Before and Then – In Between You Can’t Buy –

December 1, 2012

It has been a long time since our last posting on our blog. May be we are just getting to picky…

Finding moments in a small space where we live are getting more difficult after living for a long time at the same place. You are forced to take what is presented to you. May be we need to move on to another place? A journey or travel for a week or so and take photographs, was not in our mind since we believe, to capture the spirit of a place  you have to live there for at least 6 months. This is not an option for us at this moment. So we have to live with what is deliverd to us.

Capturing moments of life in a city is not and has never been easy. A trained eye will scan the environment continuesly, only to find those moments. A precious one. One that you can take home with some happiness like a caveman after a long hunt…

Most of our time, we didn’t get any trouble with people as they didn’t notice getting photographed. There are few times, where we have been asked by people what we are doing. Once Sari been yelled by a man: “I will kill you!”. Well I go to this guy and talk. It was a guy famous for asking money from shop owners, just for a cup of coffee. He left us and was never seen again. Some can be satisfied by a calm explanation, sometimes we have to go for the  hard conversation….but this don’t stop us for doing our work.  For us they are moments we can’t buy and was given to us as a gift.

Most of you did already saw our work in social media, some reappears here and some are new…so please enjoy!

A tired Mickey Mouse on a man shoulder until it became adult…or may be never be…

MickeysBurden

Leiden 2012

An old gentleman we met during the cold winter 2012, taking photos with his roller on the frozen small rivers called grachten. A good idea if you have to walk and take your gear on frozen ice!

BorderOnlyForCowards

Leiden 2012

One in a year a marathon is held in Leiden somewhere in spring. As usual we take a walk to see people gathering on  the street. With a glimpse Sari saw an old gentleman stepping out of the crowd and raise her rangefinder and took this shot. He should be better suited for that event…

NotTheRightCloth

Leiden 2012

On a walk from the Saturday market I saw this window and felt I have to take a shot of it. We don’t know what the real intention was, but we like the composition they made.

ChickenOnTheWindows

Leiden 2012

The shot below was made during our coverage of the student demonstration at the Hague 2011. I like the word ZEN that appears in front of the guy in yellow-blue jacket. A word that associate with meditation, concentration and voila a guy with a Leica Rangefinder that I noticed in a fraction of second made the combination…

Zen

The Hague 2011

A dog to be taken and the word “gratis” means for free…

GratisMeeNemen

Leiden 2012

Rolling ice for a hot summer…

RollingIce

Leiden 2011

Oh yes, we love this one. In a Sunday morning we saw children gathered in front of an erotic shop “beate uhse” famous in germany beate for life. In this case the interpretation can be several…

BeateForLife

Leiden 2011

What we very often met here is that people taking their little dogs with a child stroller…strange…

DogCantWalk2

Leiden 2012

Ah yes, people take a break and having a small talk and wait until the traffic light switch to green…and this in middle of the street. Typical dutch!

StopForATalk

Leiden 2012

BTW about typical dutch or at least what we think they are like that, is the ability to make improvisation for temporary solutions. I dont know if I will see this in germany…

Enough

Leiden 2012

City transportation of the future, flexible, small and doesn’t need any parking area…

Transportation

The Hague 2011

Sunbathing with a sunscreen….

SunScreen

Leiden 2012

Which one that takes the money?

Kassa

Leiden 2012

….you don’t have to collect things from garbage, join the SP (Sociaal Partij) Nederland. Someone reach her/his hand with a picture of Roemer head of the party.

SPBeforeUEatFromStreet

Leiden 2012

The picture below cartoonized the bad image of the sport world due the dopping scandal…

Dopping

Leiden 2012

The gap between old and young…

YoungAndOld

Leiden 2012

In this student city, there are always funny and strange things to enjoy…

Mummie

Leiden 2012

We appreciate everyone who visit our blog and also to those who left their impressions in our work. See you on our next post. Cheers!

Cold Under Our Feet…

February 4, 2012

Falling snow can be a wonderful experience but also a nightmare for everybody if an excess  amount of snow fall down to earth. In 2010 Europe face one of the worst snow fall ever remembered in 100 years. Flights has to be canceled, train will not ride and cars face problem because there is not enough done to clean the road from snow. People has to do also their daily activity, going and doing their work, children go to school, buying things with small children and this can be a burden too. They also face burden during their travel to stations and airports.  At the same time people can have a lot of joy and fun with snow.

