Thursday, October 1, 2009

Eric & Dana

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of these two beautiful people whom I met yesterday in the hotel.

(while formulating the above sentence, I wasn't sure about the usage of the word 'whom'. While googling for it, I came across this website which gave an example with the city SEATTLE in it: "Mrs. Dimwit consulted an astrologer whom she met in Seattle. (She met him in Seattle.)"......it still haunts me!!)

I work parttime in a hotel. A second job which I have on the side to pay for college, etc. ( Well, I graduated college about a month ago...but still have this job. :) )



43 year old Eric and Dana are an American couple from Flint, Michigan (United States). They've really changed my view on American people. Actually...they've changed my view on people in general even more: NEVER judge people on their looks. Of course, you already knew this. Right? It's always either beautiful or...not that beautiful. :P Personality doesn't always matches the appearance.

Eric invited me in his room. At first, I had mixed feelings about his invitation because I thought he wanted to beat me up because the hotel forgot to fill his minibar with some beers. But then I saw his wife sitting comfortably in the leather chair behind him and I accepted his invitation.
He looks extremely intimidating with his long goatee, wide chest, dark short hair and his arms covered with tattoo's untill the wrists (probably his whole upper body). The way he talks, it was like he was Steve Irwin himself. But his personality is the exact opposite. I even made this tough looking man cry for a moment: I told both Dana and him I wish my future wife's parents would be just like them.
I said this because I was overwhelmed by their hospitality (they insisted me I should sit down and have a(n alcoholic) drink with them) and the conversations about the view on life.

My new mate told me he's going back to The States as a changed man after this Amsterdam trip. But he told me that I made his whole trip. Probably because of our deep, deep conversation about life and culture (probably also after I gave him two stolen beers from an unbooked room). :P
His wife Dana looks like an ordinary woman: no tattoo's (haha), jeans, black boots, purple top, long brown hair in a ponytail and blue eyes. She's got one of the most beautiful personality I've ever felt. Yes you can actually feel someone's personality in your gut by just talking to the person. It felt good when I was with them. I love 'm.

So...I have a new house (in Michigan); "Mi Casa es su Casa!" is what Eric said to me.
And a boat (Eric & Dana love chilling and getting tanned on boat trips).
And Eric can build me a Harley Davidson-type chopper for only under $8000 (he is a RIDER and builds his own choppers). Flint, here I come!
I kissed Dana three times on her cheeks (Dutch way of saying goodbye...(and hello)) and gave Eric a big hug. Eric: 'That's how we do up there!'. He even kissed me on the cheek while hugging me.....but that's ok.


- Flint, Michigan. Taken by Paul Hitz -


I don't think I will ever meet a couple like Eric & Dana again. I felt welcomed, protected, like they were my parents for an hour. But they are my parents. My American parents. We will be reunited, one day........

Thursday, September 24, 2009

All alone, all by myself


-Taken in the evening at one of many train stations in Amsterdam -

Well...
sometimes it's good to be on your own. For instance, when you're rrrrreally tired and travelling by train (my favorite alone-time). You just wanna be left alone, sitting next to...no one and listen to some music, reading a book or whatever. Resetting your mind.
I took this one when travelling back from a trip to / reunion in France. It was quiet. Dark. Chilly, I had to wait for my train but I had my Yashica with me with only 1 picture left to shoot! I decided to klick kläck this view!

What's your favorite 'Now leave me alone for a minute!'-moment?

Friday, September 18, 2009

Happy, very happy.


Scene from "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" with Jeanne Moreau: Gelukkig, erg gelukkig. Taken with the Yashica.

Perhaps it's one of those movies only to be watched at night. Otherwise...you won't 'feel the movie'.

Are you gelukkig? Erg gelukkig? Jeanne Moreau's facial expression and her thoughts shown in this picture represents my mood at the moment; Not sure how I feel...it's kinda mixed, you know.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Busy bee.

I graduated college exactly two weeks ago!

Since graduation, I've actually been a very busy bee...despite the fact I do not have a fulltime paying job. I'm interning at a Fashion Agency and also have a parttime job on the side since my college days. I'm still into photography (of course!) and have bought six film camera's in the last four or so weeks (!!!!). Yeah I know, It's getting a bit out of hand and I should stop buying (vintage) film camera's otherwise I can't pay my rent, insurances, food, etc., etc. I'd like to share some exciting news about my photography career. But I'll tell you more about it once it's official.....

