Categorie: Documentary / Storytelling

Geplaatst op

blog #23 The Seven Acts of Mercy

In Naples / Napoli (It.) around the year 1600 a painter arrived and made a painting which till today remains very interesting: The Seven Acts of Mercy
These acts are things you can do and probably must do as human on a daily basis to help people in trouble: give a poor man something to eat; give a rifugiato / fugitive / immigrant a place to sleep ..

Encountering many people in difficult situations often through no fault of their own is an invitation to learn something about yourself .. and maybe change.

This man wrote a letter or two home in far away Africa .. but those letters never got send and were blowing in the wind.

This painter is as you probably know Caravaggio .. the one with the high contrast in his paintings

Geplaatst op

blog #21 On the edge

The outskirts of town .. ‘no man’s land’ – freedom to move around

How to create a nice tension in a static urban still life image .. Most of the image is kind of empty, the chair – our main subject – far in the upper part a bit in a corner. The more difference between the object and the rest (=negative) space the better it is till you go over the edge .. and you have nothing.

The texture of the concrete jetty, graffiti colors, greenblue-yellowish water .. the setting is amazing at the former NDSM ship yard now a location for creative people, loud music, parties and new developers who in the near future will make lot’s of money out of this.

At the end of the day we – the Paris contestants April 2024 – end up at Noorderlicht a culinary hangout and also a cultural oasis for those seeking refuge from the hustle and bustle of Amsterdam. Located in the raw, industrial and artistic ambiance of this old yard.

Geplaatst op

blog #19 Paris transformations

Only when you have time to watch closer

Paris street corner with a view. And what is in this view exactly? Old neglected house .. cafe probably .. closed. An African man walking there like he lives in the neighborhood. He walks to the left, out of the picture. A young man entering the door at the corner of the house with a case coming from the airport, for an Airbnb stay? He enters the image – from left to right how ‘we’ read – and the house, introducing the new?
How big is the chance they will see each other? And meet? In the mirroring glass we see a new building, money well spent on the walls and window cases. Is the neighborhood about to change?
created April 18, postproduction May 27, 2023
Leica M10, 24mm Summilux
©Paul Struijk

Geplaatst op

blog #17 The doors of perception

Naples: A marriage of heaven and hell

I walk to my home in Napoli / Naples over the Decumano Superiore (Via Anticaglia) and cannot believe my eyes. The Roman amphitheater is still visible in the structure of the streets and houses. Two thousand years of layers on top of layers. My house is built on and in the amphitheater. I am in heaven!! But the next moment I have to jump for my life when a scooter tries to go even faster when his eyes focus on me .. hell.
I find safety in one of the gates to a caravanserai like courtyard. These gates are huge. But the door to enter is very tiny indeed.