Report a spammer

Do you know somebody in your vicinity who is a spammer, please report him/her to your vicar, priest, village elders, you think of something.
The spammers are transforming the internet from a friendlly place were people meet to a gridlock warzone where it becomes harder and harder to communicate with each other.
Do you know somebody in your vicinity who is a spammer please tell him/her that they're bad and losing you as a friend. Oke we will start friendly and we'll see how they respond.

My first and last 35mm film camera

Minolta 7s.
It was a great camera. I bought it in a time when SLRs where very expensive and digital cameras non-existence. This was a camera that could be upgraded by buying a new film.
When I first used it, it was about 4 mega pixels. I barely had enough money to buy a East German ORWO slide film. My film scanner shows nothing but grain over 4 mega pixel.
The last time I used it with a Ektachrome E100G. I squeezed 10 mega pixel out of it.
Not bad for a camera that's 30 years old.















Voigtlander Bessa-L
And this is my last camera. In between there were lots of SLR's.
I never used this Bessa-L that much. Around 2001/2002 the digital camera's over took them all.

Goodbye and hello

Oke?

Dripping faucet

Inspired by the Strobist I made a study of my leaking faucet.
Strange how the bigger droplets take on a pearshape. The air apparantly creates friction. I'll have to look into that.

Fuji superccd

In times of need there's always the Fuji SuperCCD. My F10 never fails. So now it's going to Fira in London.
Nina is ready to take off to London to visit Fira. The story of the camera is told here.
Nina takes this temporary replacement tomorrow to Fira in London and hopefully the two will make wonderful pictures in dancehalls and cafés.
Hurrah for Nina.

Amish country

Is this a movie set or what? It's Holland. It's right under my nose. Next to our Amsterdam office there is a horse and buggy company. Early morning it looks like I'm living in Amish county. It seems that the problem isn't limited to Amsterdam. Brother-in-Law Koos and blipfoto contributor also witnessed this phenomenon in Delft. Back to the future I fear. Or is it full speed ahead to the past?

Nikon SB-800

The original story went a follows:
Thomas just returned from a stay with his sister in London. In his hands he holds a museum piece: it's the camera with which Fira made the great pictures for her blip Fira goes London. The sad little camera has taken a tumble and won't retract it's lens anymore. It won't take pictures either. Bohoo. Fira has to beg and borrow camera's from her friends as long as the Caplio R4 is in repair. Let's hope the quality of the pictures don't suffer to much. Fira, as they say in France: courage!

All true. But thanks to my Niko D70s and SB800 flash it was a piece of cake to make this story come alive. OK, I tried a few angles. But I didn't worry 'bout the lightning 'cause I-TTL did the trick. I love it.

More fun and ideas with a flash off the camera? Look at:

New housing estate in old drawer

More than forty years ago I lived in The Hague. Like so many Dutch towns after the war they were building as fast as possible. For about twenty years people made these flats into happy homes. Then came the time that they weren’t good enough anymore. The last twenty years they are being demolished. Whole neighborhoods are gone and with them the physical evidence of the people living there. It’s nostalgia in it’s purest: knowing your way in a house that doesn’t exist anymore.

There’s no going back.

Up close

To wet to wander out.
Intrigued by the raindrops I decided to come closer. I noticed that the spiders have left their alpine gear on my windowpane. As soon as possible I will try to clean it. It won’t be easy the window is three stories up and I will have to perform death defying trick to get the work done. I think I’m go and dig up my own alpine gear.

Fun in the Carwash

No deep thoughts today.

working at the carwash
working at the carwash yeeh
come on and sing it with me
carwash
sing it with the feeling now
carwash yeah

Silent PC

Now and than I'm having a bit of fun with old computer parts. This Asrock motherboard is ideal. The fan is almost silent. Add a CDrom and a small live Linux and you get one hell of an Internet radio. I like these projects. In 2004 when the computers got noisier I also made a silent Internet radio on the fly. See music for the brain dead. It still tucked away in a corner on one of my websites.

Last check

Magazines, brochures etc. All produced in-House thanks to Indesign CS2.
It amazes me each time that when the pdfs are made there is almost no worring anymore. Boy let me tell you. Fifteen years ago it was a different story. You had to morgaged the house to buy an Apple and insanely expensive software and still you had to pray. So buy a PC and get yourself a longer vacation as bonus.

