Photographer meeting

Posted 16 February 2009 - The Hague (NL):

When photographers meet photographers, it`s not a surprise if that meeting somehow produces photographic evidence.

As a result, I am now posting a photo of myself, taken by colleague Sipke Visser, whom I photographed earlier in the same café.

No other major news for today. This week promises to be another exciting episode in the book/exhibition project.

(© London - UK, Februari 2009 )
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Hello from London

Posted 3 February 2009 - London (UK):

Hello, from London this time. I wanted to get here yesterday, but didn`t manage because of the snow.

Not much of that snow is left. Views from the plane were nice, but the situation on the ground is grey, muddy and slippery.

I just made my first contribution to the European blogger competition Think about it!. Regular visitors to Dailyphoto will not find anything new in there (yet). Maybe I will be able to come up with some more exciting material in the near future.

Here`s today`s photo, taken on the tube from Heathrow to Central London, straight into the faces of the subjects, who obviously `could not be bothered`...

(© London - UK, February 2009)
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Shortest day

Posted 22 December 2008 - The Hague (NL):

Another photo from last week`s trip to London.

I`m happy the shortest day of the year has passed and winter started. Busy weeks ahead, regardless of Christmas. Working on text and photos - the good stuff.

(© London - UK, December 2008)
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Busy week

Posted 20 December 2008 - The Hague (NL):

Another interesting week has gone by. I spent most of it outside The Hague, visiting Breda, Brussels, Utrecht, London in the last five days.

After my last post, I got to Utrecht to do my first ever bit of public speaking. Topic: how to create a platform for crossborder European media? The debate went fine, apart from the few times I just absolutely forgot what I was just about to say. Nothing to be bothered about, I do the same at non-public occasions.

My quick return trip to London also proved very interesting, thanks to an interesting work meeting that I cannot elaborate on at this very moment. To be continued...

Below photo is another nice example of a photo that seems to show no people, even though they are clearly present:

(© London - UK, December 2008 )
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Above-street-level subways

Posted 26 November 2008 - The Hague (NL):

Since photo activity is still rather low on the collection/production side (as opposed to the processing side), I am extending my UK trip a little by posting another photo of London.

I like it when subways travel above street level. Not only is the outside view much more interesting than the black side of a tunnel: it also helps provide sufficient light for photographing uninspired-looking fellow travelers. See also this photo I took in Paris in May 2007.

(© London - UK, November 2008 )
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Meeting European friends

Posted 25 November 2008 - London (UK):

Just like the Us Europeans trip, my current travelling activities because of work (commercial) and work (photography/journalism) allow me to go and see friends in many places across Europe.

Last week was another nice reunion week, as I stayed with Magali and Pauline in Paris, Arjan and Olivia in Normandy, followed by Sipke (photo below) in London. Between now and the end of the year, I haven`t planned any trips yet. The first one in the new year should have Berlin as its destination.

(© London - UK, November 2008)
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Lengthen your life: get lost!

Posted 2 November 2008 - The Hague (NL):

I am not particularly fond of navigation devices in cars, and I especially dislike the stupidifying effect they have on the individuals using them. As it turns out, I am not the only one. Some Dutch man by the name of Jord den Hollander is sueing satnav-manufacturer Tom-Tom for making people stupid.

I don`t like the sueing part of the story because it makes me think of the US-of-A way of settling disputes. However, this stupidity claim is quite harmless and doesn`t stand a chance in court, which makes it back OK.

Anyway, what`s the big deal about all this navigation stuff? Well, it keeps people from using their own brains to think. Satnav-fans claim to know where they are wherever they are. In reality, they are continuously lost without having to care. They will get where they want, from A to B. Extend the example to a human`s life. How fast do you want to reach the finish? How do you calculate your `performance`? If anybody wins, is that the one who dies first because some stupid device told him/her the quickest way from A to B?

Think differently: don`t ask A2B questions, think in terms of directions rather than destinations, don`t use a Tom-Tom, enjoy getting lost, appreciate the unpredictable, do whatever you think you need to do before reaching your final destination.

(© St Andrews - UK, October 2007)
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A Photographer`s Room

Posted 10 October 2008 - London (UK):

This is the room where I slept last night. It`s usually occupied by Dutch-photographer-living-in-London Sipke Visser, even though Sipke himself was not at home during my stay. Coincidentally, he is staying over in the Netherlands for a couple of days but that didn`t keep him from instructing his housemate to allow me in..

What else is happening in London? Paid a visit to the Innocent drinks `workplace` which was as interesting as it was inspiring. The best way to find out is to go there yourself and have a look. Other meetings: one company that invented a new solution for online recruiting, then meeting up with Sinéad last night, Nathaniel and Kate today. Plan for tonight: get myself transported to Paris by night bus. Quite an adventure..

