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All Entries from the Antwerp Category

At the Zoo when a Giraffe Strode by ...August 26, 2010

I love going to the zoo with little Miss 6.  This is some of what we saw on that day when there wasn’t rain beating down ... on the skylight above me as I write this.  And the sun was shining and we were happier.

I believe I loved the colour of the wall almost as much as I enjoyed the colour of the giraffe but most particularly, I love the folds in the giraffe’s skin. 
Flamingo RipplesAugust 24, 2010

The afternoon light was just right, as I strolled past the flamingo pond today ... still, I had to show Gert that nothing much had happened in post-processing.  The light really was that special on that side of the flamingo pond.  And just at the moment, I’m fascinated by the play of light and water and movement.

A moment of fierce emotion ...August 24, 2010

Little Miss 6 and I wandered through the zoo today, cameras in hand ...

It was grand but for the song I had introduced her to a couple of days ago.

Today I heard the song at least 20 times as I wandered the zoo ... with that creature, who rates herself second only to me as ‘the funniest person in the world’.  Her rankings system, no…

The Children and I ...August 10, 2010

There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same laughter & noise.
Author Unknown

Our combined hordes of children drive me insane.  Oftentimes I think our patchwork family, mostly composed of 21st century children, only know how to live in a hotel where they mistake me for cleaning staff.  However, after this volcanic creature erupts and they disperse to places where their needs are met, I miss them and their noise ...…

Today ... a day spent stalking the flowers.August 06, 2010

Little Miss 6 arrived unexpectedly, spotted my 2 mayonnaise jars of flowers, and voila one ‘vase’ moved location and is up in her bedroom.

It’s probably for the best, as I’ve spent more than a few hours, measuring the amount of available light here at my desk via these flowers.  I moved them onto the window sill and fiddled with the exposure compensation button.  I have moved my collection of rocks with them ... always dropping at least one which…

Introducing Miss 6 to the Land of Puddles, AntwerpAugust 05, 2010

It was Miss 6 and I today ...

It rained, it was grey, I was lethargic and empty after the work done on the new website and so ... we went wandering, and I was able to introduce her and her camera to The Land of Puddles, out there in the city.  We had the best fun. 

The August Break Series, Day 2August 05, 2010

Today the skies are iron grey and rain is falling.  It’s cold.  Welcome to summer in Belgium ...

It reminds me of home, this ability to showcase any season in summer.  I’m not really complaining however I am posting a photograph I took last weekend, when the sun was shining.  I loved the patterns and shadows that unrolled there in front of me.

A Me-Pot, Friend-Pot, Tea-Pot.August 02, 2010

I left everything behind, almost every thing, when I flew from New Zealand in 2003 ... a 20kg luggage limit saw to that.

I arrived in Istanbul and started again.

Then I moved to Belgium 2 years later ... and I started again, victim of the 20kg luggage limit, paying an excess for my books.

Today finds me mourning lost teapots ... or me-pots, as I called them as I feverishly scrolled through Etsy, looking for a red pottery teapot.

…

Meet Kai-Mook ... Antwerp Zoo’s Baby ElephantJuly 30, 2010

The wires of the enclosure really mess things up for this photographer however ... if you twist and wiggle and patiently wait your turn, then you might catch a glimpse of little Kai-Mook playing on the back of his elephant friend while she lies on the ground.

Hippo Roar, Antwerp ZooJuly 30, 2010

Gert and I headed out on a day off today.  It was delicious, to have no one and nothing to think about ... no work pending, nothing.

Well ... there’s the new website but we had reached the point where I had put it out there on a reality check.  Back home and working on changes before dinner, I can see a long weekend ahead of us but I’m so grateful to the wise and fabulous friends that I have. …

Our House, AntwerpenJuly 19, 2010

Saturday found me sitting amongst some truly delightful people, listening as their Croatian conversation flowed around me, stopping whenever somebody new arrived, as they switched to English or Nederlands or whatever was going linguistically ... but that is life here in Antwerp, more than 175 nationalities spilling over in this deliciously ancient Flemish city.

I was introduced to the guys who own and run Our House, a new restaurant here in the city.

