Number of days in Amsterdam – 142
Number of days without a bike theft – 138
Days since it last rained – 1
Checking in? Still no baby yet.
Today was another beautiful fall day, so we decided to get out and enjoy it.
Our original plan was to go check out the Stedelijk Museum – the modern art museum. Like a ton of other spaces, including the Rijkmuseum and soon the Van Gogh Museum, it’s under renovation, but there’s a temporary space open.
Or there was. We got down there to find out that it was closed.
But we were right by the Van Gogh Museum, which just launched a new exhibition, so we decided to check that out instead.
And it was awesome.
The new exhibit is called Snapshot – Painters and Photography, 1888-1915, and it features the work of seven different artists who were embracing a new technology – the Kodak camera, and finding ways to incorporate them into their art.
First of all, it was amazing the different ways they went about it. Some took photos and snapshots of whatever they found interesting, and later incorporated it into paintings. Some took photos as studies as paintings. Some saw the photographs as an entirely new media altogether, separate from their paintings, and some actually destroyed many of their original prints because some critics actually saw it as a weakness to paint from a photograph.
Regardless of the reason, it was amazing to look at all these photos from over 100 years ago, snapshots of daily life, and to see how much has changed and how much was the same. There were plenty of photos of friends laughing over cocktails, people playing with dogs and smiling children playing.
As a photographer, Nicole saw it as pretty inspirational, but she also pointed out the temporary nature of all our digital photography. How much of our modern photography will disappear without a trace as technology changes, while the negatives and prints from analog photography linger?
She brought a Holga with her when we moved, and I think we may be breaking that out to play with soon.
We did notice outside that there were a lot of police around. A LOT. On horses, in squad cars and in SWAT vans. But at the same time, they were all relaxed and hanging out, talking to tourists and one another. Perhaps Museumplein is also where the police like to enjoy a sunny fall day?
After the museum, we did what we like to do after museums – we went to a cafe for a snack and talked about what we saw, how it made us feel, and how we’d like to take any inspiration forward to new projects. It’s a pretty refreshing exercise, and I think it always gives us a new way of looking at the road ahead.
And our current road ahead is going to be a pretty adventurous one.
Provided, you know, the baby gets here eventually.
Wow. 120 film is still produced and sold??
My first camera was a Kodak instant called “The Handle.” It was large and noisy and I had to manually crank it so it would spit the pictures out. They just don’t make anything this awesome anymore.
The police & special forces weren’t just hanging out Ryan, there was a “noodverordening” “emergency measures” granted by the mayor from 2pm until midnight as the police had intelligence that Turks and Kurds were rallying to have a big fight – followed on twitter and other media. Luckily nothing serious ensued – the police presence probably calmed the plans…..
Walk walk walk walk walk walk! All that walking will get the uterine regions in gear sooner or later — good for Nicole to not just be laying around waiting! Movement and exercise will get that kitten rolling soon! Now seriously, how badly are you wishing for a Hallowee’baby?