
Portrait in black and white


The Rietveldpaviljoen (designed by the famous Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld) in Amersfoort is a centre to see, celebrate and create art. Next Saturday a new exhibition will be opened on street photography, entitled Paradijsvogels (Birds of paradise). There is an extensive exhibition of the Dutch street photographer Willem Wernsen. Photographers have been invited to celebrate his 70th birthday, and create a personal piece of art inspired by him. For this exhibition I made the photo Wedding day, that I mentioned previously in this blog. I am honoured to have it shown to the public in the Rietveld Paviljoen.

Een gedeeltelijke maansverduistering, vanochtend 18-09-2024 met het hoogtepunt om 04:41. Hoe zullen we dat nu eens beschrijven?
“De Maan kust Saturnus,” had ik al gelezen in een overzicht van hemelse fenomenen. Op dit moment staat Saturnus vanaf ons bezien recht tegenover de zon. De volle Maan staat natuurlijk ook recht tegenover de zon, anders is hij niet vol. Ze stonden dus vannacht dicht blij elkaar, zó dicht dat je van een kusje kon spreken. Helaas heb ik het kusje niet gezien, want de volle Maan was zo helder dat Saturnus volledig werd overstraald.
Hoe zullen we die gedeeltelijke maansverduistering dan noemen? De schaduw van de Aarde raakte de Maan maar nét, slechts een klein hapje werd er uit de bol genomen. Een kusje van de schaduw van de Aarde, dat lijkt me wel aardig.
On the street in Bergen, Noord-Holland
“I’m just browsing through some old stuff,” he said. “Do you see this map? It’s from the airport. I stole it from the Germans.”
Not true. It’s a copy of a map made by a modern copyer, probably fifteen or twenty years ago. But who cares? I know that during the war, as a child, he did break into German offices in the village, and that he did steal maps from them. But now, at the age of 96, all these memories are fading into a thick fog. Sometimes elements from different memories come together into a new story that is almost true. Almost. And that’s more than enough now, for him as well as for me.
They were sitting on a bench in my father’s idyllic village. I asked if I could take a picture of them. Of course I first had to explain what my intention was.
“In honor of the birthday of a famous Dutch street photographer, we were invited to take a picture in his style as a tribute. So we try to take a picture the way he would take a picture.”
“You look like a serious photographer,” She said. “So go ahead. But first you have to take a picture of us with my cell phone.” It was their wedding day; they enjoyed the sun, the beautiful surroundings and especially each other.
What a wonderful day it was

Merritt Island. Too many bird, so I’ll skip a lot of them. Also some other creatures, such as manatees, turtles, tortoises, spiders…





















Next morning we were welcomed by this Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium) walking through our garden. A miniature deer, but what beautiful eyes!


These colors of the mangroves!





Snorkling at the reef






Schematic display of a stay in the Keys, Florida USA






April 2024