photography 101

For the past two months, I've had the opportunity to take my first photography class since high school. Something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and I finally took action! I'd like to share some of the projects that we worked on this blog--hopefully posting a new project each week. This is a good opportunity and excuse for me to start blogging again, and a way to keep myself active with photography, even though the class is over. I've already been inspired with ideas for new projects to work on...hopefully I'll follow through with them and share them in the weeks to come!

I was picking my teacher's brain the last week of class, asking her how she got to where she is today as a professional. It all started for her, twenty years ago, by simply doing it. Being active and hands on. It wasn't until she started experimenting that she really started understanding the art of photography. That is my hope too. And I've definitely learned so much already in the last 6 weeks. My photographic horizon's have been broadened! I know and understand my camera so much better...I'm finally beginning to grasp the ever elusive science, the innerworkings of aperture and shutter speed (among other things). ...I've really enjoyed it! I hope you enjoy it too as I share these photos with you...

Project #1

1. The place where you live.
(Discover your camera)

Take different pictures at different times of day, in different light. Take them from different positions--distant, close-up, from beneath and from above. What are the things you like, or dislike, what is meaningful and worth remembering? When there is little light use a tripod, or place your camera in a steady position and use the self-timer. Of course you can take a picture of yourself and your companions...































There are a few more I could post...but I'll stop there. You can go to my flickr site to view the others. This was a perfect first project to get the wheels in my head turning. How do I capture something that is so familiar to me in a fresh and new way? My own home, what I see every day...I decided to start capturing images of things that are in my home, but also images of things that actively take place in my home every day. My housemates and myself in the active state of 'living' in our home. Those menial tasks that we do all the time, like washing our hands, but we would never think to take a picture of it. These moments, the simple things of daily life, whether it's standing in front of the mirror of the bathroom or cooking or ... you get the idea.

which one is your favorite and why?

new beginnings

still learning to laugh

five years ago today.

i was on the brink of major life change. i flew to Amsterdam with no return ticket.

it's funny the things that stand out to me about that day. i remember that i was wearing extremely uncomfortable shoes (but i thought they were more fashionably acceptable by Amsterdam standards.) i remember after having arrived at Schiphol airport, that we went to the Food Market to find some staple grocery items (in case we weren't able to find our neighborhood grocery store.) i didn't realize at the checkout that they weren't going to bag my grocery items--until it was already too late and i had failed to buy a plastic bag to carry them in. i felt so foolish afterwards, carrying my items in my hands--but it was after this first encounter with culture shock that i received the best advice that anyone could have given me in that moment. "Learn to laugh at yourself, because you're going to need to do it A LOT."

...

i don't think i would have believed it if someone had told me that i would still be here 5 years later. it's strange to think that one fifth of my life has been spent living (or working towards living) in the Netherlands. and what do i have to show for myself? i can't say that i have the language down yet (this is especially an area that i need to learn to not take myself so seriously!), i can't say that i've seen any hugely obvious or major life transformations because of my influence in other's lives...but i guess i can say that i've persevered in this journey of faith. i've faced many challenges and trials that i never would have imagined for myself, but i walked through it and came out with a deeper sense of Unfailing Love. i've gotten the chance to see a few places i would have never dreamed i would have a chance to see and experience. but more than anything i think i would say that i've met and become friends with some of the most beautiful and inspiring people. i can forget this sometimes. the day in, day out interaction can dull my ability to see what beauty i have around me.

but looking back over the last 5 years--that is what i would say would be worth every bit of struggle and awkwardness that comes with living as a stranger in a land thousands of miles from what i once knew to be 'home'. the people.

my first day of school.

Lees het gedicht.

ik
wil alleen
maar weten
wie ik ben.

how appropriate. i read these words on the first page of the first lesson, during my first day of class. "i just want to know who i am." it feels as though i'm on the verge of transformation. of discovering a new side of myself. i've been crawling around on my hands and knees and i'm about ready to break free of my cocoon.

learning a new language is like going through childhood all over again. i feel as though i've been listening to my parents for three years, and i'm finally ready to utter back full sentences. i'm finally going to primary school...i have my spelling tests (my favorite part of the day!). i write stories about who i want to be when i grow up. i get to play fun computer games. and i'm making new friends!

there's the class clown who cracks jokes at every opportunity he can, there are the goody two-shoes who know all the answers, there are the slow students who take exams over and over and never quite catch up...do we ever grow out of these roles no matter how old we become?

one of my new friends is from China. his name is Atuo. he is the most motivated person i have ever met. he is so anxious to learn dutch. he only works one day of the week. and on the other days? he's studying dutch. mornings, afternoons, evenings...he says the only time he breaks is to eat and sleep! even our teacher was encouraging him to take it easy--we all need time to learn a new language! even despite his over enthusiasm, i'm thankful to have him with me. he really wants to help me to understand and i enjoy his company. and boy can he talk!