(© London - UK, October 2008)
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Annoyed

Posted 16 January 2008 - Manchester (UK):

Am annoyed today because very tired and need to hurry up getting to the airport in time, it`s too dark outside to take photos and it has so far proved impossible to find a place to sleep in Cyprus, where my internet connection will not work and so I may not be able to do my daily updatums, of which the last ones were crap anyway and all of this is annoying. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better over there.

(© Southampton - UK, January 2008)
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Media attention for Us Europeans

Posted 14 January 2008 - Cardiff (UK):

Back in December, I was reporting about how media attention for Us Europeans was slowly picking up. Things always take some time and the results of some meetings I had in Luxembourg, Brussels and The Hague are starting to show. EU news website Euractiv has integrated my articles into their blog section and I was invited to write a guest entry on the blog of Ms Wallström, the Vice President of the EU, in charge of Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy. You can view my post by clicking here.

In the meantime, the trip goes on. I arranged my sleeping places for the coming nights and can start looking forward to the Mediterranean part of the trip 

(© Pontypridd - UK, January 2008)
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Wales rules

Posted 13 January 2008 - Cardiff (UK):

One of the coaches owned by National Express took me from English Briton to Welsh Cardiff this morning. I had never been to Wales before and must say that I have, so far been, impressed by Welsh modesty, friendliness and common sense. The weather has proved a little less convincing: lots of rain and dark clouds. I hope tomorrow will be better, so I can actually post a photo of something Welsh. This photo is another visual proof of yesterday`s visit to the Cheddar Gorge in South West England. I spent yesterday afternoon walking under and over the cliffs with Alex, a guy I met earlier on my trip in Tallinn.

Program for the next days: stay in Cardiff for one more day, then take the train to Manchester on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I will be flying off to country number 14: Cyprus.

(© Cheddar - UK, January 2008)
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Temps pourri

Posted 11 January 2008 - Bristol (UK):

I`m heading for Bristol today and wonder what I will find there. (Updatum: rain, rain, rain and wind) The Couchsurfing website is having some trouble and I am not sure where I can stay and for how long. But it`s weekend, there will probably be nice people around in town. Photo: another Soton street.

(© Southampton - UK, January 2008)
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Mirror imaged

Posted 10 January 2008 - Southampton (UK):

Even though driving on the left-hand side is something I can easily get used to, the whole mirror-imaged traffic system does confuse me a lot when I am just walking around. I tend to look at the opposite side of the street, then read an upside-down Look left then forget I should be reading the text on my own side of the crossing which reads look right. Anyway, all too complicated for my small Dutch brain. Here`s one of Southampton`s avenues, actually called The Avenue, with some nice office villas along the pavement.

(© Southampton - UK, January 2008)
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Fr London to Soton

Posted 9 January 2008 - Southampton (UK):

I left busy London this afternoon and exchanged it for much quieter Southampton on the South Coast. I`m visiting Sinéad and Alex, and it`s nice to see them again after we last met in The Hague back in April.

Today was the first day I was told that I was not allowed to ask anybody questions and I got also sent off from metro station Victoria when I was taking photos there. Here`s one I took before being told to get lost:

(© London - UK, January 2008)
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Streets of London

Posted 8 January 2008 - London (UK):

London has been nice to me today! I first slept and wrote yesterday`s article, then left for Oxford Street, Hyde Park and Notting Hill. I also needed to make sure I exchanged some old English bank notes and bought a bus ticket to Southampton. After I did all that, I cooked dinner at Sipke`s place and we went out in the evening to meet Vilda, my first CouchSurfing host who at the time lived in Kaunas (LT) but shortly after my visit moved to London.

(© London - UK, Jan 2008)
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Messy message

Posted 7 January 2008 - London (UK):

From the Dutch clay to the metropolis of London.. A bit of a turbulent flight, and a sad goodbye. Seven months of travelling ahead. It`s a long time but it will fly by like the previous five and then I will have to start working on serious stuff again.. The laptop is back empty and so are the energy reserves. Time to relax and keep up with the writing. Meeting some friends tomorrow and am staying with one. Next stops: Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester

(© London - UK, January 2008)
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PT Olé

Posted 25 October 2007 - Porto (PT):

I safely arrived in Portugal and am very happy about that. Porto is the exact location and I still need to figure out which other places I want to see on the way. Photo from the stunningly beautiful city centre of Liverpool:

(© Liverpool - UK, Oct 2007)
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Signs

Posted 24 October 2007 - Newcastle (UK):

This is Newcastle again with today`s news. Walked around town, here`s a photo. Lots of thinking going on, but nothing particularly useful. Will write some more by the time I get to Portugal. Am a bit bored with my own project but should get better soon.

(© Newcastle - UK. October 2007)
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Newcastle architecture

Posted 23 October 2007 - Newcastle (UK):

Today was my last day in Edinburgh. Nikki dropped me at the bus station in the morning. From there, I took the bus to Newcastle, 3 hours south. I slept quite a bit on the bus, bus also enjoyed wonderful and sunny scenery along the coast. Arriving in Newcastle at sea level altitude was quite interesting. All the (four) times I have crosses to the US, I passed Newcastle on the way. This is my first chance to see what it actually looks like.