As the name…

Tall Ships, AntwerpJuly 11, 2010

I love the way flags move in the breeze and have photographed more than a few of them over time but in this one, I loved the way you could see the outline of another tall ship, parked directly behind the Dar Mlodziezy.

The Tall Ships on the River Schelde, AntwerpJuly 11, 2010

This was the view from up on the back of the Polish Tall ship, the Dar Mlodziezy.

Below is the Schelde River (Scheldt in English) and in the background, you can see the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal

Table and Chair, City Pavement, AntwerpJuly 11, 2010

We were strolling through the streets of Antwerp city this afternoon, looking for our tram stop, when we passed by this church and outside ... this decorated table and the chair.

It was so quirky, I just had to take this shot.

Dar Mlodziezy, a Tall Ship, AntwerpenJuly 11, 2010

We were invited to attend a reception on one of the tall ships, presently docked here in Antwerpen.

This was our ride ... the exquisite Dar Mlodziezy - a Polish vessel.  It was stunning.  Yet more champagne was consumed.

Home, a little sunburned in the the fearsome heat of today, but happy.

A BBQ at Our Place ...July 11, 2010

It was an evening that began with Prosecca out in the garden, grazie to Paola and Simon (and to Maddalena, for persisting in insisting that I try it) , and ended with Mr Toad gate-crashing the party at 2am .... it was an excellent night.

The Prosecca was followed by a lovely champagne from Etienne Doné, dank u wel to Stephanie and Patrick.  Jurjana arrived with some Rosé wines and a delicious Russian Salad, hand-chopped in a 2 hour cooking…

Caged ElephantJuly 06, 2010

Taking photographs from the wrong side of the wire or the bars ... that’s the challenge.

A Few Hours at the Zoo, AntwerpJuly 06, 2010

Miss 6 was gifted a small camera for her birthday and today we wandered off, zoo passes and camera in hand.

For this shot, I may have been standing on the second rung on the iron fence, trying to aim my telephoto lens through the wire for a decent shot of the elephant.

I was quite happy with this ...

from A Walk in the ParkJuly 01, 2010

We have a huge park near the house, a beautiful place that makes you forget how badly polluted Antwerp is ... here at a crossroads in Europe.  You see, we have horrendous amounts of cars and trucks passing by, within a kilometre from here, and on summer days like today, you really know about them as the dirty grey/brown pollution haze climbs the horizons.  And so it is that the park creates this beautiful illusion of Nature and fresh air. …

Our Funny Little Belgian GardenJune 27, 2010

When we moved here last August, the garden was a knee-high jungle of grass and stinging nettles, over-grown bamboo and all kinds of other stuff, including the big old toads.  And anyway, we had so much to do inside ...

Gert painted up a storm, repaired broken things, rewired monstrously badly wired lights and we moved in.  And then life took off.  Before I knew it, I was in and out of Berlin over 3 months.  It was winter…

Late Afternoon Sunlight, the Cafe, BelgiumJune 14, 2010

Some time in the park ...April 24, 2010

Today was about cleaning the house, cooking lunch and spending the afternoon eating, drinking and wandering with the lovely Simon and Paola.

Rivierenhof ... a beautiful Antwerpen park.
Spring is here, thank goodness!

5 of My Favourite Places in Antwerp.April 21, 2010

There is Pluym Meubelen - full of the most beautiful ‘stuff’.
Stuff I would love to own ... exquisite beds and coverings, light fittings, chairs, desks to just about die for ... stuff, lots of beautiful stuff.

I love Via Via ReisCafe in the city.  They have good food, excellent music, lovely decor and friendly staff.  Excellent live music nights too.  I interviewed Jeroen…

from the Padlock Series, AntwerpenApril 20, 2010

Quite Startling ...March 20, 2010

Imagine, you’re walking through a train station, someplace in Europe and you walk into this ...

I thought, ‘Oh, wish I had my camera…’ as it was all about meeting Ruth off the train.  A split second later I remembered, I was meeting Ruth and we were off to take photographs in the city.