i learned some new things about Chinese culture today. he says that chinese people eat while they talk. it's ongezellig to be quiet while you're eating. he really had no problems eating and talking at the same time. (but really he did more talking than actual eating!) if you want more than one child you have to pay a lot of money to the government to keep each additional child. he left his home to go to school. ever since he first went to primary school, he moved into his school with all the other classmates. he would only go "home" on the weekends. he seems to care a lot about the economy and whether it's doing well or not. he says that knowledge is the most important thing. knowledge is China's religion.

the most beautiful part of my day was overhearing our teacher read through Atuo's story that he wrote, using all of our new vocabulary of course. he wrote about how he was so thankful to meet me on his first day. he hopes that one day he can have a job like mine, doing something meaningful...i don't know why, but it brought such joy to my heart to hear this! it's like i was given a best friend charm to wear on my necklace: one of the highest honors a girl can receive!

at one point during our koffie pauze my new friend was going off about how he sometimes doesn't understand why he's doing everything to learn dutch. it's such a small country and so many dutch people already speak english ... even some dutch people look at me incredulously when i tell them i'm learning their language. some may think, "why bother"? but i am determined to put my whole heart into learning this language. why now? there is a huge part of me that is just feeling more at home here in amsterdam, and i am simply desiring to communicate more deeply with my Dutch friends in their mother tongue. but i also feel that i am here for "such a time as this." i don't know what all that means, or even how long my time here will last. but even more than that i'm tired of doing things half-heartedly. i want to be fully engaged with my present reality.

but today i discovered that dutch holds a key to forgotten corners of the world. a door to a people whom english has ignored. today i was able to communicate with someone from the other side of the planet. what, or who will come next? someone from Turkey, Morocco, Croatia?

i never thought i would be so glad about going to school again.
i'm like a giddy school girl!

the art of redeeming.

the beach + friends = making the most of february's cold day.

oud/nieuw

Happy New Year!
(the aftermath of new year's on streets throughout Amsterdam)

a lot has gone on in recent weeks, a trip to Colorado to visit family and friends for Christmas and the beginning of a new year, with a couple unfortunate happenings in the start of my transition back into Amsterdam life. For one thing, i lost my mobile phone. it's amazing how dependent we are on these things! it really makes getting in touch with people a lot more difficult (for instance, i don't have any phone numbers...but life does feel a bit simpler and quieter without it!) And, can you tell what's wrong with the following picture?:
well, it's probably pretty obvious. i was riding home from a friend's house at 2 am a couple days ago, and my chain just randomly came off it's track. if it had happened during the day i wouldn't have minded so much, but walking home for twenty minutes in the city so late, without a phone, and in the rain and wind, was not the most pleasant of experiences! (maybe some of you are looking at this and wondering: 'naomi, why didn't you just fix it?'...well, i still have some learning to do in the area of bike repairs.)

all in all, i'm glad to be 'home' in Amsterdam. overall i enjoyed my time in Colorado, but it just doesn't feel like home to me anymore. it was a strange feeling. what is the definition of home anyway? according to Jurren, "home is a choice." like they say "home is where the heart is" and so according to Jurren's theory, you choose where your heart is at. and i think i pretty much agree with that. i think i've really chosen in the last year to make Amsterdam my new home. but anyway, here are some pictures from my time:
we got 37 inches (close to 90cm) of snow! it was the 4th biggest blizzard Colorado has gotten in years...we were literally stuck at our house for a couple of days. the strange looking object you see on the right hand side, is our barbecue grill buried in the snow!
my grandpa bowls regularly as he is on a bowling league, he has his own shoes and ball! so whenever he comes into town we go bowling as a family.

my brother Paul has got the professional form down...he's way better than me!
my aunt is so creative with Christmas: she actually pre-opened a bunch of walnuts, folded up money, put it inside, and super glued them back together! i had to crack all these nuts to find her gift of money inside!

my brothers are modeling the new scarfs that i gave them for Christmas. my brother Jeremy (on the left) had made a comment earlier in the week that "guys don't wear scarves!" to which i told him that he should be careful what he says-and that guys do wear scarves if they're really cool : ) he kinda realized in that moment that maybe i was giving him a scarf for Christmas. so each time he received a gift from me, he would say "just disregard what i said earlier," as a disclaimer before opening the package! i think he did end up liking it--especially since it came all the way from Scotland!

me and my good looking 'little' brothers. they're growing up so fast. sniff, sniff...

my friend arienne and i hosted a new year's eve party at my house, and it was such a great evening! we had so much fun dancing the night away...the rain stopped just in time for the beautiful fireworks display from the roof terrace...

a few people were still hanging out in the hallway at 3:45 in the morning...people were just so reluctant to bring the party to an end...

