October 10, 2017

Flemish brochure features Amsterdam by mistake

Filed under: Photography by Orangemaster @ 10:16 pm

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The Flemish government used a picture of Amsterdam for a publication on figures for 2017, the original link of which has been pulled for now because they’ve made themselves a laughing stock for the time being.

The coordinator of the official brochure claimed they had no idea it was a picture of Amsterdam. “We chose the picture because it’s a dynamic image that also radiates diversity”, which is a cringeworthy nod to the fun non-white guy on the bike in the foreground whose friends have been tagging him on Facebook like crazy by the way. I mean he’s the ‘diversity’ that’s being pointed out, right? Hand offs, he’s ‘our’ diversity Flanders, get your own.

The street is Runstraat, a fun shopping street downtown Amsterdam part of the ‘negen straatjes’ or the nine little streets.

(Link and image: parool.nl)

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September 22, 2017

A Dutch instagram full of catcalling men

Filed under: Online,Photography by Orangemaster @ 2:39 pm

Twenty-year-old Amsterdam resident Noa Jansma was so fed up with getting catcalled by men on the street she decided to take selfies with the men who catcalled her in the background to show that it does happen. Even though a lot of people know this happens, a big chunk of the population isn’t subjected to this type of harassement, so some people still think it’s not a problem. One of the men in the pictures followed her and harassed for 10 minutes – let that sink in.

Jansma says she had no clue how to react to this behaviour. If she yells back, they get aggressive and if she does nothing, she feels as if they could do anything they wanted to her and get away with it. I know exactly how she feels and it’s a horrible feeling. And being harassed is not a compliment.”It’s clear that if a man on the street says they want to fuck me that it’s not a complement”, says Jansma.

Although she’ll stop soon enough because it’s taking a toll, have a look at Dearcatcallers to see all the morons. And the worst is they all agreed to be in a picture with her – they think this is normal behaviour. The pictures were taken in Barcelona and in Amsterdam. Same mierda, different ciudad.

(Link: parool.nl, Photo of wilted tulip by Graham Keen, some rights reserved)

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September 16, 2017

Polaroid cameras now made in Enschede

Filed under: Photography by Orangemaster @ 3:46 pm

Polaroid-flickr

In 2011 we told you about the the Impossible Project producing Polaroid film after buying up the old Polaroid factory in Enschede, Overijssel, and now they’re making cameras, called the OneStep 2.

The original OneStep came out in 1977 (my family had one), and although the new one looks a lot like it, it does feature a few improvements. The viewer is better and lights can tell you how many pictures you’ve taken. Every pack of film, which costs 16 euro, can produce eight photographs, whether they are black-and-white or colour. The OneStep 2 also uses a new type of film that has been optimised and cannot be used with the original OneStep.

You can buy a OneStep 2 in white or black for 119 euro, although you’ll have to wait for the release date of 16 October according to the website.

(Link: www.bright.nl)

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July 4, 2017

Colourful photos of bike crates and old graffiti

Filed under: Art,Photography by Orangemaster @ 2:38 pm

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Although these crates can be found on bikes all over the country, these ones on instagram are from Amsterdam. The gallery features milk creates, supermarket crates, baskets and wooden boxes, to name but a few of the creative ways people kit out their bikes. As opposed to other western countries, the Dutch are more about dumping their bags and groceries in the front crate than cycling with a backpack.

And then across the country in Nijmegen, Paul de Graaf took pictures of the 30 odd years of graffiti peeled off the sides of punk rock venue Doornroosje, with a cool timeline from 1984 until today. He says it is a lot like the rings of a tree. Besides having the biggest names in music play there, Doornroosje is also known as one of the first places in the country that openly sold sold marijuana and hash.

Graffiti-Doornroosje

(Links: instagram.com , imgur.com)

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July 1, 2017

Playfully improvised bongs for festivals by Marloes Haarmans

Filed under: Photography by Branko Collin @ 2:25 pm

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London and Amsterdam based conceptual photographer Marloes Haarmans made a series of photos of improvised bongs for Vice.

The thing that Vice, tongue firmly in cheek one assumes and hopes, tries to solve in this summer fantasy is the problem of the prototypically Dutch rained-upon music festival, where all your paper is rained wet but somehow your marijuana or tobacco arent’t, and you need something to help you light up.

Bongs made from pineapples, squirt guns, sex toys, rubber boots and airbed pumps are displayed for your enjoyment.

And that is all there is to it.