The light was appalling inside the train station, and I didn’t want to use flash but I was quite happy with capturing a little of the…

Street Sculpture, AntwerpenMarch 20, 2010

You know when you’re just strolling along the street, someplace in Antwerp and then there is this ...
Willem Elsschot was a writer from Antwerp and one of the most famous writers in Dutch language. His last work is called “Het dwaallicht” (the will-o’-the-wisp). In this book, the main character (Laarmans) meets three Afghan sailors who are trying to find a woman called Maria Van Dam (the will-o’-the-wisp). Laarmans goes with them to show them the way in the…

Flying Men, Centraal Station, AntwerpenMarch 20, 2010

I was walking through Centraal Station here in Antwerpen and suddenly there were these guys flying through the air ...

Ancient feet, AntwerpenMarch 15, 2010

Het Steen (The Stone - used when referring to a castle or fortress) is one of the oldest fortresses in Europe, an ancient castle on the riverbank of the Schelde, built in 1200 - 1225.

But this crucifixion sculpture has a history more gruesome than its beauty led me to expect.  It was the place where condemned convicts prayed before being executed, back when the Steen was used as a prison between 1303 and 1827.
Carolus Borromeus Kerk in Hendrik Conscienceplein, AntwerpMarch 15, 2010

The sun comes out, my legs feel un-used after hours working here at the desk and I give in.  I go out with my camera.

And this is my favourite place in the city of Antwerp - Hendrik Conscienceplein, named after well-known Flemish writer Hendrik Conscience.

My little blue book tells me that the Jesuits’ were responsible for the very Italian feel here, and that they worked hard creating the square back in…

Slices of Antwerp.March 15, 2010

There are so many ‘things’ here in the city, things that are difficult to capture as a whole and one day I realised that I’m a photographer who kind of likes slicing things up ... concentrating on a hand or a foot, the lower body, a window.  And so, this hand belongs to a statue of Jesus on the cross ...

The Musician, AntwerpenMarch 15, 2010

Another of the musicians playing for the Dansgroep Lange Wapper.

Musicians, AntwerpenMarch 15, 2010

Two of the musicians waiting for the march to Grote Markt to begin.  They played traditional instruments as the Dansgroep Lange Wapper performed here in Antwerpen.

Dansgroep Lange Wapper, AntwerpenMarch 15, 2010

Technically, I went out to photograph the Dansgroep Lange Wapper ... however, things went a little astray due to rain and interesting people.

I started out well, capturing the group as they marched from the very delicious Den Hopsack to Grote Markt.

The brochure welcomes you to the Antwerp Sword Dance ... traditionally performed at Half-Lent.  It was created by Renaat Van Craenenbroeck and first performed by the Lange Wapper group…

Sheep Dip, Whisky and Juliska ... a day in the life of.March 15, 2010

Yesterday, Jurjana and I were taking shelter from heavy rain in a pub, or cafe as they are known here in Belgium.

Ludo and Marco caught up with her there, bearing gifts - it’s her birthday today.  The gifts bemused me, a Sheep Dip and a Pig’s Nose whisky.

Sheep dip, back home in New Zealand is ... a liquid formulation of insecticide and fungicide which shepherds and farmers…

A slice of an Barge, AntwerpenMarch 12, 2010

I can’t work out whether I like this or not.

It’s an old barge, on display and although I love it, it’s tricky to photograph so I took a section ...
Love the light, love the colours, not sure about the slice.  Might go back next sunny day.

Roman Tear Glass Bottles, AntwerpenMarch 12, 2010

I’m just a little in love with these Roman tear glass bottles, and the light that was doing its thing that day, here in the city of Antwerpen.

No sun today, just a whole of work, similar to childbirth in its intensity and aloneness.  But then that’s creativity, isn’t it?  You create new things where nothing existed before ... or existed in a different form.

My Canon EOS 5D Mk 11 and I, out in AntwerpenMarch 10, 2010

I loved this light in Muntplein ...
That’s the why of it.

Noorderterras, de Schelde, AntwerpenMarch 10, 2010

My hands were numb at this point but the light ... oh, the light.

Late Afternoon Light, AntwerpenMarch 10, 2010

I was getting cold and hungry, just as the light started to turn golden but cold ... really cold.

Graffiti Park, AntwerpenMarch 10, 2010

The graffiti park has been ‘refurbished’ ...

I liked the new look.

