Spring

Spring is in the air. Temperatures are rising. The sun is shining and flowers are to be seen everywhere. It’s that time of year, a beautiful time if you ask me. Our garden is doing its best to keep up with the neighbourhood gardens. Because we have an attitude of (more or less) live and let live, it’s always a surprise to see how our garden develops. It’s not a model garden (what do you people think, do you like those “glossy” gardens?) like you see in the magazines, it’s more like a natural garden. Still, it has a lot of attractive flowers like the one you see here. (it's a close-up of a "blauw druifje"). Bottomline is, as you’ve probably understood, I'm a lazy gardener, I like to just sit in my garden and photograph stuff. Enjoy.

Greyhound
The same greyhound I used for my "magic bus" posting. This time I used the caleidoscope filter (yes again, I'm hooked on it). And then I pasted 2 greyhounds on top of it. You can still see them if you look real hard.

Curtains
Drawn curtains where the sun was shining through. Using a caleidoscope filter and a glass filter the result turned out to be the image you see here. Hope you'll like it.

Happiness
Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why. (Eddie Cantor)

Windmills
Besides wooden shoes, tulips and dykes, windmills are the icons of the Dutch. You see them everywhere. In the landscape, on postcards,on cups and saucers, on....you name it. So I thought I shouldn't disappoint you. Here's my version, slightly altered, because otherwise it would be boring. Enjoy!

Magic Bus
No not the magic bus, although it seemed like magic at the time. They were magic times, long ago. Fond memories now. What remained apart from the memories is a small Greyhound bus.

Flowers (2)
The same kind of flower, but the white version. Is beautiful too.

Flowers
It's a little too soon for nature too bloom abundantly. But not for some of the plants at home. Beautiful they are at their peak and then after you throw them away. There must be a message somewhere. Maybe, enjoy whenever you can?

Church
The image says it all. A church I photographed in Denmark. It was a beautiful little church all by itself. I just tried to enhance the already romantic atmosphere. Anyway, this is how the image turned out.

Bridge over troubled waters
This is definitely a bridge over troubled waters, because a couple of hundred meters downstream from the Niagara Falls. And, you don't want to fall in the water there. Beautiful bridge though.

Trees
It looks like these trees have been taken somewhere this fall. Actually, I took the picture last december on a sunny and still warm day. Because even in december temperatures were amazingly high.

Stairs
Stairs going up. These metal stairs I photographed looking up. Don't exactly know which filters I used. It made for a perfect, almost abstract structure. I noticed that quite often after I have been playing with an image I end up with a structure comparable with what you see here. It must mean something. Anyway, enjoy.

Slow
It’s been awhile since I last wrote. Busy, busy, busy. Time seems to fly, even more so the older you get. It’s time to focus again, to pay attention to what happens around you, to step out of the rat-race. Because before you know, life is over. And you haven’t lived the way you should. You should be aware of things, pay attention to them, be more zen-like. It’s what the “slow movement” advocates. Slow down life’s pace, don’t be rushed anymore, don’t let your life be dictated by time but control it. For instance, there’s a slow food movement which proposes using honest products, taking time preparing them (which may take hours) and then eating the meal which again may take hours. Bottomline is, pay attention to what you do and enjoy it. It’s an advice I will try to follow in 2007. It’s one of my good intentions. I mean I will not eat for hours at a time, but I will try to live “slower”, more attentive, less with deadlines.

Colorful
The new archive for film and sound is a colorful building. The glass panes on the outside are designed by Jaap Drupsteen, as is the interior of the building. So, if you are in the neighborhood, you should pay it a visit. You just can't miss it. The image you see here is taken inside the building, looking to the glass windows.

Strong image
Have been experimenting quite a lot with this photograph. It resulted in a strong image I think. I don't know what you think, but I like it pretty much.

Lighthouse
Digitally altered

Carpe diem
Carpe diem, or seize the day. Life is short. It’s something you realize when you lose somebody close to you. Then it hits home hardest. Most of the time you live your life not conscious of the fact that life ends at a certain time. Deep down you know it of course, you just don’t want to think about it. It’s an annoying fact. Carpe diem means that you should live your life to the fullest, every day can be your last. It doesn’t mean that you have to indulge your every wish, you have to be responsible too, you have to be compassionate and above all you have to enjoy your life. Every day again. It also doesn’t mean that you have to quit your job and just do the fun stuff. Care about people around you and care about yourself. Don’t let life pass you by, you are the one that holds the reigns. Be prepared to say no at times when it conflicts with your own interests. You’ve only got this one life, use it well.

Politics
Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory. (John Kenneth Galbraith). Just look around today, it's what you see everywhere.
Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation. (Henry Kissinger). Whoa, what an understatement. Right on the mark.
Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

Desire and tragedy
In one of my first postings I wrote about money and happiness. This is what I wondered: “Then why do I (you?) always want to have new gadgets, a new laptop, a new hifi, a new.......?” Because goods, money don’t make a person happy. The answer was, peering over the fence and seeing one’s neighbour having a bubblebath or something, makes one want to have one too. I found another explanation: Desire. According to George Bernard Shaw there are two great tragedies in life: Not getting what you want and getting what you want. Not getting what you want speaks for itself, it sucks. Getting what you want makes you think where’s the tragedy here? Getting what you desire leaves you nothing to desire left, and that’s a tragedy too. Because desire according to GBS is what makes a human being alive. If you’ve got nothing to desire anymore you’re a pitiable person. You need something to wish for to be alive. On the other hand, we know that the more you want things, often the unhappier you are. So, the bottomline is, be also moderate in your wanting stuff, gadgets, etc!