My apologies for not updating my blog in such a long time but remember...I will never stop blogging, and I will always come back after a while. :) And if I ever stop blogging, you can still find me on the net on one of many Social Networks with Facebook and Twitter being the most used ones. So no worries. :)

Together with three other buddies, I went to visit a few friends of mine in Lille (France) last weekend. We organised a small reunion with another group of people whom we all met during our studyperiod in Sweden. La Braderie, an annual event, is the biggest European flea market and the reason we all went to Lille for the reunion. With over two million visitors in just 48 hours it was extremely crowded!


Lille at night


Our hostess, Aurélie.

Soon, I will have to move again (for the fourth time in 1 year) in Amsterdam. Hopefully I will then have a place to stay for a long period. And if I do, I'll save up for next year's 'La Braderie' and buy a shitload of stuff and turn my room into a cozy mess like these appartments in Apartamento Magazine.


Antique accordeon. Including case. Only €100,-


Crowd. Sometimes we were stuck for like 5 minutes. Imagine that in your own city: Just stand completely still in the middle of the road for 5 minutes. That's...friggin' long!


One of many beautiful doors in Lille.

The people from HomeShoppingSpy also went to La Braderie and made a very beautiful post about this big event!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Seattle

There's something about this city, which has been calling my name for a very long time.


Pic taken by Daniel Seidman

And I feel like we have a connection. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that both in this city and in my city, it's raining 9 months a year. Very wet. Yuck. BUT, during rainy periods, you can make very beautiful pictures...haha. Right? Yes.


Golden oldie.
Pic taken by me.


Picture taken in Seattle, by David Long

So, could rain be the (only) connection-element between me and Seattle? No I don't think so.

For years, Seattle's nickname was Queen City until my year of birth. How odd. And then it changed to 'Emerald City'. Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This movie was released in the states for the first time in...my birthyear.

So, there is indeed a connection between me and Seattle since the day I was born.

Hmmmm......

Sleepless in Seattle happens to be my favorite romance movie (ever). Also, I LOVED, LOVED...and still LOVE Frasier (I still watch the reruns at night on television). Best tune ever if you ask me. I also LOVE Grey's Anatomy. Yes I do! All are Seattle-based television shows.
When I was young and very much into Basketball, my favorite NBA-star was Shawn 'The Reign Man' Kemp. Power forward of the Seattle Supersonics. :) We both wore number 40. This could be no coincidence...or perhaps it just was.

I know for sure something is going to happen to me, once I set foot in Seattle.

Another Seattle coincidence I read about, earlier this week...a man woke up in Seattle's 'Discovery Park', with no memories and not knowing how the hell he end up there.

Some cool facts about Seattle.

And the signs don't stop(!): I went searching for Seattle pictures for this blogpost, and the first pictured I really liked was taken by a guy named Daniel...-SIGH-


Pic taken byDaniel Seidman
Seattle's Space Needle


Seattle Central Library. Picture taken by Viv

Has anyone been to Seattle? Or, are any of you readers from Seattle??? Seattle!! Battle Seattle!

Seattle, I hear ya already...please stop giving me signs! I will come visit you one day!! Just be patient...


Picture taken in Seattle by Jon Madison

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Garance Doré posing for Mr. J.

that rhymes!!

As promised:

Miss Doré posing for ME in FOAM.

Check out the blog of the girl, standing on the left holding the red notebook. :)
It's supercool!

So, for those of you who haven't seen the Fashion Blog expo yet....go see it! Keep in mind, the expo's final day is this sunday (23rd of august)!
Go with discount. :)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Old babies

I became a proud father of three new (old) babies.

Lately, I've been into film photography. It all started with the interest in buying a Rolleiflex earlier this year. Unfortunately, those vintage camera's are now highly sought after and the prices are ridiculously, extreeemely, enooormously high: depending on the type of model and their condition (mint condition or almost falling apart-condition), prices range from around $100,- on ebay to...$6,699 dollars when buying a new (remake) one! If you're really really lucky, you can get the original one on markets, second hand (electronic) shops (somewhere on this planet) for a very cheap price.
I've been studying different type of analogue camera's...and there are way too many great ones. As you already know, I have an old (dated from 1957) Yashica-B camera and last week, I've bought another film camera on ebay:

Rollei 35s (1976?)


