134 (Self portrait # 133 & 134)

Two self portraits: The b and w one was made during my last week of workshopping at Buitenkunst, in the morning, waiting for a new joyful day to com. (As you can see, I’m never at my best in the morning).
The picture of the wave with my faint shadow on it could be a point of discussion. Is it still a self portrait? This kind of question will certainly arise during my next week of giving a workshop at Buitenkunst, which has as main subject Self Portrait. I’m leaving Saturday and I’ll be back one week later. After that I’ll be off for Rome and Milano for a short trip with my sun Jonas, because he successfully passed his exam this spring.
So I’ll be back in about three weeks. Stay tuned.
Up: Buitenkunst Randmeer. 11/7/10. 8.43 am
Under: Boat Kos-Nissyros (GR) 11/7/23 8.52 am

Diemer Plek # 50 (Sites from Diemen NL # 50)

Believe it or not: this little birch tree is standing nearby a small square that is called “Berkenplein”. (Dutch for Birch Square). Reality is sometimes beyond surrealism.
Diemen (NL). Berkenplein. 11/08/01. 5.10 pm

Zelfportret # 132 (Self portrait # 132)

The hiding of the eyes in my face in this self portrait gives some kind of a gruesome effect.
(Shoot this one while making an evening stroll during my last week at Buitenkunst)
Randmeer, 11/7/10, 8.31 pm

Zomaar *9 (Just Like That *9)

Sometimes it is just there. Sheer Magic. I was returning to our hotel room in Kos, when I saw the light of the evening sun strike a red firebox at the wall. This is one those moments that an Everyday Object becomes a thing of a great beauty. Just grab your camera and catch the moment. Wow!
Photo: Kos Greece, 11/7/21, 6.58 pm.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (74) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (74))

The workshop at Buitenkunst ( in English this means Outside Art, it is a huge camping site with big tents and small temporally built houses in which all kind of workshops are given, theatre, music, painting, singing, writing, video and photography) started with really nice weather. Halfway the week it started raining cats and dogs, and it did so for many days in Holland.
The Bijsterbosch Family was so happy to have booked a trip directly after my return from Buitenkunst to the Greek Island of Kos. We saw only four clouds during our holiday period. Almost every day we spent some time at the swimming pool of the hotel.
Swimming pools at hotels sometimes have a very strange , almost surrealistic atmosphere.
Photo: Kos Greece. 2011/07/18. 2.54 pm.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (73) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (73))

I love to play with reflections of the street life and the rendition of a shopping window. It can result into a slightly surreal photograph, which I love to make.
Something else. These are the last pictures for a while. I’m off to give a workshop of a week at Buitenkunst and when I come back the Bijsterbosch Family is leaving for a holiday to Greece.
I’ll be back at this blog in about three weeks.
Thanks for all the nice comments and stay tuned.
& have a beautiful summer, you all!
Up: Hasselt (Belgium) 11/7/7. 1.05 pm
Under: New York. 5th Avenue. 11/5/15 0.13 pm

Diemer Plek # 49 (Sites from Diemen NL # 49)

Sometimes slightly uncommon things in the man-made landscape look like pieces in an arty installation.
Is it the Light or is it the keen eye of the passing photographer that accomplishes such a thing?
Or a hidden power of photography?
Up: Diemen (NL). Diemerplein, 2011/07/05, 4.16 pm
Under: Diemen (NL), Sniep, 2011/-6/24, 4.37 pm.

Zelfportret # 131 (selfportrait # 131)

All of a sudden the express train came to a standstill, the name of the small station was KijkUit. Which means in English Look Out.
So I did, and I saw the sun slowly going down.
KijkUit (Belgium). 2011/6/16. 9.14 pm.

Diemer Plek # 48 (Sites from Diemen NL # 48)

It is one of the things I like to do with photography: Showing the mystery of common places. Spots with no importance at all can become a bit surreal, confusing. Is it what it shows, or does the situation have another meaning.
As you can see, I’m doing this for quite some time now.
Up: Diemen (NL), Kanaaldijk, 06/09/14, 4.08 pm.
Under: Diemen (NL), Ouddiemerlaan, 11/6/15, 5.23 pm.