Art or fooling around

I don't know what it is, but it’s a great conversation piece. The girls were happily chalking away making and discussing the arts. The boys of course were fooling around. Well that’s life.

Fashion Fusion in Amsterdam

I hope that the event on the 9th of September was all right. But the fact that this sign is still hanging here on 17 October makes you wonder. Good project- (or party-) management means also that you clean op your mess afterwards. Make sure you have a list what to do when the party is over. This is bad publicity. It's also a fine example that nobody else feels responsible. Oh, oh, I think I should mail them this picture. Let's feel responsible.

Midnight again

Guess from which bar I took this picture.
I was all fake but wasn't cheap. So what was it?
I really don't know anymore.

Montessori

Almost ten years ago my firm designed logo's for primary schools in Amsterdam East.
I had forgotten all about them. Today we needed a picture of this school for one of our publications. And look here, our design was still on the side of the school. It's still black and green, those were the restrictions in the nineties. Today everything is printed in full color. The school is a primary school on Montessori principle. Want to know more? Look here: Maria Montessori
And take a look at the sky. This is global warming. It's october and again 20Celcius.

Where is it?

Ahha............ look between the leaves.

But do not eat!
Moist woodland and some late October sun, that's all it takes. Ok it''s an obligatory autumn picture but nothing much else happened.

I'm still standing

No deep thoughts here. Just a nice dinner with wife, friend and friends wife. The latter is not in the picture and of course I'm not in the picture. Bring out the blip-robot-photographers so we could all be in the picture. Damn.
And thank you japs for giving us the F30.
Kubrik would go beserk at the thought of filming every thing with candles.
Looking for better shots with candles? Go and take look at Barry Lyndon. Yeah, Kubrik was and still is the man. I bet god loves him.

Manhattan on the Amstel

The skyline of Amsterdam is barely visible in the distance. But who is the real Manhattan on the Amstel. There are three locations were Amsterdam is building. It's mostly office space. And yep nature is on the run. But who cares? Nobody, it's not a real discussion anymore. You gotta make money. And volume means money, so build, build and build. For what? Besides more money I don't know. I think it's Friday the 13th that is bothering me. Am I bovverd, you bet I am. And what is this Google Analytics crawling over my page. Yes, I am bovverd.

I see a red door ...

Isn't this boring and I know the yellow car should have been red. But I'm an honest guy and put this one out in the world. If it's red everybody wil go for it. I hate this tunnel vision.

The days fly by with tedious jobs and each day ends with this view. It's Holland longest tunnel. It's called the Piet Hein tunnel and is it's of course in Amsterdam. You're not allowed to phone and drive in Holland and I'm wondering how long it will take before photograph and drive will be forbidden. It's quit dangerous and I'm wide awake now!

I see a yellow car and I want to paint it red.
Well that's only five minutes nowadays.

Presse-papier aka paperweight

Before we installed an airco in our office this Ice bear was the real thing. As the head paperweight it could withstand winds up to 80 miles an hour. But now he's a bit sad. The windows are rarely open and the only breeze he gets is when our financial director whizzes past him with the latest figures. You can see his legs in the background. The airco doesn't produce arctic temps so no relief there. What am I to do with this lonely bear? Well, he won't end up in the trash that's for sure. This bear is a genuine work of art made by Fira. It is more likely that he will end in a museum.

Mama ran off with a trucker

I don't like Itunes. But sometimes it comes in handy. I like the radio station chooser. I fiddled around late this night and as a being a bit bored I searched Americana radio and there on Boot-liquor they played a song by Drive-by truckers. It was 18 Wheels of Love. They're fantastic. So listen to them. Their picture is in the middle of the screen. Go and find them.

Sunset over Amsterdam

A room with a view

I'm still thinking!

Koos the cook

On the way home

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Thanks to Fuji's superCCD I managed to take this picture of my brother-in-law.
The poor soul had to cook sunday for the people who came to his birthday.
And even in the darkest corner Fuji is there for you.

Karpathos on my wall

Karpathos and Venice seven years apart yet in the same room.

