Red lights on the Ruysdaelkade

Muzenplein after a very warm day

From here to Apollo-House II

Along the Ruysdaelkade

In the middle of Museumplein

Monday the 23th of april 2012

Since two weeks or so, both of my legs are not so well and it's hard for me to go out at night. Unfortunately. I'm quite familiar with the pain as it is part of my multiple sclerosis. Usually these leg-episodes come and go (nobody can tell how long they last) but I hope to continue with my walks later on. As they still give me a lot of inspiration. This image of the Amstel was made on the 2nd of march 2012.

Van Gogh Museum

Anne Frank monument in May

Golden glare on the Ruysdaelkade

I was all the time curious how my photographs will change when the summer sets in. This night was the first pleasantly warm night of the year. The colors seem to swift towards yellow-gold I see now. Apart from this nice summer glare I also sensed an over all feeling of melancholy while strolling around the city. It was in the faces of the people I passed by. On the doorstep and in the bars for instance. But also in this strange romantic scene of the canal I sense it. The people on the little boat were playing a very bad, very vague, hip hop-rendition of 'Non Je Ne Regrette Rien'. It was the evening of May 21 when I made this image of the Ruysdaelkade. 

Azalea's on Roelof Hartplein

Standing on the Berlagebrug in May

Oosteinde

Oosteinde is a strange street in between the Frederiksplein and the Pijp. On the other side of DNB there is a parallel street called Westeinde, wich has more or less the same desolate atmosphere. The location of DNB used to be the place where the Paleis voor Volksvlijt was once. I was looking at a beautiful photo of the Paleis voor Volksvlijt just now. How impressing this neighbourhood must have been in the beginning of the 20th century.

I'm trying to imagine now.

If the Paleis voor Volksvlijt burnt down in 1929 and DNB was built in 1968, the area must have been quiet empty in the interventing period. Stan Rubens, the man that I already mentioned in my post about the Lekstraat Synagoge, was hiding with his family on Westeinde for a year. In his testimony Stan told a beautiful story about that period. 

The father of Stan brought a film projector with him to the appartment where they were hiding. And he somehow found a way to secretly rent 8mm movies at a company in Rotterdam. The movies were sent, via via, by friends and people from the resistance to the adress on Westeinde. I figure the Rubens family sitting in a bare and dark livingroom and enjoying the movie images. Every now and than, they laugh silently, despite the fear and the continuous threat for betrayal and raids.

the other side of the Van Ostadestraat

On many occasions I tried to take a good picture of the Oranjekerk in de Van der Helststraat but it's hard because the street is so narrow. All the streets in De Pijp are quite narrow and therefore it's not so easy to document the neighbourhood as it is. On the photo above we see the Oranjekerk just on the left side. I was standing in the sand and mud of the Van Ostadestraat when I made this image.

Hilton

Two times Museumplein

Van Ostadestraat

Sarphatipark in April

Looking at Venus and the Sarphati Monument

A while ago I got a letter from the municipality where they warn the citizens for criminality and aggression in the neighbourhood. Apparently 4 people were murdered in the last few months.

When I met my neighbour Miriam this afternoon she said the letter got her quite upset, although she never felt fear when walking at night. 'I don't sense much aggression on the streets either', I told her. We both came to the conclusion that we know it when things are not all right. Somehow we sense it.

Although a fair number of people were killed in the Sarphatipark, I can't remember feeling any fear while taking this photo of the Sarphati monument. Strangely enough...

Green, white, red on the Amstelkade

Blossom tree in the Burgemeester Tellegenstraat