Snowy Scenes in Middelheim Sculpture Park, AntwerpenFebruary 14, 2010

Did I mention the cold here, and how tired we are of snow ...

This is how it was ... MiddelheimFebruary 14, 2010

No Photoshop applied ... what you see is how it was.

Rik Wouters Sculpture, Middelheim ParkFebruary 14, 2010

I love this naked woman in Middelheim’s exquisite outdoor sculpture park.  We wandered here on the way home.  This idiot photographer was so busy taking photographs, she may have lost feeling in her fingers for a short time ... the things we don’t notice.

Impossible to Resist ...December 12, 2009

This mama hippo always seems to want to say something whenever I’m there.  I usually have to be dragged off by whoever my zoo-companion is ... today it was little Miss 5 who cut this photography session short. 

Caged, Antwerpen ZooDecember 12, 2009

Usually I’m not a fan of the foreground being blurred but I decided to experiment with focusing through to the big cat and allowing the bars to be soft-focus. 
The result was more powerful than I expected.

A Room of One’s Own, Part IIDecember 12, 2009

I need a little space and quiet in the days ahead.  I have just 2 or 3 weeks left to outline a submission for a project that would work as a culmination of all that I have been doing since I landed here in this new world over 5 years ago.  It would be made even more special as my application for citizenship rolls through its 3 months of processing ... a different way of seeing this world I’m committing…

Rivierenhof, AntwerpenNovember 14, 2009

Autumn in Rivierenhof, AntwerpenNovember 14, 2009

One of the areas where the Berlin project has pushed me, has been in the use of the tripod.  Gert and I headed into Rivierenhof Park, toting both our camera equipment and tripods, spending a couple of hours just seeing what could be done as the last of the autumn leaves were blown away today ...

Moving House and the Un-Imagined Perils of Said Move ...October 19, 2009

Can you imagine,my website was put in website prison because we moved house and somehow ... our hosting service and/or domain people got tied up in knots about our details being incorrect and took me off-line.

It’s been a saga, it’s been a terrible few days in some ways ...

There was the saga of the Sunday train timetables, broken automatic ticket machines (again) in Antwerpen’s Centraal Station, long queues and a missed train ...…

Street-Scene, AntwerpenOctober 12, 2009

One of the things I have come to love about living in Europe is surely the street-performance scene.

We see it all, from the mono-cycling, flame-juggling performer through to the exquisitely-talented violinists, the sax players, the gypsy accordianists, the stoned bands and the ‘sculptures’ that change poses every few minutes.

There is a wealth of talent to be seen and heard out here.  Oddly enough, one of my top 10 favourite buskers has been the guitar-playing singer who boarded my…

Nepalese FluteSeptember 27, 2009

This man created the most exquisite music.  I will find out more in the weeks ahead I hope ... his name, if he has cds and etc.

The Nepalese DrummerSeptember 27, 2009

The musicianSeptember 27, 2009

I should have taken names of singers and songs last night but we could barely hear each other sometimes.  The musicians played everything, from old and traditional folk songs through into modern music.  There was dancing and so much laughter.  After much searching ... perhaps this youtube gives you a very small taste of the beautiful people we spent time with last night.
Thank you so much for inviting us, Gert and I truly appreciated and…

It’s about the music ...September 27, 2009

Last night, we were invited to join in Nepalese festivities, I took some photographs and this particular one makes me smile whenever I see it ...
The music ... music I had never heard before, made me want to hear more and the food was truly delicious.  We hope to return for a dinner one day soon, as taste more of the menu.  If in the city, I recommend wandering into the Himalayan Yeti…

An Art Exhibition, Antwerpen.September 26, 2009


Last night, Gert and I were invited to the opening of the annual Korenbloem Art Exhibition, held in the Mercedes Benz Showrooms, Antwerpen.
The address is Plantin & Moretuslei 123, 2140 Borgerhout and the exhibition will run from 26 September until 3 September 2009. 
It will be open from 10am until 5pm, closed on Sundays and entry is free. 

I was an exhibitor last year, this year Hugo asked…

The Path Home ...September 22, 2009

This morning, cycling home after delivering Little Miss 5 to school, it occurred to me to perhaps admit that, although I miss the Nature I loved so well back home in New Zealand, this Belgian version goes some way to replacing it ...

