Amsterdam is famous for its canals, here in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood of Amsterdam. LAPC #419 is ‘landmarks and monuments’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
A street in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood of Amsterdam. The stairs and doorways of these houses are too small to move big items, so they have a hook to hoist big items through the windows.
As in more cities around the world, Amsterdam had to decide what architecture should replace demolished old houses. The French have a ‘laissez faire’ approach and are quite bold in it. The Grand Projects of presidents (Centre Pompidou, The Pyramid at the Louvre, Grande Arche) are very modern constructions in an old context. And more cities insert modern architecture in old contexts. Is it a success? Basically it is the eye of the beholder who judges success or failure. Here a photo of old meeting new in the Jordaan, a neighbourhood of Amsterdam. LAPC #419 is ‘landmarks and monuments’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
The Jordaan is a neighbourhood of Amsterdam. The most iconic landmark is the Westerkerk. The church is right next door to the Achterhuis where the Frank family hid from Nazi prosecution during World War 2. LAPC #419 is ‘landmarks and monuments’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
A street in the Jordaan an old neighbourhood of Amsterdam.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
The Jordaan is a neighbourhood of Amsterdam.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
LAPC #417 is ‘Memories’. In a way freezing images of moments in time is creating and storing a memory. In the analogue time of film the notion of shooting a great set of photos was the first step in a process. The next step was printing it in the darkroom. That was manual labor. And some photos are just not easy to bring out. A big step towards the digital time of now. Software now is amazing, and allows me to create what I could not achieve with my not adequate dark room skills.
So this is a memory of a moment I did not feel too well being harshly told off by a French garage owner to piss off and not bother him trying to shoot photos at his workshop. As part of a course assignment in a workshop.
I walked to the bridge and this swan came down, landing in the river. Majestic. A gift.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
The front of the Reichstag. A visit was on the top of my list. In 1989 the Berlin Wall was right next to the building; and since 1989 this area was completely developed. So we booked a visit to the dome. On this photo I left the dome out consciously. I wanted to have an image like the building looked in November 1989 below.
The history of the Reichstag is connected to my hometown and Leiden. In 1933 Marinus van der Lubbe was accused, tried and sentenced by the Nazi-regime for setting fire to the building. He was born in Leiden en lived in Oegstgeest, as did his family.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version. The monochrome photo of 1989 was shot with Nikon F301 on Kodak TriX.
Brandenburger Gate (Brandenburger Tor) in Berlin was an iconic point at the time of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer). The gate then stood in no mans land, and showed the alienating effects of division through the city. Now the Brandenburger Gate is a symbol of unity of Berlin. It was a pleasure to walk through the gates, and enjoy the people and streets around it. And the see the gate back at its splendor.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
The monochrome set of 1989 was shot with Nikon F301 on Kodak TriX. The colorfilm was Fuji, and shot on Pentax Espio 115M. 2025 photos shot with iPhone 15 Pro Max edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the pictures for a larger version.
This week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #361 is ‘Doors revisited’. That theme was also the brief for LAPC #20. A door is a pass way to another space behind it. That space can be something we know already. Or something we like to imagine to see there when we go through. And in books you can end up in another world. In this post a few doors I met in my life. One I used for a long time, most I just passed by or passed through on holidays.
The word ‘doors’ for me is also linked to the band The Doors. The name of the band came from a book by Aldous Huxley, The doors of perception. And Huxley took it from William Blake, who used it as a metaphor:
“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern . Doors lead you to another side or space, break on through to the other side.”
‘Break on through to the other side’ became the title of a Doors’ song.
So a lot can be said about doors. Luckily, we still have the photos. Here are a few from my conscious memory.
This is the front door to the house I was born and lived in for 25 years. The photo is shot on Ilford XP with a Pentax K1000.
This door in Caylus is ready to be knocked. Shot on Nikon D70.
I looked through my archive. It struck me that lots of the doors I saw there are doors of small or bigger churches. This one is on Karpathos. Shot on Nikon D70.
Another church door on Karpathos, shot on Kodak TriX with Nikon F90.
A chapel door in Lesbos, also shot on Nikon D70.
The temple of Horus at Edfu in Egypt. A quick backflash.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed.
