  
 Saturday 31/12/2011
Walking Into A Better Future S 
Friday 30/12/2011
Last Friday Of The Year Unedited shots of people and buildings in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. So, this is it, just one more day and 2011 is over, finished, move along, make room for something new! I hope that you've had a great year, that many good things happened to you, and that the bad things were bearable, that you achieved what you hoped for, that your dreams came true, that you met that one special person, that you went to the places you wanted to see, that you found happiness and of course that 2012 will be even better! Have a great last Friday of the year, see you on the other side :) 
Thursday 29/12/2011
Battle Bot Sam Unedited shots of a church in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. Tuesday I almost got hit by a car while biking home, only a head-first plunge into the tram tracks helped me to avoid this unpleasant encounter with the steel front of that box on wheels, unfortunately I landed on my knee and various other soft body parts, but luckily I didn't realize I had ripped my jeans and was bleeding until after I had jumped back on my bike, raced after the car and spit a giant, probably poisonous boogie against the window, or I would have dragged the dude through it and dropped him into the nearest canal instead. The way things went, it wasn't until 5 minutes later that I did start taking in the damage, and by then it was too late already. Now the right side of my body hurts and I'm limping, not a nice feeling, and surely not the way I intended to end this year, but that's life, gotta deal with it and move on, let's hope that 2012 will be accident-free :) 
Wednesday 28/12/2011
The Countdown Has Begun! Slightly edited pictures of numbers in Amsterdam. Taken with my HTC Desire using the Camera360 Android app. It's almost New Years Eve, and I'm counting down the days and the hours until the actual event already, 2011 has been a great year with many good things going on, and the usual few stoopid things forcing themselves into my life, overall I'd like to thank this year for being a good one, much appreciated, but now let us get things going and let's hope that 2012 will be even better, yay :) 
Tuesday 27/12/2011
Bye Bye Christmas Slightly edited shots of bikers in Amsterdam reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing besides some playing around with contrast and saturation, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. Christmas is over, it was very nice, and I'm already looking forward to next year, so here's a little colorful good bye reflection greeting, but now we've got to move on, we still got New Years Eve ahead of us, and like so many other people, I am planning on getting veeery drunk and on having tons of fun on the last night of the year. Almost weekend, lol! 
Monday 26/12/2011
Let There Be Light! Slightly edited shots of the Christmas lights in my house in Amsterdam. Taken with my Sony HX1. So, Christmas is almost over, and after several days of eating, drinking and sleeping too much, I feel really tubby, and I'm glad I got 2 assistants as gifts, they can roll my lazy, overweight body around my house, so that I can still get some things done, even if I can't move anymore. I hope that you're having an awesome weekend with lots of good vibes and lovely people, it's going to be another year before we get a chance to be like this again :) 
Sunday 25/12/2011
Ho Ho Ho! Slightly edited shots of Christmas lights in Amsterdam reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing besides some added contrast, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. It's Christmas, how lovely, and of course I ate and drank waaay too much last night at a Christmas dinner with some friends, I almost didn't make it home on my bike afterwards, I was so close to falling into a food-overload coma, but luckily I made it home and into my bed, where I ended the evening peacefully with some yummie chocolate, that almost made my stomach burst. I feel like I can never eat again, so I should probably give the tons of delicious things I've accumulated in the last days to the bums out in the street, and I would, if only I could move my lazy, near-obese body...oh well, I guess that means I'll have to eat it all anyway, slurp. Have a wonderful time, enjoy Christmas, do only nice things :) 
Saturday 24/12/2011
Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho! Slightly edited shots of the lovely Miss M in Amsterdam, wearing her Christmas costume. Taken with my Sony HX1. I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas, I hope that you're having a wonderful weekend with your friends and family. Enjoy this special time of the year, do good things, tell your loved ones how much you appreciate them and eat too much, it's good for you, ho ho ho :D 
Christmas Movies Last Christmas I've made some wicked movies, watch them on my YouTube channel, thank you :)
Thursday 22/12/2011