Rollei 35s; the smallest ever 135 film, full frame (35mm) camera ever built. And it's fully mechanical, which means that you don't need a battery to take a picture. :)
(Perhaps this one needs to get checked because there's something about the shutter speed.....just some extra info for all you camera-geeks out there.)

I was looking for an old Olympus Pen EE after reading a lot of good reviews on the net. Also, many magazines (on- and offline) are talking about the latest camera hype Olympus E-P1. So, I wanted to know about the history of the PEN-series. And that's how I got to know about this classic one:

Olympus Pen EE


What I like about this camera, is the fact it's a half frame camera. You can make diptych pictures with it. Click on the lovely word to see some examples of it. :) It's just two pictures in one. (I have to find out which year this one was built. Probably around 1960's.)

Olympus Trip 35

(Gotta decode the serial number to find out in which year this one was built!)

Yesterday, I've bought some film for this baby, right here. This one is almost fully automatic, which I don't really like because I like to have control over the whole process of taking pictures. It's a 'point and shoot' camera. The only settings you have to do are ASA (iso of filmroll) and choose focus range of four positions (1 person, 2 people, 3 people, mountain, which equates to 1m, 1.5m, 3m and infinity (persons and mountain aren't shown in this picture...hehehe)) When shooting flash, it's possible to adjust aperture from f/2.8 'till f/22.
Got it off marktplaats.nl. It's like ebay.

Some Olympus Trip 35 examples. Click it!!!


Check out this funny commercial advert starring photographer David Bailey

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Massimo Vitali @ FOAM

Hello, hello!

There are two (actually, there are more expo's at the moment!) very interesting expositions at FOAM museum in Amsterdam. One is, of course, the Garance Doré Fashion Blog expo (will post a picture of her posing for me, very soon! ish.). And the other one is the expo of Italian photographer Massimo Vitali oh my, oh my! With his Deardorff 11 inch x 14 inch camera he shoots in public places like beaches and touristic destinations with large groups of people. The photo's are being scaled to a larger size so that you can see the details of what's occuring during that particular moment.

If you click on the link, you can hear the sound of the beach.....so peaceful. Just put it on while you're laying on bed...so nice.
Or just go to his portfolio...and check out the 3rd picture in particular...you can check out that picture in an extremely larger scale!!
I don't have many readers from Amsterdam. But when you're in the city...you should go to FOAM!
(FOAM should pay me because of this promotional post.)

Here are my personal beach pics which I've taken a few weeks ago in Bloemendaal. :)


Massimo Vitali WANNABE pic.


I gotcha! This birdie knew I wanted to take a pic and tried to escape from being caught on camera...but I got him on time. Ha-ha.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

T from T.

Meet T., a very talented illustrator from Toronto, Canada, who was a student at the AMFI (Fashion Institute in Amsterdam). Unfortunately, she moved back to Canada...(sob, sob, sniff, sniff).

This photo was taken ( again with my Yashica. :) ) in Westerpark, Amsterdam, during Amsterdam International Fashion Week. We were just chilling under this tree in the park, looking at all the wannabe's, models and big name fashionscene players.


Dashel. Click, click, click! Also here. Hahaha.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Stockholm syndrome

For one moment, I could capture this lady up and close with my Yashica. It's hard to take pictures with this camera as there's no lightmeter...but I'm happy the picture came out pretty well.
It's also important to own a good scanner. Unfortunately, my scanner doesn't scan the real colors so the picture came out with too much contrast- and sharpness effect. Anyhow, I wanted to share this lil moment with y'all.



Check out her blog to see her point of view.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Closing Party...uhm. SWEAT Party.

Dear Miriam had to go back to Sverige...too early!

Miriam...

...this is what you've missed!!








Sweaty...


You better take off your clothes. There was one guy who passed out...the poor dude!






Even DJ Mr Wix took off his t-shirt!