In 2012 Europe again hit by the coldest winter coming from the East. Even in the Netherlands temperature falls until minus 18 under zero Celcius. In Leiden temperature was 16 degree below zero Celcius. Again the Netherlands as in 2010 is surpriced by the winter. Train network collapsed, traffic jam up to 600 km or even more in the whole country, it took hundreds of victims mostly homeless. Very sad. Southern Europe countries are also hit by this winter. May be we are entering a new ice age soon?

We walk many hours and take pictures, our fingers and camera freeze, get wet. Get scared our gear will entered by the melting water of the snow. Sight was also bad. Snow get into our eyes and our viewfinder gets fog. Our feets gets colder and colder…

Leiden 2012

Old man testing the ice?

Leiden 2012

Survival kit

Leiden 2012

There are a lot of bridges in The Netherlands. Skaters sometimes has to go through a small passage under the bridge, because most of the ice are not thick enough to support them

Leiden 2012

Leiden 2012

Leiden 2012

People crossing the river Ouwe Rijn. Only every 15 years that ice covered the rivers and capable to support ice skaters in the Netherlands.

Leiden 2012

Leiden 2012

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Leiden 2012

Leiden 2012

Leiden 2012

Leiden 2012

A view to the Planetarium

Leiden 2012

Rapenburg the most beautiful gracht in The Netherlands

Leiden 2010

Leiden 2010

Leiden 2010

Leiden 2010

Leiden 2010

Leiden 2010

This is the only picture outside Leiden. A tram driver had to go out and clean the rail in front of the dutch parliament building

The Hague 2010

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Leiden 2009

Leiden 2009

Odd Things in Dutch Student Meaning Outing

January 22, 2011

On 21.01.2011 students and professors from whole Netherlands gathered in The Hague to protest the higher education budget cut plan from the new government.

This is the biggest demonstration held since 1968. We don’t expect any riots, since the student culture in The Netherlands are different than any other European culture.

At the end of the demonstration there is a small riot in the central of the city, but it was quick over. We do not want to show typical demonstration pictures, but odd and funny things we saw. Enjoy!

Dating

The Netherlands 2011

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 The Netherlands 2011

StudentDemo01

 The Netherlands 2011

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 The Netherlands 2011

StudentDemo17

 The Netherlands 2011

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 The Netherlands 2011

StudentDemo11

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Ritual of a City

November 21, 2010

Leiden Onzet 3 October

Every year Leiden celebrate their independence from Spain from a 80 year war (1568 until 1648) which is historical not completely true, according Judith Pollmann a historic expert on Leiden Onzet. It was more a civil war between followers of Willem van Oranje, who fled to Germany and start organizing a rebellion from there, and the dutch people who did not want to fight Spain due to their believe. The major of the city Leiden, Pieter Adriaensz van der Werft was taken from power for two years by Willem van Oranje, because van der Werft want to capitulate to Spain. The legend that he offer the people of Leiden his body as meal was started by his family. There were also no complete hunger in the first and second siege by Spain, which is told differently by the legend. Apart of those background, people in Leiden every year celebrate this moment and having fun for 3-4 days. At the beginning of the ceremony most people in Leiden eat a typical meal, the Hutspot a dish of boiled and mashed potatoes, carrots and onions. It start on the 2nd of October evening at 17:00. After having a meal a big parade held through the city, The Big Taptoe.  Leiden and Germany celebrates 3 October for different reasons, one for being united after the World War II and the other after surviving against the siege of 80 years of war with Spain. This marks our two years stay in this small city after leaving Germany.

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Mirror of New York

September 7, 2010

Rotterdam the New York of The Netherlands?

New York was renamed from a Dutch city New Amsterdam on the island Manhattan. The Dutch and British made an agreement and sold the island Manhattan to the British in exchange with the Banda Islands in Indonesia. For the Dutch the archipelago that now forms the Republic of Indonesia was far more important than Manhattan and the old city New Amsterdam that became the fancy, glamorous New York we know now.  For them, the Dutch, spice was more important and gave  them a golden age in which famous Dutch Masters like, Rembrandt, Jan Vermeer, van Gogh took advantage of it. Rich merchants gave them order to create paintings that later would be famous worldwide. This is only possible with the colonizations of this archipelago. Lot of people from former Dutch colony such as Suriname, Antillean, Indonesian now migrate to this small country. So you find different kind of races in The Netherlands and especially Rotterdam: Hindustani, Antillean, Manado, Moluccas . Despite of the past, now people have to learn to live together. Have better understanding on other cultures and respect each other.