Get Ready For Christmas Unedited shots of bikers in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. I vividly remember sitting in the park in Spring, thinking to myself "Christmas is still so far away", and now, just a couple of weeks later, or at least it feels like that, here it is, a few more days and the special time of the year is upon us again, proving once again that time flies, not only when you're having fun. I would like to take this chance to thank you for the friendship, support and encouragement I've experienced from you crazy bunch of Interwebspeople in 2011, and to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas, I hope that you'll all have a wonderful time, ho ho ho :D 
Wednesday 21/11/2011
Dancing With The Stars Slightly edited shots of promotional dancers in Amsterdam. Taken with my Sony HX1. Last weekend I was in the city center, and saw this crew promoting some Dance video game, the dude really went for it, but the 2 ladies he had with him looked like they wanted to run, or rather dance, away as quickly and as far as possible, to avoid being associated with the whole event...or at least that's what they looked like, they probably didn't figure they'd have to dance all day long in front of strangers, who'd take their pictures and post them to the Interwebs, when they agreed to do this job, lol :D 
Tuesday 20/12/2011
The Zombie Bikes Slightly edited shots of bikes in Amsterdam reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing besides some added contrast and saturation, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. A few days ago I came up with this wicked theory that all those billions of bikes that are clogging up every street in the best city in the world were placed there by evil Terrorists, to stop us from buying Christmas presents for our loved ones, leading to agonizing arguments and fights in our families, but I had to realize the hard way that I was completely wrong. All these seemingly docile, peaceful bikes are in reality Zombie bikes (probably infected by some virus from outer space, brought to our planet by the Bike-eating Aliens!), that just wait for an innocent pedestrian, or a bike-less biker, looking for an abandoned steel horse, to approach them, the moment their victims are close enough, they'll try to strangle them with their rusty chains and eat their molested bodies once they've wrestled them to the ground! I've been attacked twice already this week, and it's only Tuesday!! Beware! Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT, ever, walk up to any bike in Amsterdam, run away as quickly as you can, and notify the authorities about the situation, together we can end this madness and shove the Zombie bikes into the shallow graves that they deserve to be in! Thank you :D 
Monday 19/12/2011
Monday Morning Faces Random pictures of posters in Amsterdam. Taken with my HTC Desire using the Camera360 Android app. Aaaarrrggghhhhh, it's Monday again!!! How did this happen?!? It was weekend just now, and it was a good one too, so much rest, relaxation and quality time spent doing nice things...maybe if I keep my eyes closed, this horrible excuse of a day will disappear and it'll be Friday morning again, and there'll be 3 days of weekend ahead of me...please, please, please! Closing my eyes in 3...2...1 ;-D 
Sunday 18/12/2011
The Bike Terrorists Unedited shots of bikes in Amsterdam reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. I've been wondering in the past why there are so many bikes parked in the city center, creating a situation where they're blocking every path and the poor shoppers are having a hard time reaching the stores to do their Christmas shopping. Yesterday when I was downtown I finally realized what's behind this seemingly retarded behavior: It's them freakin' Al Qaeda Terrorists!!! They are willingly doing this to destroy the fabric of our society by stopping us from buying the Christmas gifts for our loved ones, causing tension in our families and circles of friends, ultimately leading to spoiled Holidays and needless fighting over the absence of material things to exchange to show our affection...what an evil plan, damn you Terrorists!!! :D 
Friday 16/12/2011
The Puddle People Unedited shots of people in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. It's weekend, yay! It's also raining, yay! And it's windy! And cold! Yay! I'm so staying in today, hahaha! Luckily I don't work on Fridays, so I'm saving myself the bike ride through the gray wetness, instead I will look forward to the good things that I expect this weekend to bring me, I'm sure it's gonna be a lovely time spend with beautiful people...too bad weekends don't last 10 days, and the working week only 1 or 2, I'm sure we'd all have a much better life in that way. I blame God, for not having rested any longer than one day, after creating the earth and the Universe and all that...thank you God, for setting such an anti-slacker example for all of us to follow, lol ;-D 
Thank God it's Friday! 
Image 'borrowed' from http://30.media.tumblr.com!
