Guy with a cellphone cam

New York, Bridge

2011-10-18T23:21:00.001+02:00

It's an eleven hour train ride between Montreal and New York and most of those hours are filled with spectacular views. This bridge is one of them.

Gouda, Station

2011-03-29T12:08:00.001+02:00

A beautiful combination of fog and condensation backlit by the morning sun.

Berkel, station

2010-11-29T18:48:00.000+01:00

Berkel station, in the winter, in the dark. It's kinda pretty, but the downside is waiting for delayed trains for thirty minutes while freezing your toes off.

Kieldrecht, Rain

2010-10-25T09:20:00.002+02:00

Rotterdam, coffee

2010-08-24T10:35:00.000+02:00

Enjoying the sun, a good book and some iced coffee on the roof terrace.

Leeuwarden, morning

2010-06-14T20:01:00.001+02:00

I had to catch the early train this morning, and nobody else was out at 5:30. The sun was up pretty early, which made the empty city look really dreamy and surreal.

Retranchement, sign

2010-05-07T13:58:00.001+02:00

Beware of the frog!

Antwerpen, Some more bicycles

2010-02-16T14:39:00.001+01:00

Some more bicycles that ain't going nowhere. Well, unless they cooperate. If they work together they can form a single complete bicycle, and then they can go places. They can go anywhere they want, for a given value of "anywhere".

Antwerpen, Tunnel

2010-02-06T22:40:00.001+01:00

The river Schelde runs straight through the old town of Antwerpen. There are multiple ways to cross it, but the pedestrian tunnel is my favorite by far. It was built in the 1930s, which shows in the design of the place. It's quite beautiful. Well, for a tunnel at least.

Zoetermeer, ice bicycle

2010-01-30T09:13:00.001+01:00

Unless I'm wrong, Ice Bicycles is a cd by one of those semi-serious 90's progrock bands that consist of people from more famous bands. That's not the point here tho, the point is that this bicycle is going nowhere. Where are going, bicycle? Nowhere, that's where you're going.

Scheveningen, Octopus

2010-01-11T16:19:00.000+01:00

An octopus in its tank in Sea Life. With a bit of imagination, it could also be the Great Cthulhu dreaming his terrible dreams in the Cyclopean city of R'lyeh.

Maybe I should stop reading those old horror tales..

Hulst, backlit

2009-12-29T12:00:00.001+01:00

This picture was taken on a nice, sunny day in broad daylight. A quirk in the light sensor of my camera made it look like Draculas castle at gloomy midnight.

Rotterdam, Manual clock

2009-11-27T09:14:00.003+01:00

They've built this huge clock at the Rotterdam train station. Every minute some workmen dismantle the white bars and rearrange then to match the current time.

Leeuwarden, Shadows

2009-11-26T13:08:00.002+01:00

The happy shadow of happy birthday decorations.

Emmen, Vultures

2009-09-01T15:36:00.001+02:00

Because nothing says 'romance' like finishing a carcass together.

Arnhem, Quite a lot of cameras

2009-08-11T13:56:00.001+02:00

I don't know why, but I've got the feeling this man intended to take some pictures.

Friesland, Early morning (3)

2009-08-03T06:24:00.001+02:00

Another one of those mornings where I had to catch the very early train. The sun had already risen and there was a lot more light then on the earlier pictures, but the mist made for some very atmospheric images.

Rotterdam, Legs and Advertising

2009-07-23T19:35:00.001+02:00

Using the naked legs of dummies to promote underwear sales. Quite logical, when I think about it.

Rock Werchter, Do not disturb

2009-07-10T01:01:00.010+02:00

After four days of music and quite probably large amounts of beer, this guy can't take it any more and just passes out during the Metallica concert.

Rotterdam, through the looking glass

2009-06-22T13:12:00.002+02:00

Sunset as seen through a spherical glass light.

Leeuwarden, Meerkat

2009-06-05T13:49:00.002+02:00

Did I mention the Leeuwarden zoo is very photography-friendly?

Leeuwarden, Green Iguana

2009-06-03T21:27:00.002+02:00

The Iguana Iguana might be the source of tales about dragons. When I see the beautiful weirdness of the creature and realise they can grow to be over two meters tall, I'd say it's quite possible.