The Belgian parks are much more manicured, I struggle with that but perhaps these backtracks cater to the kiwi longing for beech forests and ferns.

Autumn is in the air, there was a definite chill this morning…

Ludo Van Campenhout, Belgian Politician and AldermanSeptember 21, 2009

Middelheim - Open-Air Museum, Antwerpen.September 20, 2009

Today, Julie and I decided to bike the 14kms to the beautiful open-air sculpture park here in Antwerpen - Middelheim Open-Air Museum.  The ride was delicious - the air soft and warm, as we enjoy an Indian summer, and the bike paths were a pleasure to travel along.  And Middelheim, as usual, was pure delight.

History told me that that the sculpture park hosted its first exhibition back in 1950 and a little research…

Marina, Antwerpen.September 20, 2009

Walking back for the celebrations in the evening, I was stopped by this beautiful scene ...

The New Antwerpen Musuem.September 20, 2009

Street Performer, AntwerpSeptember 13, 2009

My cousin, Julie, and I are wandering around this Belgian city of mine, talking, drinking a little red wine last night, and enjoying the fact that we are with some of our family ...

We phoned home and talked to Auntie Coral and my lovely Sandra sister, missing everyone.

Please explain to this wandering woman ...September 01, 2009

...why it is that she is finding living near a superb butcher and a lovely bakery so extraordinarily delicious, and why she so happiness-filled about being able to buy slices of Passchendaele cheese (and other cheeses too, cut off huge wheels of cheese) old-fashioned butter, fresh eggs and whatever meat she might need for dinner that night.

And why she smiles like a kid at Christmas when she walks into the bakery where they have the most sumptuous Belgian breads,…

Settling In ...August 30, 2009

For the first time, in a very long time, I am setting up an office space that isn’t located at the heart of the family home.

It’s quite the business ...
The stairs pictured are the stairs I’ve been climbing up and down tonight, carrying books for the lounge book cases while leaving books for my very own bookcase up in the bedroom.  The new bedroom is 30m2, an L-shape, making it completely possible…

There’s a Toad in Our Garden ...August 27, 2009

Gert captured our little garden toad with his phone camera ... resting in amongst the plastic garden refuse sacks we had left outside. 

I think Gert’s quite taken with our toad, he made him a little shallow pond with a stone in it (nothing to do with my ‘But he must have somewhere to swim ... there’s nowhere to swim out there’), so Mr Toad can get in and out of the pond, should he…

Di’s Today in the FlatlandsAugust 26, 2009

I’m smiling this evening, bemused by the developing and ongoing chaos but delighted that this chaos involves a little travel and lots of my favourite people.

Sunday we have the pleasure of hosting our first friends at the new place.  They checked that we really felt like it but I promised, we really really need a reason to stop for a moment.  Little Miss 5 is beside herself with delight and the rest of us are…

Portrait of a Desk ...August 24, 2009

Secretly, I suspect I find some kind of ‘home’ in packing, a task that has become so very familiar to me through the years.

Jessie has often stood by this desk of mine and said, ‘Do you know how interesting your desk is - I just want to pick through it for treasure’.

It’s nice that she sees it like that but mostly I just see this terrible chaos and today I’ve begun packing it up for the move to…

The Card Players IIAugust 18, 2009

I love hands ...

The Card PlayersAugust 18, 2009

I loved this series of images and could quite happily spend years photographing older people doing their thing.  In Boccadasse I spent almost an hour, leaning over a rail watching a group of older men playing Petanque but didn’t quite find the courage to ask if I might photograph them ... next time I’ll try I think.

I love the way you see who they were and who they still are, now ... at this point in their lives.Sunrise, Antwerpen (around 6am)August 18, 2009

I hope your Tuesday is a delicious one.

4.30am ...August 18, 2009

4.30am in Belgium and the mosquitoes have won ...

The first round of Di and the Mosquitoes on the Inside of the Mosquito Net was waged at 3am.
I imagined I’d won and returned to bed after dealing with the nasty itchy bites.
I was so wrong.