Thursday 15/12/2011
Greetings From Amsterdam Random pictures of Amsterdam. Taken with my HTC Desire using the Camera360 Android app. Oh man, December is a really crappy month so far, I don't know if it's me or the world, but something's not right, and I sure hope that things will look up again very soon, or I'll start to scream like a little girl! And that's not something you want to happen, I'm the Whitney Houston of girlsish screaming, I go up and down the Octaves like there's no tomorrow, and wherever you are, whatever you're doing, you will hear me, that's how irritated I am by this month, lol. Oh well, almost weekend, almost Christmas, almost 2012, and more important, almost Spring, yay!! Can't wait for the sunshine, and the beautiful days in the park, and the bike rides, and the pretty girls, and the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees and all that :) 
Wednesday 14/11/2011
The Weight Of The World On Your Shoulders Unedited shots of the 'De Waag' Restaurant in Amsterdam reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. I like the 'De Waag' building, it's in one of my favorite areas of Amsterdam, just around the corner from Chinatown, and on New Year's Eve, there's always a big crowd with fireworks, check it out when you're in the city for the start of 2012, it's fun. Another thing this building does, is to remind me that sometimes I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the whole world on my shoulders (probably because it used to be a weigh house, lol :), a feeling that I don't necessarily appreciate, but after having had a whole month of excellent moods and mostly good things happening to me, I do understand that what goes up, must come down, and I am now in a more 'realistic' mindset, that forces me to look at life from a different angle than I did in those beautiful, easy-going weeks that precluded this period of deep thoughts and reclusive rest. I am so looking forward to the next phase of mindless joy, skull-cracking grins and hands-free bike rides through the best city in the world though, I like myself much better when I'm happy for no reason than when I'm sad'ish for no reason :) 
Tuesday 13/12/2011
Big City Bright Lights Unedited shots of the Damrak in Amsterdam. Taken with my Sony HX1. I love Amsterdam being covered with Christmas lights, an already pretty city, shining with all those lovely little lights everywhere, it becomes even more beautiful to look at, and the atmosphere when it gets dark is really worth soaking up, so I often find myself walking or biking around with my head up, staring at the prettiness and almost wishing it was Christmas all year long (and that I would pay more attention to the traffic around me!). As hard as it is to capture such elusive beauty, I've tried anyway, it would be a shame not to, and somehow in the process I made Amsterdam almost look like a big city, with all those blinking, shining things hanging around. I can't wait for Christmas, just 2 more weeks :) 
Monday 12/12/2011
On The Dam Unedited shots of bikers at the Dam in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. The Dam in Amsterdam is always filled with tourists that walk around with their heads in the sky, looking at the buildings, the monument, the palace and the pigeons, while us locals do our best to flee from the area as quickly as possible on our bikes (not sure why, it's not like the Dam is so horrible, but we just don't want to be there, that's just how we roll :), of course this creates hilarious scenes, imagine 50 angry bikers trying to get home after a frustrating day at work as fast as they can, speeding towards a group of stoned tourists, standing in the middle of the road, taking pictures, happily chatting away in their drug induced haziness, having no care in the world, and no idea why some parts of our streets are red (bikes), and some parts black (cars), and why there is a curb that separates the pedestrian part from the street part...without the bells attached to our bikes, there would be hundreds of fatal accidents each day, and we can't afford that, we need their money, lol :D 
Sunday 11/12/2011
A Perfect Day In Amsterdam Slightly edited shots of the lovely Miss M in Amsterdam yesterday. Taken with my Sony HX1. Yesterday I went to the city to shoot some wicked reflections, there were people everywhere, so many colors, so many languages, and I was just busy capturing this pretty girl that happened to be standing next to my puddle, when I heard somebody call out 'Sam', and to my surprise, it turned out the girl I just shot was the lovely Miss M, who I've met in the Vondelpark earlier this year, and who I secretly took some pictures of, wicked Reflectah that I am. Since she has long forgiven me that intrusion into her privacy, we went to have a coffee and spent some quality time chatting about life in the best city in the world, it was so relaxed and nice to just hang out and watch the sights and sounds of our beloved hometown, and it was proof once again that life can be so easy and lovely if you let it, and you don't even need a billion euros or superpowers to achieve this enjoyable state of equilibrium :) 
Saturday 10/12/2011
Wicked Winter Reflection Unedited shots of bikers in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. The last days were perfect for shooting wicked reflections, lots of rain, some sunshine and plenty of people in the streets, all the ingredients for a nice puddle picture pie, the only problem is that it gets dark so early, forcing me to rush through my usual weekend routine of getting up late, drinking 100000000 coffees, lazily showering and getting dressed, putting on my Wicked Reflectah costume including the cape and boots, checking Flickr and Facebook for the 3006453rd time for updates, having another 25 coffees, smoking a fag, checking Facebook while having another coffee, chatting with some friends, 
Friday 09/12/2011
Thank God it's Friday! Shots of buildings and a boat in Amsterdam. Taken with my HTC Desire using the Camera360 Android app. It's Friday, my weekend started, and it seems that I have overcome my cold/flue in just 2 days, I've started feeling lousy this Wednesday and had two horrible days at the office, sitting at my desk all feverish and with a running nose, coughing at my keyboard and my colleagues, just because my manager would not let me stay home. I felt like a whipped and chained slave, worrying about a weekend spend in bed with coughsyrup and nose-inhalers, but it seems that my body decided not to go for the full flue-cycle and got better over night, yay body, thanks, you rule!!! The sun is also peeking through the clouds and the city is wet from 2 days of rain, so I'll grab my cam soon and go out there to shoot me some puddles :D 
Thank God it's Friday! 
Image 'borrowed' from http://cdn.fd.uproxx.com!
