Peeks of Summer

It was a great summer and I didn't post nearly as many photos as I had hoped. Here is a short collection of the best moments. The photo above was taken in Münster, a colorful row of boats floating in the Aasee. Marcus and I went there at the beginning of June to see The Knife's opera.

The ceiling of the opera house glowed with small lanterns.

Lounging at NDSM, a wharf area in North Amsterdam known as a place for underground culture and accessible via a lovely little ferry ride.

A translucent onion cut in preparation for a BBQ in the park.

A drink to go along with the BBQ.

A cold, but beautiful day at the beach. Summers in Amsterdam are reliably fickle.

Waiting for the film to start at the open air film festival Pluk de Nacht.

Out In the Open

The annual open air film festival Pluk de Nacht begins today - seize the night! On screen will be a selection of international films that didn't quite make it to the mainstream, kicked off by short films as the sun goes down. The atmosphere is wonderful with campfires, beach chairs, music and blankets to stay cozy. Rain or shine, I'll be there on Friday for Bibliothèque Pascal, a Hungarian film by Szabolcs Hajdu.

Biking in the Rain

I'm loving the photography by @amsterdamized of the bicycle culture in Amsterdam. It's by far my favorite thing about this city and what I always focus on when other aspects of life here seem less favorable. Like when it's summertime, but the weather has reverted to spring with sporadic rain, wind, and occasional moments of sunny warmth with a chill in the air.

Despite all threats of a drizzle, I have still been hopping on my bike to do summery things. Up this weekend, my favorite festival of the year. More on that to come. Photo by Amsterdamize

Rope and Summit

Just bought tix to see Junip in October. They're playing at Trouw in Amsterdam, but also have a lot of UK dates on tour. I saw José González play a solo show in Amsterdam about two years ago. Looking forward to see him with his old band. Here is 'Rope and Summit' from their EP of the same name, to be released in the fall. Enjoy*

[audio http://smallsight.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/01-rope-and-summit.mp3]

Contraband by Taryn Simon

Over the course of five days, Taryn Simon took 1,075 photographs of items seized by customs at Kennedy International Airport. Some items don't come as a surprise (drugs, weapons, counterfeit Louis Vuitton), but others are just plain odd - and fascinating (cow dung toothpaste, insect larvae, a pitcher of salami). Her work will be published this fall in a book titled Contraband.

Memories of Seoul

All this talk of South Korea lately had me sifting through my photo archive today. A colleague headed there over the weekend and, having lived in Seoul for a year, I was called on to give my advice on all that is Korean. Rusty as my knowledge is, I was also proud that I could remember how to navigate from Gyeongbokgung palace to Jogyesa temple, where to find green tea ice cream, how to say basic phrases, and why sundubu jjigae is the best.

Above: A small alleyway in Insadong. Below: Colorful lanterns in celebration of Buddha's birthday; rocking in Hongdae; dining on curious cuisine on the islands; a rock star and a monk; and looking over Oido.

Light Boxes

Browsing the shelves of the bookstore this weekend, my eyes landed on Light Boxes by Shane Jones. A small book and the only copy in sight, I nearly missed it. Once I had seen the cover design, I was sold. Isn't it intriguing? Just like the description:

February is persecuting the townspeople. It has been winter for more than three hundred days. All forms of flight are banned and children have started to disappear, taken from their beds in the middle of the night. The town's priests hang ominous sheets of parchment on the trees, signed 'February'. And somewhere on the outskirts of the town lives February himself, with the girl who smells of honey and smoke...

Fascinating. And my post-purchase research tells me that Spike Jonze is making an adaptation.

Yellow and Red

Just walked in from an evening of badminton in the park and I had to appreciate the fact that summertime is here in full force.  Fresh fruit every day, bbqs galore, beach trips on the weekend, flowers throughout Amsterdam and long hours of daylight to sit on a terrace and enjoy a drink and conversation. I won't censor the sweat and humidity, but the sun is setting now and the misery seems far away. My holiday to the lakes and forests of Germany doesn't come for a few weeks, but until then I plan on fully enjoying the city. Lovely photo by James Nord.

The Pacific

The Oregon coast is one of my favorite places in the world with its long open beaches, scant visitors, dramatic weather and unique vegetation. Some other reasons I love it: the entire beachfront is public (no gating off sections for beachfront properties), sleeping on the sand next to a campfire is a normal (and awesome), and, with an average water temperature around 50 degrees Fahrenheit/10 degrees Celsius, swimming in the water is for the truly brave at heart. A fact that gives me a great deal of respect for the surfers who take on the icy waves. Another reason why I like Jake Stangel's project The Pacific which captures the beauty of the surfing culture in Oregon. Mmm, yes I am missing home a bit now (via GOOD).

Soccer City Stadium: Germany versus Ghana

Second best to working with the amazing journalists of Twenty Ten here in Johannesburg has been watching the Germany vs. Ghana match last night at Soccer City Stadium. After nearly one week in South Africa, it was my first World Cup match. And what a match it was. A happy ending for Germany, who won the match, and also Ghana, who advanced with Germany to the next round as second in their group.

Fans from both sides were ecstatic with the end result.

Vintage Stamps for World Cup Countries

My life the last week has revolved almost entirely around football and the World Cup. Posting photos and stories from South Africa on Twenty Ten, arranging the last-minute details for my flight to Johannesburg on Saturday morning and watching as many matches as I can handle. I enjoyed this artistic approach to the World Cup fever by Karen Horten. She gathered together vintage stamps from the countries: "Most of the postage stamps below are from between 1900 through the mid-1930s, with a few as recent as the early 1970s."

These are some of my favorites, but there are lots more here (via constantwanderlust: dailydesigndiscoveries)

Then It Happens

I’m not responsible for my photographs. Photography is not documentary, but intuition, a poetic experience. It’s drowning yourself, dissolving yourself, and then sniff, sniff, sniff – being sensitive to coincidence. You can’t go looking for it; you can’t want it, or you want get it. First you must lose your self. Then it happens.

— Henri Cartier-Bresson (via spaceships: south-paw)

A World Cup weekend

The World Cup is off to a great start and South Korea has probably been my favorite so far. In 2006 I was watching in Seoul and couldn't believe the enthusiasm of the Korean fans, crowded onto the streets to watch the matches and celebrate together. They were probably quite happy about the great start yesterday, visualized above by The Guardian's Twitter replay, which shows the reactions on Twitter for each game (via Ardy)

I celebrated the kick off to the 2010 tournament in Amsterdam at the Tropenmuseum, along with the opening of the exhibition Africa Scores!

Germany plays today and I will be cheering along. Unfortunately Biergarten Die Heimat, which hosted fantastic screenings for the 2008 European Cup, is no longer open. Two nice alternatives are Biergarten De Goede Hoop and Trouw. Viel Glück Deutschland!

Snowbound

The beautiful multimedia production Snowbound by Lisa Robinson (for Fotofest) begins with the sound of crunching snow. As we stand now in the thick of summer, humid and cloudy here in Amsterdam, I loved this peek into the quiet season  of winter.

For five long winters, Lisa M. Robinson photographed in snow from New York to Colorado. The resulting color photographs become almost monochromatic in the snow and ice, distilled to their essential parts not unlike the deepest states of meditation.

While on the surface, these images seem to have captured moments in time, there is an implied suggestion of time passage and life cycles. Within the heart of a spare winter, other seasons emerge. These scenes suggest, upon contemplation, the temporal nature of all things. In the midst of seeming emptiness, layers of life and contrast slowly emerge.

(via mediastorm)