Picture This...

I'm currently enrolled in a 3-class photography course. Yesterday I went to the second one, so there's only one left. It covers all the technical stuff (which is good, because that's what I wanted to know), so we haven't really been working creatively yet, but I've been told we'll have a different kind of assignment next week.

After yesterday's class I walked past this owl dress and could not resist! It's so pretty and comfortable and it even has pockets!

Today I wore it with one of my favorite owl rings.

I also went to get a bite and a drink (a deliciously sweet lemon iced tea) while reading a Kafka book I'd just picked up from a discount bookstore a few stores back.

The day before I went to get some pictures printed for the course when I spotted this gorgeous cat. S/he is very shy and you really have to trick him/her to look you in the eye, after which it will soon realize what s/he's doing and look away again. I can't believe I was lucky and quick enough to photograph the cat behind it's window.

I have a few other new things in store and will be back with more pictures soon. Including of some cameras.....

Roses

Yesterday evening I bought a bunch of roses. They were already near their peak, so won't last too long, but they're gorgeous and match my home so well. Plus this was the greatest opportunity so far to let the macro lens work it's magic.

Feel Good Food + Recipe

Bagels are getting more and more popular here and I am loving it. There's a bagel place quite close to my home that I visited today. Apart from a bagel I ordered a nice drink made with carrots, oranges, ginger and royal jelly. It was delicious.

When I got my food I was too excited to take pictures, I'll try to keep that in mind, so you don't have to see my half devoured food next time. But it was just too good to wait! Here's the bacon, goat's cheese and pine nuts bagel.

The past few days have been filled with delicious food and drinks. I even tried out a new idea for a smoothie.

After working out I'm always a little hungry and one of my favorite things to make is a smoothie. Often with bananas and sometimes strawberries too, but yesterday I made one that's a little more exciting.

For two large glasses you'll need:

Milk

2 tablespoons of Yoghurt

a handful of Strawberries

a handful of Blueberries

1/3 Mango

1 Banana

2 teaspoons of Coconut shavings

4 overflowing tablespoons of Oatmeal

1/4 teaspoon of Cinnamon

First off put the oatmeal, coconut and cinnamon together in a glass, fill it up with milk, stir it a little and let it sit there.

Cut the fruit up into smaller pieces and put them all in the blender. Add the yoghurt. And then the oatmeal etc. Fill it up with milk till about 75 cl.

Voila! Push the button and you are done.

Queen's Day through My Nikon

As promised here are my pictures from Queen's Day. It was raining at first, so I couldn't take any pictures then, but it stopped eventually. The sun came out later and so did my camera.

This picture basically sums up Queen's Day, this was a genuine antique stand, most people just sell old clothes or toys or movies, although there is definitely some new merchandise too.

You can also find a few artists selling their work. This man is pretty well known in Amsterdam, he made a mosaic in the center of the city, but he also paints.

Apart from all the buying and selling, it's a chance for kids to show their musical skills and earn a little (or a lot of) money doing it. It's mostly just really cute though.

Just when I was about to head home, I met a group of amazing looking people. I asked if I could take a picture and they said it was ok, so I took a few. They were really nice and I love the pink hair and make up.

Now onto the things I bought. My favorite item is a porcelain doll's head. It looks like it came out of a Mark Ryden painting and that's exactly what I'm planning to do with it, draw or paint it. Her hair is a bit messy, but I'll leave it like that because I'm afraid to mess with the vibe.

You might know about my love for medieval sad women's portraits. And I happened to found one, tiny, but nevertheless a serene little woman.

Of course I was on the lookout for owls, it was only at the very last minute that I found some, including these:

I managed to get my hands on some other great things as well. Including a book about Frida Kahlo that was under a dollar, very cheap tin advertising signs(love those!) and a few items of clothing.

What started out as a wet and depressing day turned out to be nice and sunny and full of surprises.

I hope one day you'll get to visit Amsterdam on Queen's Day, but for now I hope you enjoyed my pictures.

Nikon Time

There's a lovely giveaway over at Goodnight Little Spoon. Bianca's giving away a one year Flickr Pro account. It's an amazing prize, something I've been wanting for a while actually. You can join in too here.

What you have to do to join is send in a photo of something that makes you happy.

Timing's great because I just went to a concert yesterday that made me really happy. Of course I shot some pictures.

I was supposed to go meet someone at the concert, but she couldn't make it so I ended up going alone. To be honest I didn't really knew Amanda Palmer's music (although I had heard of her), nor did I ever hear of Jason Wembley. But I looked it up, gave it a listen and immediately fell in love with their latest project.

They are currently on a world tour as the conjoined twins Evelyn Evelyn and they're doing one hell of a job. Not only is it a great show, with great humorous as well as a few sensitive songs, but can you imagine one instrument being played by two people? One holding the chords on the guitar while the other strums, that's just really hard.

After the combined show they each did a solo show as well. And there was also an opening act, so it got pretty late.

It was one of the best times I ever had and even though I was there on my own, I had some nice small talk with strangers and also got to meet the artists. There was a nice photographer waiting in line so I asked him if he could take a picture of me and the artists with my camera and he did.

Here's a little video so you can see what their shows are like:

The host is Sxip Shirey who also did the opening act. He was really nice and signed and decorated the cd I bought. It was just such a fun night.

And another fun day tomorrow, because it's Queen's Day, but more on that later.

Birthday through My Nikon

Today was my birthday and I thought I'd share some pictures with you. It was a great day, better than I expected.

First off is the cake of course, one of the most important ingredients to a birthday party. Instead of baking one I decided to buy it after all. I might bake something when I invite some friends over though.

Don't you think the cake is adorable? It tasted as good as it looks and even though it's small, there are still a few pieces left for tomorrow.