It`s different from Edinburgh, that`s for sure. There`s a big valley in the middle with the River Tyne passing through. Many bridges, some typical British castle-like buildings and towers and an extremely ugly multi-level car park (photo below). I am staying with Derek, who lives in the street shown on the second photo.

(© Newcastle - UK,. October 2007)
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Socialising here and there

Posted 22 October 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

I went on a quick day trip to the village of Saint Andrew with Nikki, passing and along Katie en Charles on the way back. This is pretty much all there`s left of Saint Andrews old cathedral.

(© St Andrews - UK, October 2007)
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Thinking

Posted 20 October 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

Not so much news today, just another day in Edinburgh. You get used to it. Maybe that would summarise a nice lesson from my travel adventures so far: there`s nothing you can`t get used to. Food hasn`t been excellent over the last few days. Improvising and trying to slice expenses as all of the UK I have done so far has pressed heavily on the budget. I hope I can stay at some people`s places between here and Liverpool so I can compensate a little before flying out.

The photo below shows some people (finally). They are not doing anything interesting, which makes them very interesting to me. I like to think about what other people are thinking about when they don`t seem to think at all. Nothing, something, and in case of something: what? For myself, I have the feeling that I am always thinking of something, so nothing is not an option for me. I will just fall asleep, which I regularly do by the way.

(© Edinburgh - UK, October 2007)
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Language advantage?

Posted 19 October 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

Today was another nice day in the malt-fragranced and sunny city of Edinburgh. It is interesting to see how the fact that everybody speaks English here does not necessarily make my work easier. Speaking English in Finland or Sweden made people wonder why I had come such a long way to ask them questions, and it would make them accept my direct approach without too much resistance. Speaking English in Scotland is not very exceptional and because of that, it feels more difficult to have an excuse to talk to them. I guess I will face the same problem in Holland. People may wonder what I`m doing in my own country if I`m supposed to write about Europe. Why I need to ask them questions at all, because as a Dutch person, would I not be supposed to know my own culture?

(© Edinburgh - UK, October 2007)
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Back in Edinburgh

Posted 18 October 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

After two pleasant days in Glasgow, I took the bus to Scotland`s capital Edinburgh this morning. The weather here is just as nice as it was in Glasgow. For one reason or another, the youth hostel here in Edinburgh is full of Germans, just like the Glasgow hostel was. I can`t help being annoyed by them and I wonder how that goes when I have to write about and travel through Germany. But then, there`s also a group of Dutch school kids here and they are very impolite and rough (which the Germans are not by the way, for them it is somehow enough to be neighbours and speak German to be annoying), swearing all the time and calling other people names. The Dutch habit to call each a combination of diseases and genitals is actually really disgusting and I am happy I did not come across that in any other country so far.

Apart from the Dutch and the Germans, there were also two French guys in the kitchen who insisted everybody in the dining room got up to clean their pans, because they also had the right to cook. Maybe everybody in the hostel is being annoying today, maybe it`s just me. The Scots have been nice with me though. You can read more about that at Us Europeans. Below photo is yesterday`s: a car wash at the outskirts of the city. Photos of Edinburgh will follow tomorrow.

(© Glasgow - UK, October 2007)
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Random architecture

Posted 17 October 2007, Glasgow - UK:

Glasgow reporting: I am back to the old rythm of interviews and walking. So that is what I did today, randomly walk around in Glasgow and enjoy the strange buildings. Very different from Sweden:

(© Glasgow - UK, October 2007)
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Plans for Scotland

Posted 16 October 2007 - Glasgow (UK):

I`m in Glasgow. Again I should say, because the last time I was here, was only 4 months ago. Nothing has changed, although it`s probably a little colder now than it was in June. The city is still a bit disorganised and not very beautiful (see photo). That does not mean that it`s not interesting, because for sure it is. I have not had much time to walk around today, but I will try to come up with some more exciting photos tomorrow. I just need to catch up with writing, but I am working on that as we speak.

Plans between now and Oct 25: get to Edinburgh at one point to visit Nikki, who was my class mate in Clermont-Ferrand now more than 7 (!) years ago. The last time I saw her was six years ago, so I it`ll be great fun to see here again and see how she is doing now.

(© Glasgow - UK, October 2007)
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Media attention

Posted 18 September 2007 - Jyväskylä (FI):

It`s slowly getting colder in Finland and I still have a long way to go further north. I am staying in Jyväskylä until Thursday and will then move on to Kuopio (a little north of here) and eventually Rovaniemi (very north of here). I hope to get a glance of the northern light, which is expected to be visible at this time of year. Also, I was told that on the first night of frost, elks are being moved from somewhere to somewhere in groups. Need to find more details about that because I expect temperatures to soon drop below 0 in the north.