4.15am and there were 2 more mosquitoes inside the no-fly zone, so here I am with the enormous red coffee cup full of coffee, window open, and a sliver of…

TRAM 11 by Herman de ConinckAugust 15, 2009

I love this poem by Herman de Coninck simply because it so completely captures what you might see any day on Tram 11 here in the city of Antwerpen, city of 165 different nationalities.

Back in May 2007, I was one of 8 people to step onto the stage to read the poem in our mother tongue but the celebrations were about so much more… it was about remembering this famous Flemish poet and about celebrating diversiteit.

You see, Tram…

Sonia Rymenans, AkoteeAugust 12, 2009

I wandered into Akotwee on my way home from a delicious lunch with Simon, Paola and Hazel ...

Actually,  I was lured into Akotwee really, by the Tibetan scarves they had in the window.  I loved them, I didn’t want to love them but I really really did.

Sonia Rymenans, the owner, chatted with me for a while, explaining the story behind the names of her 3 shops there at Melkmarkt 28, 2000 Antwerpen…

Welcome to My World - Grote Markt, AntwerpAugust 11, 2009

This is one of my favourite squares here in the city of Antwerp.

The triangular shape of Grote Markt reveals that this square was once ancient Frankish municipal ground.  Frankish, as in city planning from something like the 4th century AD when the Franks, otherwise known as the fierce ones, ruled the area.

The Town Hall is located in Grote Markt and nearby, you find all the exquisite guild houses, still adorned with the symbols of their former…

The Common (and yet excessively unattractive) Brown Frog.August 10, 2009

Remember the scorpion I ‘met’ in Genova ... well, Paola tells me that she has never ever seen scorpions in the city, that it’s rare to find them there.  She didn’t quite go so far as to tell me I was lucky.

Yesterday afternoon found me helping Gert in the garden of the new house, helping him warily because I don’t know what ‘wildlife’ inhabits Belgian gardens.  I was thinking more of spiders and snakes and…

De Vierkante Molen (Le Manège Carré Sénart ) by François DelarozièreAugust 08, 2009

I hate carousels!’ he says, laughing. ‘Well, I like carousels up until the 1920s and 1930s, before they became advertisements for things - Disney characters, for instance. After that, there was no longer any inventiveness. But the carousel is important because it is the first journey a child takes.
François Delarozière

The square carousel is in town and it is a carousel of wonderment and delight, as we discovered yesterday and plan to continue discovering in the time it…

Centraal Station, AntwerpenAugust 06, 2009

I looked up as we were riding the escalator up from the bowels of Centraal Station, Antwerpen and thought the light was simply stunning, and so we paused on our journey and made this attempt to capture something of the beauty we saw right there above us.
Note: ‘Winkels’ means shops ... just so you know.
image

ViaVia Joker Reiscafe, AntwerpenAugust 05, 2009

There’s a new interview up over on my Interviews Section, titled ViaVia Joker Reiscafe, Antwerpen. I hope to have given you a small taste of one of my favourite cafes here in the city of Antwerp ... although, without exaggerating, it actually makes the top ten list of International Favourite Cafes (according to Di).

The photograph was taken between rush hours in the cafe, I like to slip in there when it’s…

Did I Mention My Yesterday ...?August 04, 2009

My yesterday was a full day ...

I had my marketing student here in the morning to study English with me, we have 3 weeks to improve his English to the point where he passes his examination and then, at 2pm, there I was chatting with two lovely Belgians - the photographer and the journalist, here to interview me as a New Zealander living in Belgium.

It was ‘interesting’ being the subject rather than the photographer. 
The…

On the way home ...July 05, 2009

Nina’s Ornamental blog image is the place I wander to when I’m in need of that feeling I found in New Zealand.

I used to live in this funny little cottage with huge windows on the edge of a harbour and I had a beach for each mood back in Dunedin.  And there was a creek my Labrador and I ran away to when we lived in the mountains beside…

Cafe Stanny, AntwerpJune 16, 2009

I had passed by Cafe Stanny on the train as I travelled to and from Brussels city, and I have slid by it via the Number 8 tram so many times but I had never quite managed to step off and visit its red and welcoming friendliness.

Today, I had no destination in mind, I was simply escaping a really bad day and so there was nothing to lose as I climbed off Tram 8 with my small travelling laptop.

…

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