Leeuwarden, Monkey

2009-06-02T13:11:00.003+02:00

Leeuwarden has a pretty great zoo. There's not much if you're just looking for the big exciting beasts, but they've got some of the best animal housing I've seen in any zoo, and you can get a great look at some of the less shy animals. This monkey, for example, actually brushed my leg before climbing this tree.

Friesland, Early morning (2)

2009-05-25T06:14:00.002+02:00

Another early train ride, another sunrise, another picture.

Kaatsheuvel, Dragon

2009-05-10T15:48:00.002+02:00

There's an amusement park called De Efteling which features a nice collection of rollercoasters and other rides. It's also home to a small forest where a lot of fairytales are enacted. Among them is this dragon. Whenever someone touches his treasure, it starts moving, hissing and blowing smoke. Needless to say, there's always a line of kids eager for their turn to touch it.

Rotterdam, Onlookers

2009-05-07T20:17:00.003+02:00

There were a lot of people walking the streets with flags and signs, protesting against poverty, cruelty, capitalism and war. They were being watched by a girl holding a MacDonalds balloon. If I were more of a cynic I'd say it's symbolic.

Friesland, Early morning

2009-04-23T11:08:00.002+02:00

I had to take the early train to work, which allowed me to witness the sun rising and the fog slowly disappearing. Which is an awesome sight to the half-sleeping mind.

Vlissingen, Mist

2009-04-22T13:55:00.002+02:00

My girl and I went for a walk on the boulevard near Vlissingen. It was quite chilly, and the wind blew in a lot of mist from the sea. This combined with the rising tide made for a special atmosphere, part fairytale, part Lovecraftian horror story. I'd almost expect to see some slimy Deep Ones crawling out of the depths.

Rotterdam, Feeding the pigeons

2009-04-16T14:06:00.004+02:00

Pigeons are kinda cool. They've got this funny look that's both stupid and knowing at the same time, and a great flock of pigeons taking off at the same looks quite impressive. I must admit a pigeon hasn't got the bulk or power of a seagull, but the sheer number of pigeons in an average-sized flock more then makes up for it.

Rotterdam, minor act of anarchy

2009-03-25T11:07:00.002+01:00

The sign says 'do not park your bike here'.

Zoetermeer, Buildings

2009-03-06T18:05:00.003+01:00

I've been working late a lot in the past couple of weeks. One of the adventages of working after the regular office hours is getting lots of tasty food (the others being no telephone interruptions and the extra pay).
Last night I went out to get some Chinese food, when I suddenly noticed the symmetry of the area. The streets, the buildings, the lights, everything seemed reflected.

Leeuwarden, Bird

2009-02-16T12:58:00.002+01:00

Not much to tell here. I mean, it's a bird sitting in a tree. What more can I say?

Rotterdam, Space Invader

2009-02-12T14:26:00.002+01:00

First Antwerp, now Rotterdam... This can mean only one thing: Global Domination!
Seriously though, I'm getting intruiged. These pictures are small, and not easy to notice. I must've walked past this one dozens of times before I saw it. So who put those things in these different cities, and why? Are there more of them? Or are they entirely unconnected?

Zoetermeer, Room with a view

2009-01-24T20:10:00.002+01:00

At my job, there's a yearly meeting where we review the past year and make plans for the new one. This year it took place on the top floor of a local hotel. The view was quite impressive.

Zoetermeer, Frozen bicycle

2009-01-09T13:45:00.003+01:00

You might recall I wrote about a lot of snow last winter. This winter we've hardly had any snow, but it's been freezing almost all the time for a couple of weeks now. All this frost results in a bicycle I wouldn't want to ride.

Leeuwarden, Roof

2009-01-01T00:17:00.002+01:00

It's pretty cold up here. And a happy new year!

Cadzand, Footprints

2008-12-27T18:47:00.002+01:00

Boxing day was very sunny, and very cold. We decided to do the smart thing and visited the coldest, most chilling place we could think of: the beach.

Hulst, Candles

2008-12-25T14:31:00.002+01:00

Merry Christmas!

Zoetermeer, Garbage Can & Wheel

2008-12-13T13:23:00.011+01:00

A new phone, a new post. Since pictures of bicycles have been quite prominent in my blog, it seemed fitting to restart the blog with a picture of the absence of one.

