In between the rain

I said it before . I love the grey sky. Pity that you always get rain with it. Here above the "Damrak" in Amsterdam. One for skywatch friday here.

City playground

As child you have often to find your own playground but not to difficult here.

If I would be so kind to tell who was the quickest.  The result you see here.

Photo Festival Naarden

In the great church of Naarden my eye felt on this portrait of a lady from the south of the USA , made by Jan Banning, through the fence of the church choir.

Outside I saw these twins who clearly where not interested in taking their picture. But it was in a city so  full of photographs and photographers impossible to avoid.

Grand cars.

Talbot Lago T26 grand sport coupé Saoutchik from 1948.

Only 38 were made . I didn't know we had an car museum in the Netherlands and second that it is so big . The Louwman Museum in the Hague started as the oldest private car collection with the purchase in 1934 of a twenty year old dodge. Today it consist of more then 230 cars and a lot of connected other stuff. I walked around for 4 hours and after that time I decided that it was enough and had still not seen everything so I have to come back another time.

This car called "Old Lightning" in translation is for dutch comic readers well known. What I didn't know is that it really existed and that the original from Spyker ( a dutch firm for cars ) made in 1912 was used as example by M. Toonder the author of the comic about Olivier B. Bumble and Tom Puss.

Here the original "Old Lightning" from the comic. The Spyker 7-HP from 1912.

A lot of effort.

The maker of this mural made it himself very difficult to get it on place.

One for monday murals here and monday mellow yellows here.

You have bridges in many ways.

This is an amsterdam bridge that is even for cyclists a bit difficult to take.

One for sunday bridges here .

Self-portraits

Kudos for bieb that she allowed me to place these self-portraits in the mirror of an elevator.

I dedicate this one to weekend reflections here.

The beauty of a grey sky.

I find it a pleasant sky to watch until the rain starts falling but it looks always interesting.

Here from the same spot a shot with a tele lens from the "Montelbaans" tower and the "Zuider" church.  The Montelbaans tower in front was once part of the city defense works from the middle ages but lost its function and in 1606 it got the white part made by the same architect as later the Zuider church.  Build between 1608 and 1611 by Hendrik the Keyser it was the first protestant church in Amsterdam.

I dedicate this post to skywatch friday here.

National Maritime Museum

Here you see biebkriebels looking at an interactive journal of a sailing trip around 1650 to the East Indies. This journal lying in a chamber completely dedicated to navigation on sea from history till now and filled with all kind of instruments shows the trip and writes itself as you touch the pages. The museum is after a big restoration open again since last year.  

Of course there are more models then you can ever imagine but very impressive indeed.

If you are ever in the circumstance to visit I can recommend it.

Another one from my saturday course

Yes after making this one I asked if I should photograph the whole group together. I did it with every camera they had.

Albert Heijnstein

We have a big grocery imperium in holland called Albert Heijn.

The maker of this mural used the famous scientist with just a little switch in naming as an ad for this concern including their logo in bag and formula. Its funny but also a bit disrespect for Albert Einstein I think. One for monday murals here.

Crash course street photography

Yesterday I followed a street photographers course from " FOAM " The famous photographic museum in amsterdam. Rule one, posing people like the one above is not permitted. ( It was the second shot I made that day).

First after a little introduction of the two photographers who gave the course. (sorry I know only surnames) they showed us some examples of street photography by Helen Levitt and Gary Winograd. Also showed a little film above about Bruce Gilden making street photo's in NY.

For sure not a method I would do.

Still some rules where given as
The photo must contain people
Preferable not on their back
They may not posing for you
No bikes unless part of the total image as street content
No kids only
unless the photo contains a decision made by someone on that moment.
Of course interpretable in a lot of ways
No use of a tele lens
And that was it.

The next hour we went on the street to make photographs.
Here some results of my work.

These are 5 of the 135 pictures I made that hour. My fellow students (25 total) found the bench shot the best. What do you think. That evening I had my eyes closed at 10 PM.

Bubbles

My fascination for air bubbles is great as here in a glass block made by an unknown artist.

One for weekend reflections.

The new palace of justice

Heavy clouds above the new palace of justice. I hope it will not have influence on the cases they have to do inside. One for skywatch friday here.

Borgward

On a quiet corner at the edge of the old city I found this car what must be a Borgward Isabella from 1958. It looked remarkable good for such an old car.

An oasis in the city

On a place where once was a little shipyard is now a public garden.

It looks very cozy but it must have been a great struggle  to persuade the council not to make a parking here.

How the palm trees survived a lot of the dutch winters is a riddle to me but they look healthy enough. Now the area has a little public garden that can be an example for a lot of abandoned places in town. 

The babysitter

On the flea market I spotted this babysitter. Perhaps he had a pause and used it to make a walk with his child.

Our daily job.

On the parking of hotel L'Europe the doorman walks back to his post after just parking a car from a guest. It gives a nice scale to the mural in different states of making. And no, the wall is not of the hotel but from an university building on the other side off the street.

I dedicate this one to monday murals here.

Daytrip

This time of the year the tulips must give an colorful view on the fields so biebkriebels and I decided to go and look in the backyard of our own province Flevoland. It was and is so cold that except some show gardens the tulips need still a few weeks to blossom. 

Instead we went to Lemmer a little friesian town on the border with Flevoland.

Harbour of Lemmer. Lying on the IJsselmeer and giving way to the big lakes of Friesland there are always a lot of boats around but you have to pass a few locks and bridges in town.

In Lemmer is also an Indian motorcycle museum and workshop where they are restored and repaired.

Here you see the owner of the museum Tony Leenes in his red jack and his big chief with sidecar.

Also there was this Scott squirrel from 1923. It was running with the first kick and what a lovely sound it was. All in all a funny trip with a lot to see although no flowers in the field.

Window reflection.

It must be a kind of sign from the people who live in this canal house for people who just look into someone's house without invitation. One for weekend reflections here.