The more I travel,

the less I want to go

Eyespiration, New York City - Times Square

Last night, I spent another lonely Christmas
Darlin', darlin', you should've been there
'Cuz, all the ones I dream about
You are the one that makes my love shout
You see, you are the only one I care for

Remember the time we swam naked
In your father's pool?
Boy, he was upset that night
But boy, was that ever cool

Remember that night we played pokeno for money
And you robbed me blind?
Remember how you used to scream so loud
'Cuz, you, you hated that number 9?

Hey, I saw your sister skatin' on the lake
This afternoon
Good heaven, how she's grown
She swoons the boy skaters, she's so tall

But of all your father's children
All your father's children, baby
You know, you are the finest of them all
You are brighter than the northern star

And I, last night, I spent another lonely Christmas
Darlin', darlin', you, you should've been there
You see, of all the ones I dream about
You are the one that makes my love shout
You see, you are the only one I care for, yeah

My mummy used to say, always trust your lover
But now, I guess that only applies to her
'Cuz, baby, you promised me
Baby, you promised me, you'd never leave
Then you died on the 25th day of December, oh, baby

Last night, oh, I spent another lonely, lonely Christmas
Darlin', baby, you, you should've been there, oh, oh
'Cuz all the ones I dream about
You are the one that makes my love shout
You see, you are the only one I care for, yeah

Your father said it was pneumonia
Your mother said it was stress
But the doctor said you were dead

And I, I say it's senseless

Every Christmas night for 7 years now
I drink banana daiquiris till I'm blind
As long as I can hear you smilin', baby

You won't hear my tears
Another lonely Christmas is mine
Yeah, mine, yeah
Another lonely Christmas is mine

Last night, yeah, I spent another lonely, lonely Christmas
Darlin', darlin', you should've been there, yeah
'Cuz all the ones I dream about
You are the one that makes my love shout
You see, you are the only one one care for

...I have always loved his lyrics, it's like poetry ♥ RIP my Prince, superfunkycalifragisexy you are!

Prince, 1987 pencil drawing by me

Prince: Another Lonely Christmas, B-side of I Would Die 4 U (12" vinyl Purple Rain album, for sale)

More lyrics via Metro Lyrics 

Eyespiration at Art Breda show 2016

Today is de last day of the annual Artbreda show, a big show with fine art and antique. I made this set of Eyespiration photos during opening day 9 April 2016, using Miksang Contemplative Photography:

Do you look?

Or 

Do you See

Eyespiration


Inspired by life my photography shows life as it is, subjects SEEN as they are. Struck by its beauty or remarkable appearance, in detail often, life is photographed by me. The plant in above picture makes the photo, the weird relation between its leafs and the paint curls of the piece of art. This is #eyespiration. Let life inspire you!

Red, White & Blue - 2016

(Floor)




Each year new groups of Miksang Contemplative Photography start at Artstudio23. In only 10 meetings you'll start to see life fresh, with pure eyes! You can sign up for the newsletter if you'd like to know more or join me in a workshop.

Eyespiration bij Art Breda

Vandaag is de laatste dag van de jaarlijkse Kunst- en Antiekbeurs in Breda. Tijdens de opening op 9 april jl. maakte ik deze fotoserie getiteld 'Eyespiration'.

Kijk je zo?

Of 

Ga je Zien:

Eyespiration

Geïnspireerd door het leven met onbevooroordeeld ZIEN. Mediteren met open ogen. De plant hierboven bijvoorbeeld maakt het plaatje helemaal af. #ikzieikzie de beetje rare overeenkomst tussen de plant en de krullen verf. Het rode houten plankje staat niet eens heel erg in de weg, want we proberen nul Photoshop toe te passen op Eyespiration foto's. Uitgaan van de pure fotografie, op zoek naar op perfecte compositie of vastgelegd moment.

Ik zie, ik zie... wat jij niet ziet!

Red, White & Blue - 2016

(De vloer)



In september begint er weer een nieuwe groep Miksang Contemplatieve Fotografie bij Artstudio23.
10 bijeenkomsten in 1 jaar laten je anders kijken. Hierna Zie je de wereld nooit meer hetzelfde!

To Be is to See - Citylights San Francisco

Citylights Bookstore San Francsico. Afgelopen februari eindelijk met eigen ogen kunnen zien:

  Ernaast het wereldberoemde literaire café Vesuvio:

 Aan de overkant bij de bekende North Beach Jazz Mural een lichtkunstwerk met 'vliegende' boeken:

Over het San Francisco Writers Conference komt nog een aparte blog. #SFWC is het schrijvers congres in California waar ik sinds 2010 het evenement voor fotografeer en social media content voor maak. Dit jaar gaf ik voor het eerst een 'Anders Kijken' workshop aan een grote groep schrijvers, was een leuke ervaring daar op Nob Hill met een groep schrijvers een fotowandeling mogen doen.

"Als je het niet ziet, kun je het ook niet (op) schrijven"

Eerder al bezocht ik een bijzondere boekhandel op Mallorca. Als u nog tips heeft welke boekwinkels ik verder nog zou kunnen gaan ZIEN, dan hoor/lees ik het graag!