On the wall behind my desk hangs a picture I took on the greek island Karpathos. I was sitting behind my computer wondering what to do when I thought about yesterdays entry on Blipfoto. Someone apparently took a picture of a picture. So I took my camera and took a picture of the picture. I honestly explained what I did and it went wrong. Each time I uploaded it, it took only a few minutes to disappear. What is this? Is this my new Linux computer. Wait, I go downstairs and try the old XP. Oh, oh, they banned my picture. So this time I took a few steps backward. The question is: what's a today picture? This is a picture of today and yes there you can see Karpathos and Venice so watch out for pictures your room. Don't make pictures of pictures. And of course today is today. However ..... I think I saw to many episodes ot the Deadzone. ............there's still time....................

(Really to blame is my Nikon and the I-ttl flash system. It's soooo good. You won't tell real from fake! )

Been busy with Susy

What a day. The autumn winds kept me in. But that 's all right. I've been busy with Vista and Suse. That's for you non-computer lovers the new Windows and a Linux flavor.
I used Fira's Amsterdam room, desk and monitor for this operation.
And I tell you Linux goes like a charm. And as a bonus all the applications you ever need are right on the DVD. Try it, and don't use an old computer. Use one you would install windows on! So Bill give the money you stole from us to the poor and maybe god will forgive you. And then?
I took a picture of the picture above.-> see my blip.

Remember the duck?

The duck is gone.
This wine, Chusclan - Domaine du Colombier, had the perfect taste to go with le canard. It is a wine you can buy in a Dutch supermarket and it's incredible good. It's nominated as the best wine of this supermarket. It's strong, 13.5%, but I can tell you will not get a headache.
It's horrible weather here in Amsterdam so I stayed in didn't make any photo's outside.
It looks like the autumn/winter has begun. So anyone suggestions for nice wines or drinks to get us through the dark days.

Who's this dude Newton

While my daughter has fun in London, see Fira goes London, my son has trouble grasping Newtons Binomial theoreum.
So now and then I have to rack my brain trying to understand it and to explain it to him. It's not easy. And it's not fair. Newton (1643 - 1727) was not distracted by TV, radio, internet and what have we. Silently he could crunch the numbers.
Oh, the silence where is it gone?

Magret de Canard

Move away from the ducks NOW!

Today I took pictures in a park that is waiting to be renovated. The drainage is so bad that the ducks think it is a pond. Seeing all the ducks I did work up an enormous appetite.
He there, lovers of the French cuisine check out these links:
Grilled duck or Duck with ananas or
more grillades.
The ducks manged to get a restraining order. I'm not allowed near the ducks anymore.

Bon appetite
Pardon my French
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This is my 12-24mm that suprises ducks. Behind my hand and lens is my Blipfoto about page. Come and visit me at Blipfoto
Hurrah Nikon!

GPSo ergo sum or navigation skills and you

Some say it saved their life, other say they have an expert sitting right by their side. They are all talking about their GPS navigation device. But lately there is talk about cars stuck on sandy roads and cars driving on the wrong side of the road.

I keep my maps and never go wrong! What is wrong with our navigation skills? What will they do when the satellites drop out of the sky. Stay home?
Go out, wander, discover, study a map, know where you are in the world.
Long live adventure.

Bad Weather

It's finally starting to rain here in Amsterdam. Global warming gave us an extra month of sun and fun. It felt like we were living on the Cote d'Azur. I wonder if we will be so happy in a few years from now. There is almost no stopping it. Ok Al Gore is warning us with An Inconvenient Truth, but the guys who can make a difference are locked in their money making spree. Let face it the old guys in the oil lobby don't care. So the other VP Cheney thinks: "I will be dead before the shit hits the fan. I want to stay popular with my oil guys." We 're at the mercy of people with no conscience.

Madame the Pompadour said it all to King Louis XV: “Apres nous le deluge.” Well she has many followers. Play now and be gone before you have to pay. Here comes the deluge. The people of New Orleans found out the hard way. During and after. Global warming is here to stay.

I can't quit smoking

My son. Again with a cigaret. There is still time before lungdiseases catch up with him.
How can I help him to stop.

Does anybody know a good method or website? Is this a method Whyquit
Or this one? Allen Carr it helped me. Anyone?

Saturday 30 September 2006 : No stopping me

I'm getting framed. The thing kept peddling out of the frame.
The houses didn't move. So it was hard to get the frame right. I would rather had the moorhen swimming in the other direction. But what the hell, you can't win them all.