Barcelona, Wall

2008-10-16T13:51:00.004+02:00

My cellphone died some time ago, which gives me a much harder time keeping this blog up-to-date. While I'm on the lookout for a new camera phone, I'll give you a scan of a Yashica picture every now and then.

Rotterdam, Fountain

2008-09-22T12:24:00.002+02:00

We had suprisingly nice weather, which is quite rare this late in the summer. Some kids took good advantage of it by playing in the fountain.

Antwerpen, Space Invader

2008-08-30T16:06:00.002+02:00

The aliens are coming! Run while you can!

Rotterdam, Office

2008-07-25T13:34:00.003+02:00

Part of the wall of this office building has been peeled of and left hanging down, providing an unique look and a nice shelter in case of rain.

Antwerpen, Flying Man

2008-07-07T11:24:00.003+02:00

An interesting sculpture by the flight-obsessed artist Panamarenko.

Leeuwarden, Dragonfly

2008-06-25T12:09:00.004+02:00

My girl had the assignment to investigate and categorize different species in a nearby forest, which provided a great opportunity for some nice pictures.

Rhenen, Polar Bear

2008-06-21T13:39:00.003+02:00

Maybe I should rename this log to "guy who takes pictures of animals", but hey, who doesn't like a picture of a lazy polar bear?

Rotterdam, Big Brother (2)

2008-06-19T13:08:00.004+02:00

Because you know those birds need watching, right?

Rhenen, Toucan

2008-06-17T14:58:00.003+02:00

Have you ever been looked at at close range by one of those birds? It's like it studying you, contemplating your every move, and marking you as another victim for once it manages to escape. You thought velociraptors were scary? I'm telling you, these birds aren't natural. They are probably alien robot assassins from the future or something.

Zoetermeer, Water

2008-06-13T13:53:00.006+02:00

Because there's so much fun you can have with reflections.

Rhenen, Meerkat

2008-06-11T14:21:00.002+02:00

Rotterdam, Lion

2008-05-29T10:23:00.003+02:00

And when you think you've seen everything, you come across a lion's head sticking out of a wall.

Rotterdam, Bicycle

2008-05-26T09:58:00.003+02:00

Last winter, somebody chained his bike to the fence and then forgot about it. Now he'll have a hard time finding it again.

Hulst, Silhouette

2008-05-15T16:01:00.003+02:00

The shape of a vase with some flowers, projected on the curtains by the bright sun. Made me think of Japanese paintings, and of modern vector art.

Rotterdam, Through the Viewfinder (2)

2008-05-11T12:48:00.002+02:00

Another ttv shot. There are still some issues with the focus, but I really like the effect.

Rotterdam, Cellphone Cam

2008-05-08T13:30:00.005+02:00

Watching people is fun. You know what's even more fun? Watching people watch people.
This is a picture of a guy taking a picture of the band yesterday at the 22-Pistepirkko show.

Rotterdam, Lightpost

2008-05-06T13:56:00.003+02:00

Since the weather gets better and the days get brighter, I get a nicely coloured sky with a rising sun when I leave for work. Just a shame those colours are mostly caused by pollution.

Zoetermeer, Duck & Ducklings

2008-04-24T16:20:00.006+02:00

It seems like spring is finally coming.

Rotterdam, Through the Viewfinder

2008-04-23T13:35:00.005+02:00

I've been fascinated with Through-the-viewfinder photography for a while, and decided to give it a shot. This is a shot of Rotterdam as seen through the (rather dirty) viewfinder of my Yashica mat 124 camera. The quality is abysmal, but I kind of like the effect.

Amsterdam, Bug

2008-04-18T10:27:00.003+02:00

While walking throug Amsterdam, you can stumble upon a giant red metal insect. It's just sitting there, on the sidewalk, with no apparent reason to be there. Of course, I live in a town where a bronze statue of a dog has his own bronze dog turd, so I guess I shouldn't be suprised.

Leeuwarden, Natuurmuseum

2008-04-07T13:01:00.003+02:00

We went to the Frysian Museum of Nature last weekend. They had a corridor where they rebuild a creek, seen from beneath the surface. Above our heads there were ducks' asses and drinking cows' snouts, and in front of us a beautiful scene of swimming otters.

Rotterdam, Station

2008-04-01T10:57:00.003+02:00

They're tearing down our train station to make way for a new one. Most of the time it looks like a war zone, but sometimes, very early in the mornings, it's strangely peaceful.