...so in the end, we had an "after party" and did all the cleaning at 4 in the morning! Sonja mopped while Simon and i were the 'drying brigade' following her around the room...it was a spectacular night!

here's to 2007!

the thanksgiving dinner that won't be forgotten...

i was thinking up all these really creative ways of telling you this story...but after all of my brainstorming, i've decided to just tell it straight. just the way it happened...

i didn't think i would have the chance to experience thanksgiving this year. in Holland there is no progression of fall holidays leading up to Christmas like we have in America. i definitely don't mind missing Halloween, but there is something about Thanksgiving that i truly love.i was excited when my housemate Patricia decided only a few days previous to host a dinner at our house and invite 10 people over! And it is no small feat hosting a dinner like this in Holland. for one thing, ovens are in shortage here (we used our friend's a five minute walk from our house) ...but it is particularly challenging because turkey is not a very common thing to eat here. luckily, without having pre-ordered, Trish got the last 5 kilo turkey at the Albert Cuyp Market. i was assigned the pumpkin pies this time--it was my chance to make up for the last (and only) time i had tried making pumpkin pie. my friend and i attempted 3 years ago and had substituted evaporated milk with half and half. bad mistake! i was determined to make a good pumpkin pie, homemade crust and all!!

i was off to a good start. the directions for the crust were not incredibly clear, especially the bit where it said something about "cutting the butter into the mixture..."but i still managed to roll out a nice looking crust! the feel of flour all over my hands and using the rolling pin was making me nostalgic. it brought back memories of making Christmas cookies with my mom way back in my younger days...sigh. after nearly two hours of tender love and care, these pies were ready for the oven! Linda even gave me a great tip on how to make those nice little ridges on the outer edge of the crust...(sorry but i won't divulge these baking secrets on the internet!) fast forward to the next day.
amazingly everything went quite smoothly in the cooking preparations for the big meal. everyone was quite calm and collected. we had americans, dutch, irish, and of course our one british friend (who seems to be showing up and calling our house an awful lot! i mean that in a really good way, Sam!--pictured below)
it was fun trying to explain what Thanksgiving means to Americans...eating, watching American football, taking naps, and more eating. it's that simple, and yet it is more complex and beautiful. sharing and relaxing with your family and others that you care about. but i have to say, that this was probably the most gezellig thanksgiving i've ever experienced.

ok, so i'm now getting to the climax of the story! after stuffing ourselves with as much food as possible...it was still time for dessert. the moment had finally come for me to display my work of art.
it turned out beautifully--browned to perfection!
i started to cut the pie on our kitchen counter top. my crust--the crust that i had so lovingly rolled--was giving me some difficulty. i had divided the pie into nicely even pieces, but when it came time to dishing the pie onto plates i couldn't pull the pieces loose from the pan...it hadn't been fully cut through, so i needed to go back in with my knife...i was pushing harder and harder...and suddenly the pie plate slipped from under my hands...and slid off of the counter top and down to the floor!!

i immediately reacted and tried to save it by catching it with my legs on its way down. before i knew it i was holding pumpkin pie between my knees, and the rest was on the floor. the entire dinner table was turned around looking at me with their eyes wide and their jaws dropped--i started laughing it off--but everyone else seemed quite concerned for me. trish (super dog!) immediately whisked into action and started rescuing the pie, salvaging what she could and wiping the rest off the floor with a napkin. i was still standing there, partly in shock and partly because i couldn't stop laughing! i couldn't understand why everyone else wasn't laughing as hard as i was. a couple people even came up and asked me if i was okay and offering to still eat the pie even though it had fallen onto the floor...i quickly assured them that i wasn't angry or sad or upset, but that i thought it was quite funny (admittedly a bit embarrassing, but hilarious that i had just pushed our dessert onto the floor!)
the last surviving pieces of the pie disaster!
this story will certainly go down in history. i try to get away from my reputation as being clumsy, but really in the end, i enjoy laughing at myself and having a good story to share. oh and by the way, everyone still got a piece of pie in the end. fortunately we still had the entire other pie waiting for us, untouched. i let Trish cut it this time...

it was quite delicious. (so much, that we still ended up eating the pieces of pie that fell to the ground!)

at one point in our conversation as we enjoyed our pie, Mark was trying to get in on the Thanksgiving spirit and make a joke about the band Smashing Pumpkins. Claire immediatly turned to me and could hardly speak it out because she was already laughing..."Naomi, you could join them!"

the end.