Shot with Nikon F90 on KodakTriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed, GrainLab and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
This week’s Lens Artitsts Photo Challenge (#321) is Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). These photos are from a workshop in 1997 in France, where we had to create movement with a low shutter speed while following the subject. Basically a fun excercise but done on film. So the result literally came to light after developing the film. The excitement and anxiety about the possible results were out of scale! Patience.
These film archives are the source of my B4 retouch series.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed andMarksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
The view on the Moltkebrücke over the river Spree on an Autumn morning in November 1989. The world was waiting for the Berlin Wall to open formally. Further upstream the Spree was part of the border between East and West. We are walking towards the transitpoint for foreigners in the Invalidenstrasse (link to interactive map of the former Berlin Wall) to enter East Berlin.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Originally shot with Nikon F301 on Kodak TriX, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
This obelisk misses his twin, now standing in Paris on the Place de la Concorde, site for a lot of sports during the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed.
Shot with Nikon F90 on KodakTriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
A left over from an earlier LAPC ‘balconies’.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed.
Shot with Nikon F90 on KodakTriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version.
The Efteling is a famous theme park in Kaatsheuvel in Brabant. This is one from a dusty archive, with a negative that could have been a lot better in exposure, but at that time you could not look at the back of the camera to see information for improvement! It shows the rollercoaster Python, circling towards the end of the ride. For lens artists challenge #290 Circular Wonders.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Originally shot with Nikon F301 on Kodak TriX, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
Lens Artists Photo Challenge #270 is ‘on display’. These photos were part of an assignment of a photo class in France in 1998.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed andMarksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
25 years ago I was fortunate to visit Yemen. For this week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge #263 ‘A face in the crowd’ I will publish some street portraits of that trip. Looking back at old photos can raise questions: what happened to them in those 25 years? Especially now this beautiful country is suffering from a terrible war.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta . Click the picture for a bigger version.
25 years ago I was fortunate to visit Yemen. For this week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge #263 ‘A face in the crowd’ I will publish some street portraits of that trip. Looking back at old photos can raise questions: what happened to them in those 25 years? Especially now this beautiful country is suffering from a terrible war.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta . Click the picture for a bigger version.
25 years ago I was fortunate to visit Yemen. For this week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge #263 ‘A face in the crowd’ I will publish some street portraits of that trip. Looking back at old photos can raise questions: what happened to them in those 25 years? Especially now this beautiful country is suffering from a terrible war.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta . Click the picture for a bigger version.
25 years ago I was fortunate to visit Yemen. For this week’s Lens Artists Photo Challenge #263 ‘A face in the crowd’ I will publish some street portraits of that trip. The first is from Kaukaban. Looking back at old photos can raise questions: what happened to them in those 25 years? Especially now this beautiful country is suffering from a terrible war.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta . Click the picture for a bigger version.
This week LAPC #260 is ‘overlooked’. Again one from the archives, the then small town of Fira, on the island Thira aka Santorini, built on the edge of a former caldera. The old harbor is deep down, and 600 steps lead you up to the town balancing on the edge of the caldera. Donkeys are used for comfort against payment. Since 1979 tourism boomed extremely on this beautiful island. I feel fortunate to have visited it before that tourist flood. But each time I see photos of this place I long to go back. The beaches are perfect: volcanic ashes that does not stick like sand.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
The picture was originally shot with Pentax K1000 on Kodak Plusx, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
This week LAPC #259 is ‘unbound’. Again one from the archives, that I published earlier for LAPC. #164. The then small town of Fira, on the island Thira aka Santorini, built on the edge of a former caldera. Since 1979 tourism boomed extremely on this beautiful island. I feel fortunate to have visited it before that tourist flood. But each time I see photos of this place I long to go back. The beaches are perfect: volcanic ashes that does not stick like sand.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
The picture was originally shot with Pentax K1000 on Kodak Plusx, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
This week LAPC #259 is ‘unbound’. A stray dog takes a break in the shadows at the temple of Kom Ombo.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed. Shot with Nikon F90 on KodakTriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
This week LAPC #254 is ‘spiritual places’. The temple at Karnak. The human measure.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed. Shot with Nikon F90 on KodakTriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
This week LAPC #254 is ‘spiritual places’.