I was mainly walking up and down the main street today, looking for a cafe of pub with wireless internet. Unfortunately in this case, I am no longer in Estonia. I had to use the wireless broadband device instead, the small yet very useful thingy that the people at VoipBuster provided to me before I left on this trip. I found out that media attention is slowly growing. Some websites are starting to put on the webtools I assembled for Us Europeans, and I will soon be able to post a short list of websites who did that. I may also be invited to do some presentations when I come back. That is good news. I do not have the intention to do this whole project just to satisfy my own curiosity. I hope it will also catch other people`s eye, mostly people who share the same interest but maybe do not have the possibility to carry out this trip themselves.

I have now been away for seven weeks, and it feels like I am halfway part one of the trip. Part one ends at Christmas. The feeling is not very accurate but that`s not a problem. I now have half of Finland ahead of me, Sweden, UK and then from Portugal back home. That is when it starts becoming interesting to look ahead. For now, there`s no land in sight on either side, so I am sticking to now and tomorrow. With small retrospectives every now and then, like this photo from Derry`s Bogside in Northern Ireland. Taken very far away from here, but only just over a month ago.

(© Londonderry - UK, August 2007)
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Marching the city walls of Derry

Posted 11 August 2007 - Dublin (IE):

For today`s story, I would like to refer to my report at Us Europeans. It is about the loyalist march that took place today. Here`s the photo to go with it:

(© Londonderry - UK, August 2007)
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Derry Day 2

Posted 10 August 2007 - Londonderry (UK):

I had a lie in this morning and only got my ass out of bed by half 9 (=9h30) in the morning. I was planning to write about school uniforms today but just in time came up with another subject: tourism in Derry. So I`ve been doing some decent tourist spotting today. In the afternoon I met up with Matt, an American living in Northern Ireland this summer. I got in contact with him through Couchsurfing and although he had no couch available, it was still nice to meet up. He introduced me to some of his Northern Irish friends, Marc and Bobby, with whom I went to see tonight`s football match of Derry City against Longford. Derry is the only Northen Irish team to play in the Irish Premier League, I forgot to mention that in the Us Europeans report about sports in Ireland. That`s why I`m doing it here and now.

I will go see the protestant marches tomorrow and write about that. Then I will travel south, back to the Republic of Ireland. I still have some subjects to cover there, let me share with you which ones:

- What did the EU bring to Ireland;

- What is the Celtic Tiger and how long will the Irish economy remain `up`;

- The recently introduced smoking ban;

- How Dublin is different from the countryside;

Why people are travelling to Lithuania, that will obviously be on the day I am travelling to Lithuania myself.

I already made some arrangements for that country. I will be surfing somebody`s couch in Kaunas and also visit a Dutch girl who is doing voluntary work over there. That`s all for now, more news from Dublin tomorrow.

(© Londonderry - UK, August 2007)
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Stage 7: England

Posted 17 July 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Although it took me 22 years to get to England, I have been around there at several occasions since then. To visit Sinéad, to go see my brother who lived there for a while, for business, to see Footsweep play, for fun and to make it to Norway once, and also for the big Cannonball Run I organised with some friends last year.

It hasn't given me much insight in the English culture but what I do know is this:

- They care about mowing lawns like nothing in the world;
- They drive on the wrong side of the road and use illogical
measurement systems;
- CCTV (Closed Circuit TeleVision) security systems all over;
- The worst possible names for the best kind of (imported!) meals;
- They work in offices that are packed with people;
- They always wear their ties too short;
- The same goes for skirts.

I hope my view of England will be a bit more detailed and correct after I have been there in October of this year.

(© Stratford upon Avon - UK, October 2006)
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Stage 6: Scotland

Posted 16 July 2007 - The Hague (NL):

After Sweden, I intend to fly to Scotland. Again, because I was there hardly a month ago. I had the pleasure to attend a ceremony at Edinburgh Castle, during which the key of the castle was transferred to uhm somebody else than the person who had that key before. I suspected some kind of conspiracy against tourists - as if the ceremony took place every so-and-so-th day of the week during summer season just to keep tourist amused. This suspicion has not been confirmed which leads me to suppose that it was just a really nice coincidence to be there during this special event.

After Scotland, it's England and I'll dedicate a short posting to that country tomorrow.

(© Edinburgh - UK, June 2007)
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Houses and Streets

Posted 27 June 2007 - The Hague (NL):

During any future trip(s), I am planning to take more photos of just streets and houses. They look so different by country or even by region. And they pretty much determine the local landscape. Most of the time, the sight of those streets and houses brings back rather exact memories of what walking around those specific places was like. Anyway, here's two for Scotland..

For Dutch people who like reading: I finished my trip report and if you are brave enough to start reading it, here is where to click.