Foto's: Artstudio23.com (ook om je eigen fotografie/anders kijken workshop te boeken)

Mindful Moments at SMC Rotterdam

Social Media Week Rotterdam 2014 - Attending and Leading 3 'Mindfulness With Your Mobile' workshops

Everywhere I go I SEE. I try not to look at the world, but use the mindful state of ... emptiness and let the world come in without judging what I see. When you do so, you look at the world with a pure eye, 'Miksang' in Tibetan. This state of being to me is meditation with eyes open. Mindfulness with an empty mind.
During the coffee break I noticed this reflection and also the red flower:

A speaker preparing himself

Minimalism

 It was a dark, grey day, so what do you do? I looked out the window and saw grey skies, rain, no colour. But lack of colour also sooths the mind, makes you turn to yourself and I like grey too.

I used the raindrops on the window and when walking through the building I noticed a spectacular glass ceiling. Blessings from above!?

Reflection of the Erasmus Bridge, Nhow terrace

The restaurant turned out to be a place full of mindfulness. Reflection in the glasses is pure Miksang. Because of the bad weather I took my Mindfulness With Your Mobile group to the (empty) parking lot, also in the Nhow building. Meditation with our eyes open:

It's really not that hard to see with a pure eye. Just try to show life as it is, SEE subjects as they are. Struck by its beauty or remarkable appearance, in detail often, life is a beautiful composition. The above photo I took of the escalator is very inspiring because of the extra layer creating a depth in the picture. Beauty is all around us:

In stead of the left photo try to zoom in on the beauty of what you see. The right photo is taken from the exact same spot. The 'double' (two) ladders caught my eye when passing.

My last analog wedding films sold

Fuji Reala, Fuji NPH Pro 400, Kodak BW400CN and Kodak Elite Chrome film

This week I've sold my last Fuji Reala and NPH films, and gave the student my last Kodak BW400CN as well. Together with Kodak Elite Chrome film, this typical set of films I used in the analog days of shooting a wedding.

My Last Analog Wedding
I don't even feel sad, though seeing the lot like in the photograph above, it brought back memories! This, or same set with one or two extra Fujicolor Press 800 films and maybe one extra BW400CN film, was my ultimate wedding kit. I've been taking wedding pictures for over 20 years now, and the analog days were the best, considering how clients loved their photos and paid well for a good wedding album, as hardly anyone had the guts to shoot a wedding in those days.

It was hard work! Carrying two cameras, lenses and flashes. Always having extra batteries and enough film with you. I still have my two Nikon F100 bodies, and one of the two SB28 DX flashes still works. My two 24-70 f2.8 Sigma lenses are written off, I can only use these lenses to teach our students where to find aperture on a lens etc. Same for the flash, this flash doesn't go well with the digital camera bodies and can even damage the camera.

Me with two cameras

My last analog wedding was the wedding of Annemiek and Wilfred, in 2007. This is me taking a selfie in the lamp of the wedding car. You couldn't take any decent photos with your phone, so often I used the last frame to take a photo like this, just to finish the roll of film.

Variety of Films
Having two cameras and wanting to shoot in- and outdoors, as well as B&W and crossed E6 film, I was always juggling which film to put in what camera at what time, as 36 exposures sometimes was too much. E.g. after a portrait shoot outdoors, using the Fuji Reala (100 asa) entering the church, you do need 400 asa (Fuji NPH) and sometimes there were quite some exposures left.

But shooting 100 iso film inside a church simply wasn't working, so you did need to change to 400 or sometimes even 800 iso. It was fun too, to try to get the most out of each film. I did like to vary in colour and B&W, so by picking your film wisely you created the best wedding series.

Using Black & White film added variety to an analog wedding serie

The E6 (slide) film was always cross processed so the colors would come out bright with big grain

Using one roll of slide film helped me to get some bright and over the top colours into the series. Fuji film, especially Reala, was the best and most neutral film with awsome skin tone and natural colours, but I always liked to add bright reds and blues to the posing portrait photos. I'll tell you more about how we got those colours without Photoshop in another blog later.

So in general I used 6 to 8 colour films, and 1 slide and 1 or 2 B&W films, meaning 360 exposures max. Clients would get an album with 80-100 printed pictures, and that was it. The book told the story of the day, with a roughly average of about 5-6 hours of photography per wedding shoot. Fuji Reala film is discontinued, as well is Elite Chrome and other Kodak film. It won't take long untill all professional films will be gone, leaving photographers with consumer films only.

Digital Era
Well, in these days clients don't mind I reck. When seeing all the photos of weddings shared on e.g. Facebook and other social media, all comments say "Beautiful photo!" etc. No matter what quality, as long as the bride's dress is visible in the photo people will like the it and say how beautiful the bride looks. Soon after the first digital cameras were good enough to shoot a wedding with, the lomo photography kicked in. That might have been the first sign that we don't care about getting the best quality (in film) anymore.

The poorer the quality, the more a lomo photographer likes it. The student who bought my films though, was really looking for the Reala film, as it's discontinued and she really love the specs of that particular film. The difference between Kodak and Fuji was really about bright colors versus natural colors, as both brands were excellent film producers. A lot of analog film will be gone soon, just being discontinued.

Fortunately we can still have a look at the photos and relive the moment of (one of) the most beautiful days on our life. Thank you Annemiek & Wilfred, the last analog wedding I did was awsome and I'll never forget the fun we all had!