Rotterdam, Yashica 124

2008-03-26T11:11:00.007+01:00

This weekend I got me a Yashica Mat 124 to keep my Practica MTL4 and the Afga Clack my father borrowed me company. I haven't even found a battery for it and I'm already happier then a pig in a sea of mud.
It might lack the fancy golden contacts his younger brother 124G has, but it has a sturdier chassis and better gears instead. Trading bling to get a bit more longevity seems like a good deal to me.

Rotterdam, Snow

2008-03-25T08:26:00.004+01:00

Back in december I wrote I couldn't remember ever getting snow that early. Now we're near the end of march and I also can't remember getting snow this late. Is this a case of local cooling to counter the global warming?

Zoetermeer, bicycle

2008-03-21T10:00:00.004+01:00

We've had an awful lot of storm and rain for the last couple of days. When I was walking to the office this morning, I encountered lots of ponds overflowing and bikes lying in the water. This is just one of them.

Hulst, Frog

2008-03-17T14:48:00.006+01:00

I'm considering to have a Pogona vitticeps (Central Bearded Dragon) as pet, so I went to the animal store to get some information this weekend. In there there was a tiny frog sitting in a terrarium with his hand against the glass, looking as if he's trying to communicate with the lizards next door.

Zoetermeer, Thought Police

2008-03-05T12:41:00.011+01:00

An advertisement on the back of a newspaper. It can be translated as

"In the Netherlands, an increasing amount of people is cooperating to prevent people from having terrorist ideas."

Yes, you've read it right. They're not talking about "performing acts of terrorism" or "blowing stuff into pieces". They want to stop people from "having terrorist ideas".

I must admit it sounds like a noble purpose, but to me it's kinda scary too. A group of people trying to stop you from thinking certain thoughts sounds awfully Orwellish to me. It also makes me wonder how you define a "terrorist idea". I'd guess "Maybe I should blow up this building" could be categorized as a terrorist idea and "Maybe we need a different government" wouldn't, but where do you draw the line? And how do you want to control those ideas?

Rotterdam, the duel

2008-03-01T16:30:00.002+01:00

Most of the time, a group of animals has a strict hierarchy. I'm not sure if that's the case with this species of bugs, but to me it looks like one of them is challenging the other one. "Meet me in front of the church... at noon!"

Leeuwarden, Pink

2008-02-28T11:10:00.003+01:00

For some reason, someone decided to put a big ugly pink pile of bricks in the middle of a beautiful and quiet natural area. And then they put an old boat in front of it.

Rotterdam, Tentacle thing

2008-02-26T11:10:00.005+01:00

I've always had a soft spot for squids, octopi and all other kinds of cephalopods, so when I saw a large amount of tanks filled with tentacles at the zoo I quickly produced my camera. Unfortunately, most pictures were ruined by reflections in the glass, but this one was quite good.

Rotterdam, Big Brother

2008-02-19T16:32:00.004+01:00

He's watching himself, too.

Rotterdam, Jellyfish

2008-02-18T12:43:00.003+01:00

Spotting jellyfish at the zoo.

Leeuwarden, Bridge

2008-02-13T12:22:00.003+01:00

The stuff tourists' dreams are made of.

Rotterdam, Sparrow

2008-02-08T15:50:00.002+01:00

This is what the experts call "A Lucky Shot".

Zoetermeer, Big Brother

2008-02-07T10:46:00.002+01:00

You know he's watching you

Utrecht, Bike

2008-02-05T11:29:00.002+01:00

Another old one, taken in Utrecht. Something funny happened to the colors, but it worked out for the better.

Hulst, family

2008-01-30T14:47:00.001+01:00

My uncle visiting at my parents' place. I like the light and colors on this one.

Rotterdam, lights (2)

2008-01-14T10:49:00.003+01:00

The green glow from the underground parking lot and the twinkling christmas lights that are still on some of the buildings make for a nice view at night.

Gent, Building

2008-01-08T22:17:00.002+01:00

A nice jugendstil storefront in Gent, Belgium. I've always liked Jugendstil, and unexpectedly comming upon something like this is always a pleasant surprise.

Hulst, Galgenveld

2008-01-04T09:51:00.002+01:00

This old little farm stands right next to the spot where the gallows used to be. The snow had already gone when we walked here, but the cold wind made for quite a spooky atmosphere. Not to mention the fact an unidentified body was found around here not long ago.