(© Scotland - UK, June 2007)
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Back in The Hague

Posted 24 June 2007 - The Hague (NL):

This year's summer holidays rocked! Thanks to the people we met and especially the people we stayed with. If any of you is reading this: some photos will be coming your way soon! And for the Dutch speaking people an extensive travel report as well.

There's not much time for unpacking, I'm leaving for Poland on Tuesday evening!

(© Lochearnhead - UK, June 2007)
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When in Rome..

Posted 21 June 2007 - Lochearnhead (UK):

And when in Scotland... And so I had Scottish breakfast in the morning, tried local whiskys during the day, ate haggis in the evening and almost got flooded with beers and whiskey afterwards..

(© Killin - UK, June 2007)
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Grtz fr Choockterland

Posted 20 June 2007 - Lochearnhead (UK):

Hello again, it's me from Scotland. In spite of my never ending sneezing since yesterday, I'm still having a good time. I'm staying with Katie en Charles. Katie being Bas's former classmate in Poland and Charles being her boyfriend. We drove around the countryside for a bit today and I managed to get some nice photos, including this portrait photo of the two of them.

Other news of the day: Stock agency Jipla put a selection of my photos online for other people to buy and use in educational publications. It's mostly standard photos and no real exciting art stuff, but it's still a nice way of making my photography a bit more useful.

(© Kenmore - UK, June 2007)
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Architectura di Tutti Frutti

Posted 19 June 2007 - Glasgow (UK):

I left Bas in Oslo yesterday and made it to Glasgow on my own. I was here before, in 2001, but I somehow hadn't realised how cool this city is! It's a big mess, but an interesting one. A mixture of plain ugly and once-beautiful buildings in all styles you can imagine. All that doesn't keep me from moving on to Stirling this afternoon though...

(© Glasgow - UK, June 2007)
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What you see..

Posted 2 June 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Uhm, I sometimes get asked whether I ever 'cheat' with postings.. Well, I do and regular visitors will notice.. Sometimes I get annoyed with old photographs and then just kick them out of the archive database. Or post two days in one go.. Or vertical photos. They steal to much attention because they are so much bigger than horizontal ones. Anyway, I'm not suffering from blog stress. And by the way, below is the original text of my posting, I only changed the photo this time. I like photos with cars and crossroads and electricity posts and put this one in place of a tree looking like a dragon. That photo just started getting on my nerves, sorry for the inconvenience.

".. oftentimes is not what you get. But objectives sometimes justify means, as was the case in the Big Kidney Hoax: a nice piece of unconventional yet effective marketing."

(© West Mersea - UK, July 2006)
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Empty agenda policy undermined

Posted 30 May 2007 - The Hague (NL):

My agenda is a funny tool. It's generally quite empty at the beginning of each week, but messy and full when the week is over. It's more ad hoc planning than anything physically structured, and I like it that way. Having to propose to a friend to 'pick a datum' to meet is almost as annoying as people asking you Shouldn't you + a rethorical and patronising question, or Don't followed by something you just felt like doing.

Tough luck for me this time, as my agenda is starting to fill up between now and the beginning of August. It's good things, most of them, and some travelling as well.

- Copenhague, Sweden, Oslo and Scotland (photo), 8-23 June;
- Bialo Wiesa in Poland for work, 27-30 June;
- Normandy in France to document my cousin's wedding, halfway July..

..And plenty of other stuff and preparations and conceptualisations and commercialisations...

(© Edinburgh - UK, January 2001)
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Can't cook, does cook

Posted 16 May 2007, The Hague (NL):

I have been taking quite some photos again, of my sister's pregnant belly, and for once I've also been photograph. I won't show you the results of either photoshoot here and now.

I'm referring back to another frequent PhotoLog subject instead: French presidency. It changed from Chirac to Sarkozy today. That means no more inimitable facial expressions, elegantly structured speeches or blunders on the international diplomatic scene.

At least he got his own people to agree on one issue, the English:

'You can’t trust people who cook as badly as that'.

(© Clacton on Sea - UK, June 2006)
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Tom Tom Tag

Posted 19 April 2007 - The Hague (NL):

A new proposal from UK's Minister of Science:
Tag old people so they can be traced in case they seem to have disappeared. All satellite-enabled. Coming soon on your Google Earth. Look for the grey spots :)

(© Colchester - UK, June 2006)
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Dependence vs. Independence 27-0

Posted 6 April 2007 - The Hague (NL):

While the European Union is trying to block new countries from entry, one might wonder how long it will actually take before they will have to block countries from UNsubscribing. Many member states themselves have been faced with separatist regions within their own territory:

Bask country (FR, ES), Northern Ireland (UK, IE), Friesland (NL), Corsica (FR), Flanders and Wallony (BE). This week Scotland's independence was a hot topic again in the UK. Interesting they all want to have a country of their own, while their 'mother states' are standing in line to hand over more and more political power to Brussels and Strasbourg.

