A glass of mint tea

Today I'm posting just one picture. I noticed that over the past few weeks, I've posted series of similar perceptions. Today it is just one picture of a glass of mint tea. I went out for a drink with a girl friend yesterday and we sat on this french like square with tall trees in the middle of the city. That was very tranquil, I felt like I was on a mini holiday. There was just a bit of sunlight coming trough the leaves and it gave this reflection so every now and then. With the sun slowing turning (or the earth to be more precise), it was gone after a while.

Bikes and such

During my daily lunch break yesterday, I went out and walked through the city center. I didn't get very far though. When you walk slowly and you start looking, you start seeing so much you don't need to go far.

I didn't have a focus when I came out of the building, but when I looked around me all I saw was bikes and their shadows.

A truck driver saw me take the first picture and he commented: "Taking photos of shadows?" He loved it!

Motiv for a day

I've tried this before: a motiv for the day. I've wanted to do so for a long time and I really enjoyed doing it the first time, but when I saw the results I was quite disappointed: there were lots of spots in the blue skies. So I had to have my camera cleaned first and after a while I tried again.

A motiv is a series of photographs of the same object taken from more or less the same distance and angle. Our teacher of Miksang photography encouraged us to try this out, but then taken over a much longer period of time. This was a problem for me: during winter the days are too short to shoot the same object and at work the window were way too dirty. Hence I came up with the idea of a motiv for a day. The pictures today I took at the University of Amsterdam, where I could open a window.

I takes looking at what is happening with your object over space of time. I saw the clouds and chemtrails moving, the light on the tower changing, the moon coming into view and then disappearing again. Seeing the pictures in a sequence was mesmerizing.

09.06 hrs.

09.21 hrs.

10.01 hrs.

10.28 hrs.

11.30 hrs.

12.18 hrs.

13.03 hrs.

13.35 hrs.

14.01 hrs.

15.58 hrs.

16.12 hrs.

16.57 hrs.

17.39 hrs.

Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Last weekend I went to the Teylers Museum in Haarlem. It's the first and oldest museum in the Netherlands and named after Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (1702-1778), a wealthy banker and silk trader in Haarlem. Living in the Age of Enlightenment, he had a great interest in the arts and science.

We were mainly interested in the building, but the collection of minerals and fossils is simply wonderful. The building reminded me of the Egyptian museum in Cairo: it has the same kind of cabinets and lighting (natural light only for the regular collection).

Below is a selection of my perceptions in the museum.

Shadows on doors

I took Friday afternoon off, it was just an idea that came to mind in the morning. It looked like it was going to be a lovely, warm and sunny day and I wanted to enjoy it instead of sitting in the airco cooled office. So I went to the market, walked to the thrift store and later on had a drink with a friend of mine. Very enjoyable.

While I was walking with my camera I noticed the shadows of leaves on walls and coloured doors. You see them here below.

One too many

Wednesday night I went to visit my friend, right? Well, dinner was lovely, the company great and the wine was simply fantastic. But, I had one glass to many. So yesterday I had trouble getting out of bed and I felt tired and uninspired the whole day. I wondered, can you tell from looking at my pictures? Does my mindset or mood reflect in the images I take?

The middle two pictures were taken yesterday, the first and last one on another day.

Just colour

I went to visit a friend last night and took the train to a smaller town just outside of Amsterdam. Just in front of the central train station in Amsterdam there is a bike flat; it is a flat boat with 3 stories of parking places for just bicycles. I parked my bike there (top floor, it was busy) and noticed they had just painted the floors, or just parts of the floors I should say. Below are three examples of what I saw.

Window shopping

I'm back for the last few weeks at the University of Amsterdam. The building I work in is located in the centre of Amsterdam, which means close to all the shops and museums! It also has the temptation to spend money big time, but yesterday I kept my money in my pocket and just went window shopping. Below are a few impressions of window displays. I enjoyed the creativity and variety in these displays. Sometimes you find a piece of art between them.

Patterns at work

When there is so much light as in the summer, it is a joy to see shadows caused by things like shutters and such. I walked around the office Friday and just enjoyed the patterns that had appeared, the lines of the shutters themselves and shapes electrical cords made on the floor. The examples below all are pretty colorless, but they contain subtleness.

Shadow on calligraphy

When I came into the living room this morning, I saw the light shining on the buddha and its shadow on the calligraphy that I bought at the Dechen Chöling Center. The lettering is Tibetan and it means: The land of eternal Bliss.

Exhibition foam II: Edward Steichen

The second exhibition we visited was about photographer Edward Steichen (1879-1973) 'In High Fashion, the Condé Nast years, 1923-1937'. During those years he worked as a fashion photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair and he had hundreds of famous models, actors, actresses and authors in front of his camera.

There was an overwhelming number of photographs displayed; some people are still known nowadays for their looks or abilities, others are forgotten over time.

Below are some of my favorite pictures that were on display:

Actress Carlotta Monterey, 1924.

Actor Gary Cooper, 1930.

Actress Mary Heberden, 1935.

Actress Greta Garbo, 1928.

Actress Gloria Swanson, 1924

Actress Loretta Young, 1932.

Actress Marlene Dietrich, 1934.

Princess Nathalie Paley wearing sandals by Shoecraft, 1934.

Of course this has nothing to do with Contemplative photography: this has nothing to do with fresh perceptions, everything is posed. But I do like his lines and lighting, and his sometimes dramatic use of shadows.

All photographs by Edward Steichen.