When I bought the cake yesterday, I noticed H&M had a sale. Now I never really used to get a new birthday outfit from my mom, but I did this year. The cardigan is new as well as the (rockstar like, studded) jeans. (Jewelry is from Chouettes btw.)

Now onto the presents. This bird is magnetic and can be used to keep paperclips together, it also sings and looks adorable.

Here is the expected nailpolish as well as a notebook and two tiny tins of fun goodies.

I also got Bollywood stationary and curry flavored mints.

This last picture shows the gifts from my dear friend Lily that arrived by post today, perfect timing, isn't it? My first Mark Ryden book! (and postcards too.) Along with some gorgeous Japanese items, owl giftbag, owl post-its and retro candy.

As you can see it went great in the gift department, but it was just a fun day all round. My dad also gave me some nice gifts, including a book from Keri Smith as well as a copy of "Into the Wild" that I've been wanting to read ever since I saw the movie.

Tomorrow is a bittersweet day since it's the last day of art school. We'll have a little exhibition and will probably grab a bite or drink afterwards. As much as I'm looking forward to it, I'm also a bit nervous and sad. This is really it.

I'm happy to have made it to every single class and to have met some amazing people whom I'll hopefully stay in touch with. It was a great couple of months in which I've learned so much and laughed even more. I never thought it would be, but I guess it's true what they say, this really is the best time of my life.

I hope you are having a blast too.

Nikon Time

After finding out some of my favorite artist's where coming to my favorite venue, I went into the center of the city to buy some tickets. I'll be going to Ryan Shaw next month, as well as Lonely Drifter Karen(click for my blogpost on them), both of which I've seen before. But I also got a ticket to my first Tegan and Sara gig. I know I haven't told you yet but I am pretty obsessed with them. They hardly ever come to the Netherlands, let alone Amsterdam. They've been to a festival in another city not too long ago, so I thought they wouldn't come here again for another few years. It was such a great surprise.

Now onto the pictures.

After buying the tickets I decided to get some canvases. On the way there I asked some strangers if I could take their portaits.

I knew I loved taking portraits after that one studio session in art school. Taking pictures of strangers on the street is something I've always wanted to do. But I was afraid. However, yesterday, I found a way to work around that a little. Instead of taking photos of passersby I asked a few people if it was ok, and traded most.

The picture below is the only one I shot without "permission".

Apart from buying tickets and canvases and carrying my Nikon around, I also picked up a few free magazines. One of them had an ad for a photography competition on the back. It's a youth magazine and you can win a photography course, a publication and a half year subscription to a magazine. The only condition they have is that you send in a series of three pictures.

Thursday is the last day to sign up. I think I might go with portraits, I still have a few more and I can pick the three I like best. What do you think? Could that work or is it better to pick another subject? Any suggestions?

Have a great day!

Nikon Time

If you asked me this morning what my plans were for today, I would've said it'd be just an ordinary day, nothing special. However that all changed after cutting a melon the wrong way.

I thought it looked way more interesting than it usually does, I didn't expect it to have such a flowery or cloverlike shape. So I took a picture.

After that I finished making my unusual breakfast and took some more pictures including of the kitchen.

That's when I decided to head into the center of the city to take pictures. One of the first things I did, however, was buy a really big pear chocolate muffin at this store.

This wasn't supposed to be a shopping trip, but while taking a picture of a beautiful facade, I noticed a final sale sign in Daryl van Wouw's shop. He is a designer and very well known in the Netherlands, he's also one of the judges on Project Catwalk here.

Anyway he had this collection a while back with really pretty japanese fabrics and prints. I saw a few items hanging there that I recognised from that collection. Turned out the legging was suddenly affordable! About 30% of the actual price.

Needless to say I bought it, and another plain pair that's really bright teal because a pair of good quality tight-like leggings seemes like a great idea.

Below is a picture of the japanese print, it has Maneki Neko's all over it.

After I paid for the two items the girl behind the counter, who actually had to step in front of the counter in order to complete the transaction (I know they have a really weird system), said I could pick a few magnets from under the counter. So here they are.

I came across another store I knew. I didn't go inside today, but did notice these cute deer in the window.

Ok, now onto the actual pictures of the city. This is something I wanted to show you for a while, but only had my camera with me today. Aren't these owls gorgeous?!

When I saw this wall I knew it'd make a pretty picture. I love the color.

This last picture doesn't really have a clear subject, but I liked the vibe, so that's why I put it here too.

Well that was it, the longest post so far. Or at least the most pictures. I had so much fun with the camera today, even though I still didn't read the manual. Amsterdam is so beautiful and has so many hidden treasures you can easily overlook, but that makes it even more fun when you do find them.

Even though I spent the day all by myself I had such a great time. This is definitely something I will do again. But then maybe a shorter post :P

I hope you had a great day too!

Nikon Time

Remember when I wrote I had a 45 minute studio workshop in art school. I now have permission to post my pictures, well half at least, but the other one probably won't mind me showing you either. So here we go.

We started by taking pictures of a woman in our class, I actually prefer the later pictures myself, but I'll show you the earlier ones first.

It was so much fun shooting in a studio and I was happy when I found out students can use it whenever they want, unless someone else needs it of course. I'm you can find me there a lot when I'm finally studying there full-time.

Somewhere halfway a lamp died and it got a bit darker, I loved it, I thought the pictures were better after that. It has a much nicer atmosphere, more intimate.

Most people liked the props, but making out with a pheasant wasn't really what I had in mind. So for the most part I tried to get it out of my vision, and took portraits that were more close-up.

The last picture is my favorite, I believe he was still holding the pheasant, but I wouldn't have guessed it had I not known, would you?