(Photo: Vice / Marloes Haarmans)

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June 22, 2017

Dutch photographer uses camera with ‘water’ lens

Filed under: Photography by Orangemaster @ 4:49 pm

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Dutch photographer Robin de Puy was approached by Belgian bottled water company Spa for a marketing campaign that involved taking pictures using a water droplet as a lens. This was done by combining fluid dynamics, electricity and optics in order to show how pure Spa’s water is. The ‘camera’ consists of a glass plate with a water-repellent coating, sitting atop a diaphragm, which is in turn sitting atop an image sensor.

Scientists worked together on this project and custom-built a special ‘water drop’ camera, explained in the Dutch video below (use the closed captions for English)

The photographs taken as a result have a soft focus feel to them. “Taking the portraits was a big challenge for me. I have to admit I had gotten quite spoiled working with the newest cameras, being used to the speed and convenience. For this project I had to start at the base again: a mirror, a diaphragm, a lens (the Spa droplet) and a sensor mounted on top of each other,’ explained De Puy.

(Link: dpreview.com)

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December 3, 2016

Faces of nations, what composite national leaders look like

Filed under: Photography by Branko Collin @ 11:12 pm

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Turkish-born, Amsterdam-based art-director Güney Sokayn had this simple but intriguing question – do composite portraits of natians’ leaders say something about those nations?

On his project page he explains:

Consciously or sub-consciously, you rarely think of Germany without picturing Angela Merkel or of Russia without Vladimir Putin. Because whether we like it or not, the political leader of our country represents how the world perceives their nation. But is it a reflection of that nation’s people? […]

This is where the idea for Face of a Nation originates. It is a personal curiosity project that aims to create portraits of different nations based on their leaders from the past 50 years.

To this end, Soykan took photos of presidents and prime ministers, spliced them vertically and put the resulting strips together, forming new, composite portraits. The strips are ordered by the periods these men (and the odd woman) governed. The width of each bar represents the duration of each government.

Although perhaps the most important lesson is how boring leaders look, some trends can be clearly spotted, and I am not just talking about the switch from black-and-white to colour photography. The end of apartheid in South Africa is visible, because all subsequent presidents after De Klerk were black (top illustration, detail). American presidents lead for exactly four or eight years (bottom left). Syria and North Korea are hereditary dictatorships. And if you are the leader of Turkey (bottom right) or Italy, you should probably make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date.

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Illustrations: Güney Soykan.

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October 28, 2016

Cute mushrooms from the woods near Amersfoort

Filed under: Nature,Photography by Orangemaster @ 9:18 am

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Spotted during an autumn fall hike at the Treekerpunt nature area south of Amersfoort, Astrid Hinderks photographed these small mushrooms hiding inside an old tree, and they’re really cute!

Sometimes mushrooms are just mushrooms, not drugs in the Netherlands. We make ‘cheese’ out of them and there’s weird mushrooms that pop up in the woods.

(Link: www.treehugger.com, Photo of shiitake mushrooms by pjah73, some rights reserved)

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June 20, 2016

Swiss company gives 19th century Amsterdam colour

Filed under: History,Photography by Orangemaster @ 4:58 pm

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Thanks to the magic of photochromy, the art of reproducing colours by photography, the company Photoglob from Zurich, Switzerland lets us enjoy colour pictures of Amsterdam taken between 1890 and 1900, which were originally black and white.

Thanks to RTVNH having a slow news moment, you can enjoy more pictures of Amsterdam including the Amstel river, Central Station, the Rijksmuseum, and a few more by following the link below.

(Link: www.rtvnh.nl, Photo of Dam Square, Amsterdam by Unknown, some rights reserved)

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May 24, 2016

Streets of the World photography exhibition in Amsterdam

Filed under: Photography by Orangemaster @ 11:57 pm

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In 2009 Dutch photojournalist Jeroen Swolfs set out to visit and photograph street life in every country of the world. The idea was to portray 200 countries through 200 street photos, displayed next to each other, to show a positive image of the world in which we live, very different than the harsh images we’re used to.

The exhibition Streets of the World is the result of his journey, a photography project that not only distinguishes itself in scale, but also by the positive vision of the photographer and his eye for people.

If you’re anywhere near Amsterdam, catch Swolfs’ exhibition until mid July at the Nieuwe Kerk, which coincides with the World Press Photo exhibition, at the same location.

Here’s a video of his trip through Asia with explanations:

(Link: www.streetsoftheworld.com, Photo: unrelated picture of Waterloo Square, Amsterdam by Branko Collin)

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