Irish Notes (2)

Some details from the Irish scenery.

Irish Notes (1)

As you may know I recently made a trip through Ireland. No need to say I had my camera on me. I used the device as a kind of sketch book. Sometimes I used just one take for a situation, sometimes I shot quite a lot. And of course, many sketches didn’t work out at all. But some did I think. My main subject matters were: people in the streets, pieces of landscape, and shopping windows. Some self-portraits were also made.

Up: Dublin 17/8/26 10.34 am, Middle: Dublin 17/9/09 3.57 pm, Under: Dublin 17/8/26 10.03 am.

Three more self-portraits (or selfies wtf)

Up: Dronten, 10/08/2017, 1.29 pm
Middle: Bakkum 17/07/2017 3.40 pm
Under: Bakkum 3.29 pm

New Book: IRELAND ON MY MIND.

After almost 30 years it is a strange experience putting these photographs into a book. Frankly, when I went to Ireland in 1988 I had not a clear idea what to expect. Ireland was a faraway country to me. Don’t forget there was no internet in 1988 to get information. Of course, I went into some brochures to get an idea of the landscape and the way the towns looked, and I read some books about the history of the country, but still it was a step into the unknown.

I never forget the day I arrived in Dublin. I was standing at the bridge over the Liffey and I felt immediately at home. The city felt very familiar to me.  This feeling of familiarity never left me during the trips through the country. Whether I was in Galway, or Cork, or at the West Coast, I always felt a kind at home: I had fallen in love with Ireland.

I wandered with my camera through the country as a curious lover. Going to festivals, cycling around, sitting in trains and buses, sometimes accompanied by wife Petra and my mother-in-law, the love for the country never disappeared. Ireland was always on my mind.

After some 25 years I came back in Ireland. The country had changed, I had changed. But my love for the country was still there. But that’s going to be another project. Ireland was still on my mind. It will always be.

Finders Keepers

Rambling around in Ireland many years ago on a photo trip I ran out of film one day. Normally working with Ilford HP5 I only could obtain Kodak Tri-x at the local photo store.

At home, I first developed my HP5. I had only shot to rolls of Tri-x , but I could just find one. After a while I forgot about the lost Tri-x.

Many years later I moved to another dark room. Cleaning the old one I found a roll of Tri-x in a dark corner. No idea what it would contain. It was the first roll I developed in in the new dark room. I was very surprised to see images of Ireland. The photo with the man feeding the seagulls is one of them. The other two are from well-kept negatives of other Irish films.

Up: Dun Laoghaire 1988, Middle Dublin 1990, Under Bundoran 1990.

Puck Fair

At the end of the summer I want to go to Ireland for a photo trip. It’s a good reason to go through b&w photo’s I made some 30 years ago in this country. These were made at the “Puck Fair” in Killorgin.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puck_Fair) . First day cattle market, second day horse market, third day just drinking. There were hardly any tourists. The animals freely moved in the streets, between the public. And had a standstill in front of the hairdresser.

New Blurb book!

http://nl.blurb.com/books/7851346-into-some-nights

During the autumn of 2016 and the winter of 2017 photographer Jaap Bijsterbosch was giving some workshops at Gallery Streetscape in Castricum, a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. He was always travelling by an evening train from his domestic town of Diemen, a suburb of Amsterdam. Mostly arriving at Castricum station some 25 minutes before the start of the workshop, he took a small camera to capture the nightly atmosphere of Castricum. All photographs were taken between 6.45 and 7.15 pm.

Final Day!

From the left to the right: Me, Jeanette Bos, Yvonne Meyer, Kevser Gün, Sebastian Rypson, the last visitors of “Selfies/Self-Portraits. WtF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch at the Gallery WM in Amsterdam. Made yesterday at 6.00 pm, closing time of the exhibition. To me it felt a bit like “Partir, c’est mourir un peu”. Grateful for the fantastic & professional & lovingly cooperation with Wanda, Paul and Sebastian!  And the great interest from everybody!

Finissage!

The last week of my show at gallery WM Amsterdam:  Selfies/Selfportraits WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch. (http://gallerywm.com/WP/jaap-bijsterbosch/)  You’re cordially invited for a last glass at the finissage from 4.00-6.00 pm17.55! Don’t miss the making of a last selfie at 5.55 pm!

Up: Diemen, 17/03/10, 8.44 pm. Middle: Diemen, 17/03/01, 11.34 am. Under Diemen, 17/02/16, 8.24 am.

Opening!

Yesterday afternoon the opening at GalleryWM of “Selfies/self-portraits. Wtf! © Jaap Bijsterbosch”!

Great afternoon with many heartwarming reactions from friends and colleagues and a great attendance despite the bad weather. As an opening act, I had to make a selfie of course! 

Exiting Times!

Still one week to go before the opening of:

SELFIES/SELF-PORTRAITS. Wtf! © Jaap Bijsterbosch.

See: http://gallerywm.com/WP/jaap-bijsterbosch/

Exting Times!

Selfie/Self-Portrait WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch

This one I made in de dune area in the province of North-Holland, The Netherlands. Early spring and windy.

Selfie/Self-Portrait WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch

Made in Zaandam The Netherlands, Mai 2009.

Selfie/Self-Portrait WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch

This one I made in 1989. I was doing a project because of the poetry of Dylan Thomas. Once he wrote: "I died and dreamed my Genesis again". Those words were the inspiration for this photograph.