Zelfportret # 130 (selfportrait # 130)

This is what the rays of the morning sun do with a man’s face after he didn’t sleep enough.
“Buitenkunst Randmeer”. 2011/6/12. 6.41 am.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (72) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (72))

During my photographic life I gradually found out that to me the photograph is more important than its subject. In other words the world that is represented in the photograph is the main issue, not the moment and place where the picture was taken.
I realize there is some paradox in this. I always give the viewer of this blog information about time and place of the actual picture taking.
The tension that sometimes exists between the world of the photograph and the reality of the world where and when the photograph was taken often creates a smaller or bigger surrealistic effect. I love that a lot.
Up: Brussels (B) 2011/4/24 4.57 pm
Under: New York (USA) 2011/5/13 9.50 am

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (71) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (71))

Today is the 3rd Tuesday of the month. That means “Photographers Evening” time.. It is an informal gathering of photographers and people in love with photography, taking place in the typical Amsterdam pub of Kalkhoven. I’m coming there for about a decade.
Tonight is a special, a kind of reunion of those who went to New York for the exhibition of ”Dutch Delight” which took place from 11th until 15Th of May this year.
Therefore a photograph I made at Times Square New York.
New York. Times Square. 11/5/17. 0.43 pm.

Zelfportret # 129 (selfportrait # 129)

This picture was made on the spot where the project of making self portraits started almost three years ago. I wanted to give the world something back after grabbing so many images from its surface.
Never thought that almost three years later, in the middle of the night, I would look like a coalminer.
Buitenkunst Randmeer (NL) 2011/6/12. 1.45 am.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (70) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (70))

Photography has the ability to make something out of nothing. A shop window can turn into a strange world, something between a fairytale and a slightly surrealistic performance.
Up: Turnhout (Belgium), 2011/6/9, 3.52 pm.
Down: Oostende (Belgium), 2011/4/11, 4.13 pm.

Zelfportret # 128 (selfportrait # 128)

It’s my favorite time of year to travel by train. Summer. At the evenings the sun is casting long shadows into the compartment.
It is the eye, stupid.
Train Rotterdam to Delft (NL). 2011/06/09. 9.16 pm.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (69) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (69))

It’s one of the powers of Photography: Everyday life can get a surrealistic twist, by noticing the right place and light on the subject and pushing the button at the right moment.
Up: Turnhout (Belgium) 11/6/9 2.42 pm
Down: Bruges (Belgium) 11/4/24 205 pm

Zelfportret # 127 (selfportrait # 127)

Last weekend I worked at the Dutch foundation of ”Buitenkunst”, giving two photography workshops.
I stayed there the nights. Just before I went to sleep I was struck by the blue color of my LED torch. So I made a selfportrait.
Photograph: Buitenkunst Randmeer. 11/6/5. 1.13 am.

Diemer Plek # 47 (Sites from Diemen NL # 47)

Regular visitors of my blog already know it: For many years now I’m working on a series about Diemen (Diemer Plek). Diemen is the town where my family and I are currently living. It is a suburb of Amsterdam, a bit of a sleepy place to be.
Most of the pictures are made when I am shopping. Yesterday I was on my way buying a new bike.
Photographs: Sint JansKruid, Diemen. 11/6/1. 1051 (up) and 1054 (down) am.

Vanwege Fragmentarische Aard (68) (Because of a Fragmentic Nature (68))

Yesterday I processed my last picture of the trip to New York. It was one of the first I actually took. I was in Manhattan for about one hour and overwhelmed by the way the late sunlight struck down through the narrow streets of the Financial District.
Watch the person in his yellow-brown coat at the top of my shadow , it’s almost mimicry.
New York. Bowling Green. 11/5/5. 7.25 pm