Shot with Nikon D70, edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
This week LAPC #254 is ‘spiritual places’. View on the Luxor Temple, with in the back ground the Nile at sunset. On the left one of the obelisks can still be seen, the one that used to be on the right is now in Paris on the Place de la Concorde.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed. Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
The temple of Karnak near Luxor.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed. Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
The temple of Karnak near Luxor.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed. Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
This weeks challenge #205 is ‘the eyes have it’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
This weeks challenge #205 is ‘the eyes have it’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
This weeks challenge #205 is ‘the eyes have it’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
This weeks challenge #205 is ‘the eyes have it’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
This weeks challenge #205 is ‘the eyes have it’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
Lens Artists Photo Challenge #204 for this week is ‘doors and doorways’. An old photo of doors in Montpellier France.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
Lens Artists Photo Challenge #204 for this week is ‘doors and doorways’. An old photo of the opening of parliament in The Netherlands, the third Tuesday of September.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
This weeks challenge #187 is ‘water’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
This weeks challenge #186 is ‘Low Light’. Monochrome gives a soft grey tone from light to dark, aand nice details in the darker areas, which you can not see easily by eye.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
This weeks challenge #186 is ‘Low Light’. In black and white light is key for tones in the picture. It needs body (black) but soft greys give it atmosphere. Here I used the darker tones for the main objects of the photo, the couple playing cards, while having a drink and a bite. But all these signs in the background about what to do in Kathmandu add to the atmosphere of the photo.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
Panauti Nepal, Main Street.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
This weeks challenge #185 is ‘change’. Kodari on the border of Tibet and Nepal. Change means you have to cross bridges, but before you can do that, you have to create a bridge first.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
This weeks challenge #185 is ‘change’. An old town with new technology. And most of all: signs.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta
Click the picture for a bigger version.
Travel has taught me to be bold and kind to try and make contact and produce the photos you really want. But sometimes you have to pay money as well. A family portrait on high altitude (5000 meters) in the Himalay on Karo La. Part of a family that lived on the pass, with a yak, a goat and dogs. This week’s theme for the Lens Artists Photo Challenge #184 is ‘Travel has taught me’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
Travel has taught me to be bold and kind to try and make contact and produce the photos you really want. A street scene in Gyantse Tibet. This week’s theme for the Lens Artists Photo Challenge #184 is ‘Travel has taught me’.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Shot with Nikon F90 on Kodak TriX, scanned from film and edited using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a bigger version
One from the archive. Père Lachaise is a famous graveyard in Paris, with lots of celebrities being rested there; another one for this week’s lens artistists challenge #168: seen better days. You can buy a map with the names of the famous on it, to find their graves. One of the youngest to be buried there was Jim Morrisson. Lead singer of The Doors, icon. The first time I visited Père Lachaise was early in 1985. Together with a friend we took a look at his grave; which was not that difficult to find because ‘helpful’ signs on gravestones, with arrows, pointed one in the right direction. At his grave we found a very young girl mourning. I asked her why she was so sad. “Jim is gone!”, she said. She must have been very young when he died in 1971. But her grieve was real. And years later in 2021, on a walk around the local lake, young people were playing The Doors loud on a big ghetto blaster like device. They looked at me as I walked by, smirking at me because they thought I did not like the loudness nor the music. “Great music boys”, I said as I walked by. They were surprised and replied: “Yes, this is great music sir!”. We grinned together, two different generations but the same love for The Doors. Break on through to the other side.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Originally shot with Nikon F301 on Kodak TriX, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
One from the archive. Père Lachaise is a famous graveyard in Paris, with lots of celebrities being rested there for this week’s lens artistists challenge #168: seen better days.
About the B4 retouch series:
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. Some of them are partly retouched but most do have scratches, dust and stains.
Originally shot with Nikon F301 on Kodak TriX, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed.
The picture was originally shot with Pentax K1000 on Kodak Plusx, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed.
The picture was originally shot with Pentax K1000 on Kodak Plusx, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
The B4 retouch series
I browsed my archive for pictures to publish. All of them are not completely retouched yet. Scratches, dust and stains are not removed.
The picture was originally shot with Pentax K1000 on Kodak Plusx, scanned from negative and tweaked using Snapseed and Marksta. Click the picture for a larger version.