Zoetermeer, forest

2008-01-03T10:16:00.002+01:00

Another snow picture. I call it "Dude walking his dog in the distance".

Zoetermeer, playground

2007-12-21T10:56:00.002+01:00

I really can't remember the last time we had snow as early as december.
After lunch we went for a walk, and we came across a snow-covered playground. I felt there was something surreal about this weird frozen structure looming over us like a trapped behemoth from beyond the stars. But then again, I always had to much imagination.

Leeuwarden, teakettle

2007-12-10T11:44:00.002+01:00

I was having some technical problems with my camera, and this is one of the pictures I took while testing. The cam isn't working 100% yet, but I really like the way this one turned out.
The kettle was standing at my girl's mother's place, I don't know if there's some story behind it or if it's just being decorative.

Rotterdam, ceiling

2007-12-03T13:32:00.002+01:00

My old apartment was in the attic of an ancient warehouse, and I had some cool looking wrought-iron support beams sticking out of the walls.

Rotterdam, Transformer

2007-11-20T12:00:00.002+01:00

This Transformers statue has been standing here for quite some time, but I'd totally forgotten about it until I came across it yesterday.

Rotterdam, lights

2007-11-14T13:38:00.002+01:00

The elevator shafts of these three buildings each have a different color of light, causing some great nighttime scenes.

Kaatsheuvel, Mushrooms

2007-10-23T13:36:00.002+02:00

It's october, and that means fungi like these suddenly are everywhere. According to folk lore, they're used as housing by gnomes. Judging by the big flat hoods, I'd guess people said they were good shelter in case of rain, and the tale evolved from there.

Kaatsheuvel, Elephant shrine

2007-10-22T14:21:00.001+02:00

Me and my girl visited the park "De Efteling" last week, and there was a ride dedicated to WWF. I was quite impressed by the beauty and serenity of this elephant sculpture, no matter how artificial it may be.

Rotterdam, graffiti (3)

2007-10-08T11:12:00.003+02:00

Almost, but not completely, entirely unlike most graffiti.

Rotterdam, Sunset

2007-10-05T13:38:00.002+02:00

Some time ago, a major dutch photography contest had an award for "best cellphone shot". Almost all entries were either sunsets or pets.
In this picture, it was not the sunset that drew my eyes, but the way the bright reflections of the sky made the buildings seem almost transparant, almost not there at all.

Rotterdam, sidewalk

2007-09-28T11:40:00.003+02:00

Apparently, here be pirates.

Rotterdam, graffiti (2)

2007-09-20T12:34:00.002+02:00

I told you there'd be more.

Hulst, Street

2007-09-17T20:02:00.002+02:00

For some reason, people decided to hang their laundry all over the town.

Rotterdam, Calypso (2)

2007-09-12T15:10:00.003+02:00

It used to be a shiny, good-looking limo, but it's been standing on exactly the same spot for months now. Licence plates stolen, windshield smashed, tires flat and graffity all over.

Rotterdam, graffiti

2007-08-31T15:48:00.002+02:00

Whenever I spot some nice graffiti, I feel an odd compulsion to take a picture. Prepare for more in the future.

Hulst, Garden

2007-08-20T18:01:00.001+02:00

A grasshopper sitting on a rose in our backyard. Also an excellent oppertunity to see how my camera handles macro shots.

Rotterdam, De Doelen

2007-08-17T00:21:00.001+02:00

A sticker that I've been seeing on a lot of different places in Rotterdam lately. The text can be translated as "Until here, everithing went right". I have no idea if there is a deeper meaning or philosophy to go with it, but I like the minimal design.

Rotterdam, Mall

2007-08-13T01:32:00.002+02:00

About a month ago, the North Sea Jazz Festival was in Rotterdam again, and I recently stumbled upon this sand sculpture carying the logo. Nice.

Terschelling, Dunes

2007-08-08T12:04:00.001+02:00

Further down the walk, we spotted this tree.

Terschelling, Beach

2007-08-06T13:09:00.001+02:00

While we were camping, we decided to take a walk down to the beach. There, we encountered this dead crab. An opportunity I couldn't refuse.

Hulst, Jagertje

2007-08-01T11:57:00.003+02:00

Those are feet, and a red background. They're not mine by the way.