Friday 31 January 2014

Buddhas of Zandvoort

Walking around Zandvoort during the workshop last weekend I noticed and photographed a lot of buddhas. There were only two shops selling buddhas, but each of them had a large variety as you can see below.
hands of a grey buddha
Hands of a little gey buddha. The hands seem half folded towards each other, but the gesture is not entirely clear.
jade colored buddha
Jade colored buddha with hands in the Dyana mudra:the gesture of absolute balance, of meditation.
smiling face of a fat grey buddha
Smiling face of a fat grey buddha with eyes closed.



hands and feet of black buddha
Hands of buddha with palms facing up, a gesture of receiving.
laughing fat buddha
Laughing fat buddha
pink buddha
Pink buddha with price tag around the neck.
pink ganesh and buddha
Pink ganesh and buddha with their hands covering their eyes.
purple buddha
Purple head of buddha in my hotel room.
smiling fat buddha
Smiling fat buddha with his face in his hands.
smiling grey buddhas
Smiling grey buddhas with hands covering their mouths.
weeping buddha
Weeping black buddha.
little buddha hands with mala
Hands of a little grey buddha with a small mala.

Thursday 30 January 2014

Miksang & Meditation, top 3 of Day 2

Below follows my top 3 of the second day of the workshop Miksang & Meditation. Again, we started the morning with a 30-minute meditation to calm our minds. I noticed that during the day my flashes of perception were no high peaks anymore, but little bumps, even to the point that I sometimes wondered whether I had a flash or not. According to the teacher I had reached a certain level of equanimity, a certain level of availability which is why the peaks are not that noticeable anymore. She also noticed that my pictures contained a certain softness that wasn't there before.
man with green cap and red stripe

oriental fan with gold lettering

patterned moss with deer droppings
We also viewed each others photos again from yesterday and had to speak out loud when we felt that the image was fresh. That was quite revealing: there were some of my pictures that were very fresh to me (where I was definitely stopped), but not to others and vice versa. So, apparently freshness is not always experienced by everyone in the same way, as we all have our own package of thoughts, standards, patterns, likes and dislikes.

Wednesday 29 January 2014

More pictures of Day 1, Miksang & Meditation

Yesterday I posted a few pictures of Day 1 of the workshop Miksang & Meditation, it was an assignment to select the top 3 of your pictures. That doesn't mean the best 3 pictures, but the 3 pictures which are the most fresh. Fresh means a fresh perception, a perception without thought or judgement, not constructed or arranged.
Today I post some of the other fresh perceptions I had during that first day of our wonderful workshop.
Apple gadgets
woman with camera
We started indoors, photographing the other participants and everything else in the room.
nuts on white plate
orange and grey pillows
part of red vase
 Then we went outside to photograph on our own in the streets of Zandvoort.
drawing of man on window
Zandvoort is a beach town, and in summer there are a lot of tourists. Now it was rather quiet. And even though it was cold, it was a pleasure for me to walk on the beach and look at the different qualities of sand.
striped sand

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Miksang & Meditation, top 3 of Day 1

Last weekend I went to a two-day workshop called 'Miksang & Meditation'. The aim was to experience what effect meditation has on Miksang photography. During meditation I put my focus on my breath and when I realized that I was thinking, I put my attention back on my breath. It is a simple but quiet meditation and it calmed my mind.
Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the first day.
black buddha

V-shape on the beach with shell


red cap in sidewalk
I will post more on the workshop in the following days.

Monday 27 January 2014

A walk around the garden

Sometime last week there was a beautiful day. I was with H. and we walked around in his garden, looking at what needed to be done in Spring.
a man's hand
It had rained a lot the past few days and the ground was muddy. That gave a wonderful reflection.
reflection of a man in a muddy pool
There was a bleak sun and it felt like Spring. A few birds were singing and for a moment we thought that winter was over, which would not be a good thing, as it is only January.
shadow of two people
H. showed me the edge of his garden and the neighboring lot that he could buy. Big question is: what is he going to do with it, as he is no farmer himself.
blue sky with bare trees
We noticed that the neighbor on the right had emptied his garden and flattened the ground. With the few large conifers sticking out his hedge, it looked kind of weird.
row of conifers

Friday 24 January 2014

Society6: free shipping!