Wednesday 07/11/2011
The Singing Christmas Tree Unedited shots of a singing Christmas tree in Amsterdam. Taken with my Sony HX1. Yesterday was a bit of a shit day at the office, so I was glad to get out of there and to bike off the stress and frustration of the day, and luckily on the way home I came across this human singing Christmas tree that was standing outside the Amstel Hotel, singing Christmas songs for the entertainment of the rich people entering the Hotel, but us poor people passing by stopped as well and enjoyed the show for a while. The singer lady was really sweet and lovely, together with her pretty voice, this created a beautiful, Christmas'ish atmosphere, people sat down on the ground and sang along, everybody was snapping some pictures or movies of the whole event, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who left completely happy, with a big smile on his face, and a lot less worries on his mind. Thank you so much for making my crappy day a great day dear singing Christmas tree lady, and if I was rich, I would hire you to stand in my street and do your thing all month long, you rock :) 
Singing Tree Movie I've made a movie of the singing Christmas tree as well, check it out out on my YouTube page, thank you :)
Tuesday 06/12/2011
The Giant Of Amsterdam Unedited shots of 2 tourist ladies in Amsterdam. Taken with my Sony HX1. You might know this already, there is a Giant in the best city in the world, and even though he's, well giant, almost nobody has ever seen him. He usually hides in the huge underground network of Metro-tunnels and stations, and only comes up to the street world if he runs out of cigarettes or cheese, and even then he mostly frequents the little night-shops, to avoid attracting unnecessary attention, because even though he's a gentle Giant, he will crush you if you spot him and tell others about your encounter, he's very privacy-oriented! These tourist ladies were lucky enough to find one of his giant wooden shoes, that he must have lost and left behind on one of his nocturnal shopping sprees, they used it for a quick photoshoot and probably caught a really nasty case of athlete's foot in the process, lol ;D 
Monday 05/12/2011
The Ghost Bikers Slightly edited shots of bikers in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing besides some added contrast and saturation, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. Amsterdam is the proud home of a whole fleet of Ghost Bikers, people who died in tragic, horrible accidents while riding on their steel horses, and sometimes didn't realize their own demise due to the speedy chain of events that can lead to such a horrible situation. A tram, car, or other biker might have hit them so fast, and so hard, that their souls got pushed out of their lifeless bodies without realizing it, doomed to circling the mean streets of Amsterdam on their ghostly bikes for eternity, or until somebody makes them watch the movie 'The Sixth Sense', and they realize that they are the Bruce Willis'es of bike-riding. The desired effect is of course that this new knowledge about their unfortunate status should shock them into transitioning into the next world and onto the eternal, giant and well-lit bike-path that is reserved for them in Heaven :-D 
Sunday 04/12/2011
Welcome To Pigeon City Unedited shots of the Monument on the Dam in Amsterdam. Taken with my Sony HX1. If you have ever been to Amsterdam, you will know that we are not just the Bike- but also the Pigeon-Capital of the world, we might even have more flying rats than bikes in the best city in the world, not that I've ever counted them, it's just a feeling. Whenever I am close to the Dam square, I see huge clouds of them flying over, searching for the next tourist who's willing to feed them, not knowing that he or she is the actual food they're looking for! A typical scene in the city center featuring this mindless behavior by one of our visitors looks like this, a person thinking that they can feed the rats with wings gets swarmed, lifted up, taken back to the Pigeon-caves (do they live in caves? probably, since they're the Taliban of the birds!), and hacked apart into little, beak-sized pieces, not a pretty sight, I can tell you this much! And somebody has to clean up all those bones as well, almost guaranteeing an emotional trauma for our cleaning personnel, so nobody wins, except for those stoopid birds, sigh ;-D 
Sunday - Movietime Here are some movies for you to watch and waste your Sunday with, enjoy :)
Friday 02/12/2011
The Dark Season Is Here Unedited shots of Christmas lights in Amsterdam, reflected in a puddle. Taken with my Sony HX1. No editing, no magic tricks, no Photoshop. It's dark outside most of the time now, Christmas is just a few weeks away, and like every year the best city in the world is covered with lights, adding a lovely romantic vibe to the views and vistas, making Amsterdam look even prettier than it usually does. I'm a total sucker for this special season, and I can never get enough of wandering around, soaking up the atmosphere, it makes me feel like a kid again, eagerly awaiting Christmas Eve and the Gift-unwrapping, the delicious food and the good mood that most people are enjoying...sometimes I wish Christmas was every month, lol. I hope that you are also catching a whiff of this special flavor and that you will get lots of cool presents while spending a splendid time with your loved ones in the weeks to come. Enjoy, take care but take it easy :) 
Thank God it's Friday! 
Image 'borrowed' from http://data.whicdn.com!
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