(© Edinburgh - UK, January 2001)
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Prepared for peace

Posted 28 March 2007 - Düsseldorf (DE):

With spring arriving, the list of countries-to-visit is expanding again. I'm curious to see how much has changed in Northern Ireland since my visit 5 years ago. Below's a photo of what parts of Belfast looked like at the time - quite aggressive.. Thanks to the recent coalition of Sinn Fein and DUP, things should have settled down for a moment..

Childhood across Europe

Posted 24 February 2007 - The Hague (NL):

A recent article about child happiness across Europe has led the BBC to create a weekly diary in which the position of children in society is compared in different ways and per national culture. UK Children seem to be worst off while Dutch kids are among the happiest.

Unintentionally photographed

Posted 4 February 2007, The Hague (NL):

Some people hide from cameras pointed at them, while others don't care or sometimes they don't even notice you're there. And if the photographer doesn't notice either, you may get photos like the one below: somebody's head unintentionally appearing in your photo (in my case, always coming from the righthand side). Sometimes it works with the image, sometimes it doesn't. I think I kind of like this one, but I am not entirely sure. It does add another dimension, that's for sure..

Wandering of the mind

Posted 19 January 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Researchers have been trying to find out for ages where dreams come from and why the mind 'wanders' when we're not focused. I think they are basically one and the same thing, used in the following manner:

Senses collect experiences all the time when we're awake. Even when we're focused on one sense, the other 4 will collect stuff. They all end up on a big pile of sensatory sensations. In order to store them or keep them for future reference, they need to be structured. But as long as the incoming pulses are going on, hardly any restructuring can take place. Imagine somebody throwing 5 books a second to you, whereas you can only care to properly store 1 per minute. You will end up leaving the books all over the place and you can't start organising stuff as long as that person keeps throwing books at you.

Whenever the input stalls or diminishes, the organisation starts. Like a computer having to defragmentate every now and then. Random links to previous experiences and knowledge come up, together with seemingly senseless associations and thoughts. The process allows you to distinguish between what's important and what's not, and where to hook up the new important data.

Putting it altogether, the reason why I fall asleep so often is simply because whenever I'm actively doing something, I tend to be really focussed (having somebody throw 10 books/second to me, si vous voulez). Lots of books then end up in a giant mess, which I generally refer to as bedtime!.

Not too empty in the end

Posted 30 November 2006 - The Hague (NL):

The best moments in photography are the moment you catch the image and instantly know you've got a nice shot - and the moment you have a large size print in front of you. When you can see each and every detail and appreciate the different structures in a photo. In my case, that's preferrably: the contents of the photo rather than the graphical impression at the first glance. The latter has to be inviting while the details finish of the work.

Below is another one of those photos where at first site, everything seems empty. You really need that big paper print to see that there are at least 20 people in this photo, taken in Hyde Park.

Tate Modern

Posted 29 November 2006 - The Hague (NL):

Sorry for lagging behind a little.. I haven't posted any photos from last week's London trip yet. I didn't even take that many, but here's at least one.. So what have I been doing? Nothing much, walking around, looking at things, reading another book about creativity, meeting up with Sipke, a fellow photographer from The Netherlands who lives in London, chatting about photography and having a beer. All quite relaxing actually..

This photo was shot from one of the balconies of Tate Modern, a must-visit in London even for museumhaters like myself..

London again

Posted 14 November 2006 - The Hague (NL):

I'm going to London again! Next Thursday until Saturday and it will be a photography-only trip. Any photo requests can be made until Wednesday 22 November 2006, 8 PM sharp :) And that's Central European Time.

Dark days before Christmas

Posted 30 October 2006 - The Hague (NL):

Summer is definitely over, we're done with daylight savings time and it's dark by the time the working day is done. This means less time for taking photos and more time for restructuring websites. Planned updatums for PhotoLogiX:
- Adding one page for special events;
- Adding 'buy photo' options to the PhotoLog;
- Adding a geographic search for the PhotoLog archive;
- Making up new photo projects.

Rooney & Sent off

Posted 1 July 2006 - The Hague (NL):

After sending the Dutch team home, Portugal also kicked England out of the tournament. Bye bye England's flags, bye bye England's supporters. The Dutch feel sorry for you, we know what it's like.

Cucumbers & Holidays: Final entry

Posted 1 July 2006 - The Hague (NL):

The last entry in the series "Cucumbers & Holidays". 2006: Fish and chips in Clacton on Sea. I'm heading for Paris tomorrow and looking to buy a new racing bike.

Photographer & London

Posted 24 June 2006 - The Hague (NL):

Photographer photographed! This is Sipke Visser with his favourite Yashica T5 camera. Sipke is a Dutch photographer who lives in London. During the England trip of last week, we met up to watch England - Paraguay and chat about photography.