Rotterdam was and is still the harbor city of The Netherlands. In the past people migrating to the USA or New World, sailed from Rotterdam. It was a beautiful city until it was destroyed at the beginning of the World War II.

A pity! Now they are rebuilding their image, the same the city of Hamburg and Berlin did after coming from the ashes after the war. We would like to document this city and it’s people and to show you a city with it’s multicultural identity. A Dutch city with the first major from a foreign background. A city that could be a metropolis in the next future. All picture taken by me and my wife Ambarum Sari.

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The Dutch and Their Beloved Water

June 13, 2010

Water marks the character of The Netherlands and their people. From their beginning  the dutch are faced by water and must  lived with it and make it an advantages to them. Their activities on water is what interested us. So much kind of them. On every kind of weather they go on water, even in the freezing winter. Seems they are weather proof. This makes them pioneer in every sector that has to do with water.  The dutch love to go out in groups using a sloep (sloop), a small fishing boat used in the old days and now for leisure. Those boats are made of polyester and mostly build outside of the Netherlands.

Images are taken by me and my wife Ambarum Sari during our stay in The Netherlands.

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The Dutch Way of Moving

April 14, 2010

People in the Netherlands use bicycle a lot. They use uncommon forms of bicycle for transporting them self or goods. Most popular of  them are called the “oma fiets” or grandmothers bicycle with large diameter wheels and back pedal brake. With this feature they can cycle in a very comfortable way. Transporting goods can be quite unconventional for the unfamiliar person. Seeing a cyclist using a helmet in the Netherlands is a rarity and there are no laws enforcing the use of one either. The Netherlands is relatively flat, so an average cyclist will face no difficulties cycling in this country but there are other elements to be endured such as the formidable Dutch weather. This land is famous for its cycle tracks and it is possible to get to any place in the Netherlands entirely via cycle tracks, but cycle track is not always available in every city. So drivers have to concur with cyclist.  Dutch cyclists however can be more aggressive than car or bus drivers, especially bus drivers has to fight with those cyclist and some are real street acrobats as you can see from some of the pictures below!  There are special bike parks at the central station and these can take a lot of bicycles.

Two images credits to my wife Ambarum Sari.

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Common Passion

March 29, 2010

At the Houten Antique and Old Camera Exhibition 2010

yesterday Sunday 28th March 2010 we went to Houten at Utrecht for the Antique Camera Exhibition 2010.  It was a cloudy day with sometime rain falling on to our faces. A typical dutch weekend!

We visited once such an exhibition in Hamburg on 2007 so we are excited what kind of this will be. Our expectation match with what we are expected. A hall with several tables and old guys presenting their collection of all those year. Most of them collected the gear about 35 years! May be their partners insist them to get rid off their beloved gears. The exhibitors came from overall of Europe. There are some interesting objects and most are old plastic or metal Japanese cameras from the old glory of silver halide. There are some Linhof’s and wooden box cameras. Linhof began by making camera shutters, and Linhof developed the leaf shutter, which became part of Compur Shutter. There some  Leica’s, but the condition are questionable. Asking for a price more higher then a well renowned dealer and in a questionable condition, but sometimes you will find a good bargain.  So we pass everything and just documented the situation there. The last two images credit’s to my wife Ambarum Sari.

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The Saturday Ritual

March 14, 2010

Every Saturday most people in Europe have nearly the same ritual, wake up a bit late, take a breakfast and doing shopping. Leiden offers every Saturday one of the most visited market in the Netherlands. Surrounded by a beautiful old city the market get it own value in the eyes of visitors, which is not only buyers but also tourist as well. This market is well zoned according to what they sell. There are vegetables zone, fish zone, bread etc….With the day the market gets more crowded. I tried my best to make a documentation about it, but hey not every photograph should be styled in a clean manner according art. I saw some photographs of a well know Magnum photographer which in our eyes is “ordinary” not that stylish as those old photographs of this photographer. It is more a personal documentation.

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Another Lunar Cycle

February 14, 2010

A new hope, a new beginning and a new spirit. Today 14th February 2010 all Chinese over the world celebrating their New Year 2010 (more info here). The celebration starts yesterday 13th February 2010. So their people at The Hague…

This year the celebration was even bigger than last year celebration. This might because of the new opening of the two gates recently. There are three kind of  street performance. The Lion Dance, the Dragon Dance, and another performance held by two persons walking on long wooden stick, wearing traditional chinese mask and clothes.   To my observation the enthusiasm of people are bigger this year.

These are  images taken during the celebration on the streets at the Chinese District (see our article Entering the Year of the Tiger).

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