Selfie/Self-Portrait WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch

Taken in the same dune area as the one yesterday, only here it is early spring. (2016) It is a way to hide one's wrinkles.

Selfie/Self-Portrait WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch

Self-portait in Springtime. Somewhere in the dune area if Holland. May 2016.

Selfie/Self-Portrait WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch

A special part of my upcoming exhibition will contain older self-portraits. "Selfies/Selfportraits of the artist as a younger man" This one was made in 1983!

Selfie/Self-Portrait WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch

My exhibition in Gallery WM (  http://gallerywm.com/WP/jaap-bijsterbosch/ )    will be in less than 4 weeks from now! This one I made in 2008 using the scanner. 

Happy New Year!

From a misty 2016 a radiant 2017 for you all!

Follow The Icon -2

As long as I know his work, I've always been fascinated by the way Lee Friedlander in his street scenes uses a kind of personal signature by also photographing his own shadow or reflection, usually without this being the main subject in the photo. Thereby breaking the taboo one shouldn’t making his shadow of reflection making visible in the photograph.

That freedom to use my own shadow and reflection as a kind of surreal game to play with the observed reality and then capture and fix it with the photo camera, that freedom I have more or less stolen from him. In the images I sometimes make with my own shadow and / or reflection, I am indebted to him. I do not mind. In the exhibition "SELFIES / SELF-PORTRAITS. Wtf! © Jaap Bijsterbosch", which can be seen in February 1017 in Gallery WM I'm going to show a small selection of such images.

Up: Oostende (Bel), 16/8/2016 2.52 pm. Middle: Cork (Ire), 4/9/2016, 11.12 am. Under Galway (Ire), 15/9/2016, 6.16 pm.

ART OF THE DAY!

Today the upper self-portrait is “Kunst van de Dag” (Art of the Day) at the Dutch Site Galeries Aktueel (http://www.galeries.nl/nbr2.asp). I’m pretty proud. Come to the opening of my exhibition at februari 11, 5.00 pm! ((http://gallerywm.com/WP/jaap-bijsterbosch/)

Up: Diemen NL, 16/11/01 3.46 pm. Middle Bakkum NL, 16/04/21 4.39 pm. Under: Diemen NL, 16/12/05,10.09 am.

Self-Portrait 467

Sometimes I feel myself like two People….. 

Btw did you put into your diary February 11^th 2017, the opening of my exhibition of self-portraits at the gallery WM in Amsterdam? ( http://gallerywm.com/WP/jaap-bijsterbosch/) 

Follow the Icon 1 Henri Cartier Bresson

In many photographs I make I trace an influence of a picture I once saw. I am aware of that, sometimes during the moment I shoot the photograph, sometimes afterwards.  Sometimes the Icon Photo will be a very famous one, sometimes a rather anonymous snapshot.

So my plan is to post from time to time a photo made by me, accompanied by a description in words of the Icon Photo and the name of the photographer.

The idea behind Follow the Icon is that, although as  a photographer I developed a reasonable signature and style of my own, I often am influenced by other examples. I do not mind at all; I think this a very interesting phenome.

Today: Follow the Icon 1-Because of Henri Cartier Bresson.

A man is anonymously cycling through a street. At the right moment, the cyclist perfectly placed into the composition, the photographer pushes the button. A somewhat longer exposure time whereby the speed of the cyclist becomes tangible. (My picture I made this year in Cork, the photo of CB was somewhere in the back of my mind)

Honorable Mention!

This photograph, “Self-portrait 427” had an honorable mention at the “Black Spider Awards”. I feel honored & proud.

Another reason to attend the opening of my exhibition “Selfies/Self-portraits. WTF! © Jaap Bijsterbosch” at Gallery WM at Amsterdam (http://gallerywm.com/WP/).

Winter Time!

Winter Time! I hate it!

More about "Seaward at Night".

Still famous in Castricum The Netherlands! Next Saturday I am invited to be a guest in a talk show at the local TV station because of “Seaward at Night” at the gallery Streetscape in Castricum.  7 Dorpstreet, go and see the expo, it’s really worth while they say. Until November 13^th.  Photo up: Castricum on Sea, 16/9/22, 9.16 pm. Photo under: Castricum on Sea, 14/9/07, 21.57 pm. To see the pictures enlarge them, close the curtains, switch off the lights and just only the light of your monitor to watch.

Selfportraits/Selfies WTF.

The upper photo I made because couldn’t find my comb after the morning shower. So I looked into another toilet bag to look for a comb. There was a small mirror in that bag, which reflected the sunrays straight into my eye. The rest is history. The photo underneath, well think a story for yourself. Up Bakkum (NL), 2016/10/8, 10.37 am, Under Bakkum (NL), 2016/7/25 8.19 am.

New Exhibition!

Seaward at Night. Castricum on the Sea.

There’s something strange about spots in the night. Everything that looks normal in daylight often becomes frightening, mysterious or magical in the dark.

Essentially the night is just a big black box in which all kinds of things exist. Things which are natural as well as things which are man made. Sometimes these things become visible, mostly by artificial light. A feeling of disorientation arises. One knows there’s something out there, but it stays invisible. What’s waiting in the dark? In my pictures this atmosphere is captured. There’s also a distance from everyday life, calmness and concentration; moods which are often to be felt at night.

The secret of the night is revealed from the parking lot onto the beach!

Gallery Seascape. 7 Dorpstraat Castricum Holland. Open Thursday-Sunday 2.00-5.30 pm.

Exhibition runs from october 16th untill november 11th 2016.