So how's PhotoLogiX actually doing at this moment? For those who are interested in statistics: PhotoLogiX attracts around 200 visits per day (hits in May 2006: >60 000) and, as a search term, yields 2500 results in Google. Also, the number of links from personal blogs or specific interest sites is increasing. I took photos at my sister's wedding and they came out well and I recently added another domain name (DailyPhoto.nl) to the PhotoLogiX family. Also take a look at the free photo action if you're interested.

Things are all moving in the right direction! Next on PhotoLogiX: the publication of tomorrow's Parkpop photos. In colour, after recent black and white postings over the past few days.

Posted 17 June 2006 - The Hague (NL):

Please accept my apologies for not having been able to updatum the PhotoLog in the timely manner that I am used to. My excuse of today is that I joined a 6-people team in a 12 hours relay run. We ended third and by 9 in the evening had run over 160 kilometers!

My first England photos are in, and I will first show one of the Modern Tate Gallery, which is really a must-see in London. It's not just a museum of modern art, where art is displayed in a traditional lay-out. Instead, it's situated in an old energy plant which has been refurbished to be well-lit, open and refreshing. It's a place where you see art in progress, with so many people sitting there reading, taking notes and/or drawing. Also worth mentioning: the bookshop on the ground floor!

Posted 12 June 2006 - Colchester (UK):

This is how my brother (in black car) guided us to his house in Colchester. The UK and Ireland are among the last countries in Europe to keep driving on the left-hand side. Driving on the left seems to be typical for island-countries or island-continents. The last continental country in Europe to abolish driving on the left was Sweden in 1967. From one day onto the other -Dagen H- they changed their traffic laws to allow for the change. The change surprisingly led to fewer rather than more road accidents initially.

Posted 11 June 2006 - The Hague (NL):

England here we come! A small one-week holiday is taking off today. What's the program? Visit my brother in Colchester tomorrow, then move to London for a business meeting on Monday, then two days with no planned activity so far. On Thursday, Footsweep are playing their first international gig. We will be back home on Friday.

Posted 13 May 2006 - The Hague (NL):

A new trip will soon be added to the agenda. This time it's England on the list. I will go to Bristol for a meeting on 13 June. On the way there, I will visit my brother who recently moved to Colchester. The way back leads along London, where Footsweep will play their first international gig!

And I'm back online at home which makes updating the PhotoLog a lot easier.

Posted 14 March 2006 - The Hague (NL):

I've been on the outlook for interesting PhotoLogs to spice up my link section (on the right hand side of your screen), but so far this project has proved quite unsuccessful. Help from the Dutch Bloggie Awards has come handy and I am happy to recommend you a visit to Thomas Slijper's photolog about everyday life in Amsterdam and surroundings.

I also looked up some everyday life photos in the PhotoLogiX archive and came up with this one: a black guy waiting at bus stop Dapperstraat, well-known from the poem 'randomly happy in Dapper Street', which ends like this: Alles is veel voor wie niet veel verwacht - Het leven houdt zijn wonderen verborgen - Tot het ze, opeens, toont in hun hogen staat - Dit heb ik bij mijzelven overdacht - Verregend, op een miezerigen morgen - Domweg gelukkig, in de Dapperstraat.. Sorry about the Dutch. The second bus stop is in Southampton, England / provided as a bonus to bus stop number one.

Posted 20 December 2005 - The Hague (NL):

Exactly on the day I was planning to write about Holland's biggest free newspaper and how much it annoys me with their editors interviewing each other or themselves (including the chief editor being quoted in a news message), spicing up their articles with images in which you can count the pixels, publishing photos which are irrelevant to the article they refer to, spelling mistakes, illogical and incomplete reasoning, contradictions and travel reports always ending with "this place is definitely worth visiting for people who like .., .. and .."

At that exact moment, the "TV-moment of the year" in Holland's best sold newspaper Telegraaf catches my eye. The Duch TV-audience has elected the terrorist attacks in London to be "TV-moment of the year". Don't know what exactly to say about that but I find it sick, ridiculous, dirty, unbelievable and disgusting to compile charts of the most horrible disaster and then reduce those disasters to TV-moments so they can be compared with more digestible material on the pile of Big Brother, Idols, SMS games and interactive talk shows.

The photo below is also from London just before the city experienced its TV Moment of the year (early July 2005).

Posted 15 December 2005 - The Hague (NL):

My good friend Opel C. is back in business! I went to the garage yesterday evening to pick it up and was surprised how happy I was driving it again. I realised that so far it has never let me down and proved much more reliable than I could have expected when I bought it from Freek's sister the day following his birthday, now almost two years ago.

Apart from the car business, Christmas is approaching at high speed. Shop windows fill up with gold, red green and people are getting anxious to spend money on impressive Christmas presents. Christmas is celebrated in many different ways throughout Europe. This website lists a number of countries.