Society6 has a special offer through Sunday 26th of January: free shipping worldwide. Look over here for my little corner in that huge shop. Some examples of my products:
tote bag blooming bonsai

iPhone case: Footprints in sand

pillow case: Esherlike reflection in Amsterdam canal

iPad case: Venetian sea tangle
Maybe you see something that you like?

Thursday 23 January 2014

Granny

My granny passed away last week and the funeral was Saturday at Katwijk, a beach town on the coast of the Netherlands. Granny became 103 years old and last year she was proclaimed the eldest citizen of Katwijk.
Katwijk harbors a lot of my childhood memories: unlike the rest of the family we lived far away from the town and when we came to visit we usually stayed a whole weekend or a large portion of our holidays. Going to Katwijk was always exciting for us: except for seeing grandpa and grandma, we would be meeting all the other cousins, uncles and aunts, and take numerous visits to the beach. Spring, summer, autumn and winter, no season could keep us away from a visit to the beach.
fishermen on the beach
After the funeral my sister and I went for a walk on the beach. For a Saturday afternoon it was quiet: a few guys were fishing, a couple of people were taking a walk with their dogs and/or kids.
black crow on the beach
There are massive works going on at the beach, apparently it is being broadened. Many tracks of shovels are to be seen, they create interesting patterns in the sand.
many tracks in the sand
The orange balloons were part of a partition: after this line it was strictly prohibited to walk on the beach, because of the danger of quicksand.
orange balls

wide tracks in the sand
It was a sad occasion, but it was great seeing all of my family again. And granny, we will miss you!

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Second exhibition: Naarden

Last week I had a meeting with the organizer of the exhibitions at a large nursing home in Naarden. He was a very sympathetic man and explained about the possibilities. I had taken one of my prints on MDF to fit on the hooks (learning point from my first exhibition). He showed me the different hooks he had and he was confident that it would all fit.
long corridor in nursing home
There is room for about 30 pictures which to me is quite a lot. Presently I am sorting out my pictures and looking for suitable themes. He explained that artists sell about one piece per exhibition and pictures or paintings that depict something that is recognizable sell well, not abstracts.
wairting room ergotherapy
So keeping that in mind I'm flipping through my pictures again, looking for flowers, animals, trees, skies and so on. I will let you know more about this process.
wheel chair quick fit
I will hang the pictures on February 28th, I'm so excited!

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Reflections on August, 2013

And here are some impressions of last August. Still a hot month, we had a good summer!
I was still fascinated by sidewalks and platforms,
shadows on platform
I explored light,evening light to be precise. Oh, how I wish the evenings were longer again!
light on kitchen door
 I looked around at the office and saw some lovely patterns there!
pattern of office carpet
I experienced with a motiv for a day
motiv for a day: sky
and I went to the Teylers Museum in Haarlem with a friend.
inside the Teylers Museum, Haarlem
August was a good month: I had good times and enjoyed friends, family and photo moments tremendously.

Monday 20 January 2014

Reflections on July, 2013

Last July was another hot month and a month of vacation! I went to France for two intensive Miksang Contemplative Photography workshops in a row.
The first assignment was about color. See more on that over here.
color assignment

The second assignment was about pattern.
pattern assignment
Then came texture,
texture assignment
the sidewalkness of sidewalks,

assigment sidewalks
the treeness of trees,
assignment trees
and finally our field of perception was about people.
assignment people

Back home I continued a little on the sidewalkness of sidewalks, I found them incredibly fascinating.
sidewalks

sidewalks

And I shot two of the pictures that I exhibited at the Slotervaartverpleeghuis, some lovely reflections (what else?).
reflection in car

reflection in car
All in all a very productive month!
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