Since Holland is not included, I will briefly describe how we celebrate Christmas. Historically, our two Christmas days were only celebrated as a religious event. People used to have dinner with their families and commercial influences were still limited. Sinterklaas, a saint from Spain arrives shortly before Christmas (typically mid-November) and rewards the nice children with presents on 5 December. Nowadays, American Santa is taking over this role and Christmas is changing into a major commercial event. People still have dinner with their families but presents increasingly play a role in the celebrations. Most families have a Christmas tree (I don't, by the way) and widely display the Christmas cards they received from friends, family and acquaintances. Companies hand out "Christmas packages" to employees while the latter most of the time complain about the impractical gifts inside the package. Photos below: preparing for Christmas in London's Regent's Street and Oslo's Karl Johanns Gata (December 2004).

Posted 18 November 2005 - The Hague (NL)

Different people like different cities. Most people I know like Rome, I myself like Paris a lot. I do not like London very much. It doesn't speak to me. I have been there 3 times now and I've never been able to take good photographs. The one below may be an exception to that. This guy (Sipke Visser) especially moved to London to become a professional photographer over there. And he DOES manage to take nice photos over there!

Posted 7 November 2005 - The Hague (NL):

Turkey's Prime Minister stated today that the riots in France are partly due to the 2004 ban on religious symbols in public places. A very strange statement, especially when issued by Turkey, because:
1) Religious symbols are also prohibited in Turkey in public places and have been so for a long time already;
2) Hardly any Turkish people live in France and they were not among the instigators of the riots;
3) The law which governs all this was introduced one year ago, without any major incidents;
4) The direct motive for the uprise is known: two boys were electrocuted when they tried to escape from the police and found a place to hide in an electicity distribution shed.

So what IS the situation like? The outskirts of Paris have not been taken care of by anybody over the last decades. Crime florishes, unemployment is extremely high. Local youth have created an logic of anarchy, uncontrollable by local authorities. The incident of the two boys has triggered massive protests and riots which would have broken out anyway. Whatever is happening these days is a logical consequence of developments of previous years. But altogether, it's just a bunch of noisy fellows to looking for excuses to start fights. Where have we seen this before?

Heading for Rome

Posted 23 October 2005 - The Hague (NL):

We are leaving for Rome today! Everything has been packed and we expect to depart from Brussels South Airport around 6. I'm not taking my new digital camera with me: just the old Nikon F80 and my small digital Olympus. I will try to write regular updatums, but this depends on the availability of internet over there.

Photographer meeting

Posted 16 February 2009 - The Hague (NL):

Hello from London

Posted 3 February 2009 - London (UK):

Shortest day

Posted 22 December 2008 - The Hague (NL):

Busy week

Posted 20 December 2008 - The Hague (NL):

Above-street-level subways

Posted 26 November 2008 - The Hague (NL):

Meeting European friends

Posted 25 November 2008 - London (UK):

Lengthen your life: get lost!

Posted 2 November 2008 - The Hague (NL):

A Photographer`s Room

Posted 10 October 2008 - London (UK):

Annoyed

Posted 16 January 2008 - Manchester (UK):

Media attention for Us Europeans

Posted 14 January 2008 - Cardiff (UK):

Wales rules

Posted 13 January 2008 - Cardiff (UK):

Cheese town

Posted 12 January 2008 - Cheddar (UK):

Temps pourri

Posted 11 January 2008 - Bristol (UK):

Mirror imaged

Posted 10 January 2008 - Southampton (UK):

Fr London to Soton

Posted 9 January 2008 - Southampton (UK):

Streets of London

Posted 8 January 2008 - London (UK):

Messy message

Posted 7 January 2008 - London (UK):

PT Olé

Posted 25 October 2007 - Porto (PT):

Signs

Posted 24 October 2007 - Newcastle (UK):

Newcastle architecture

Posted 23 October 2007 - Newcastle (UK):

Socialising here and there

Posted 22 October 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

Thinking

Posted 20 October 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

Language advantage?

Posted 19 October 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

Back in Edinburgh

Posted 18 October 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

Random architecture

Posted 17 October 2007, Glasgow - UK:

Plans for Scotland

Posted 16 October 2007 - Glasgow (UK):

Media attention

Posted 18 September 2007 - Jyväskylä (FI):

Marching the city walls of Derry

Posted 11 August 2007 - Dublin (IE):

Derry Day 2

Posted 10 August 2007 - Londonderry (UK):

Stage 7: England

Posted 17 July 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Stage 6: Scotland

Posted 16 July 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Houses and Streets

Posted 27 June 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Back in The Hague

Posted 24 June 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Lakes, mountains and clouds

Posted 22 June 2007 - Edinburgh (UK):

When in Rome..

Posted 21 June 2007 - Lochearnhead (UK):

Grtz fr Choockterland

Posted 20 June 2007 - Lochearnhead (UK):

Architectura di Tutti Frutti

Posted 19 June 2007 - Glasgow (UK):

What you see..

Posted 2 June 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Empty agenda policy undermined

Posted 30 May 2007 - The Hague (NL):

Can't cook, does cook

Posted 16 May 2007, The Hague (NL):