Blog - www.bobvansanten.com - Page 1

In this section of the site I post photo's regurlaly when I am travelling or when I am browsing in The Netherlands. More photo's of specific journeys or projects can be found in the Gallery. TIP: when the text in the text bar underneath the (enlarged) photo is too large, you can toggle in the right corner of the bar to enlarge or shrink the bar.

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[2024] A building in the Ubbo Emmius street in Groningen, built according the Amsterdam school style of architecture.

[2024] The migration of wildebeest, while the animals are crossing the Sand river (at the border of Kenya and Tanzania)

[2024] The migration of wildebeest, while the animals are crossing the Sand river (at the border of Kenya and Tanzania)

[2024, Kenya] Grevy’s zebra's. These endangered zebra’s have narrower stripes than plains zebras and have a white belly.

[2024, Kenya] A Colobus monkey (Dutch: Franjeaap). They have a black fur, in high contract with a long white mantle, whiskers, bushy tail, and beard around the face.

[2024] Exploring AWD or Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen, a dune landscape developed for the water supply of Amsterdam together with photographer Krijn van der Giessen. AWD is also a protected nature reserve with beautiful flora and fauna.

[2024] Exploring AWD or Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen, a dune landscape developed for the water supply of Amsterdam together with photographer Krijn van der Giessen. AWD is also a protected nature reserve with beautiful flora and fauna.

[2024] Museum Voorlinden (Wassenaar, The Netherlands) is presenting the largest retrospective of sculptor Ron Mueck (Australia). The photo shows the installation Mass, a room filled with giant skulls.

[2024] Portugal, the Douro river with beautiful views at the Portuguese vineyards. The photo was taken from a boat on the river close to Pinhão.

[2024] The tunnel between the Ganzenmarkt and the Oudegracht in Utrecht gives access to the Oudegracht wharves. Probably the most photographed tunnel of the city.

[2024] In the Dommeltunnel in Eindhoven, Niels van Swaemen and Kaspar van Leek created a mural ‘the Silly Walks’ of Monthy Python. A famous episode with John Cleese as the Minister of silly Walks.

[2024] Not only the art works in the Art museum in The Hague are interesting, so is the stairwell.

[2024] In the city centre of The Hague, a LED-stairs has been realized. Videos are projected on the stairs, while it is still in use for people going up or down.

[2023] The stairs to the city hall in Utrecht carries a poem of Ruben van Gogh, written in 2022 as the city hosts a stage of the the Vuelta. Most people use the escalator next to the stairs and do not notice.

[2023] Elections are due in The Netherlands and in the capital The Hague, huge billboards are placed, one for each party involved.

[2023] The coast line around Cala Gonone (Italy, Sardinia) is impressive, with cliffs and caves. Best seen from a boat.

[2023] Alghero (Italy, Sardinia) is a beautiful city with Spanish, Catalian roots. A man is walking to a gate in the city wall.

[2023] How could I not visit the colourful city Bosa (Italy, Sardinia)? Bosa has been my codename in the company I have worked for: the first two letters of my first name and the first two letters of the surname.

[2023] The ‘nieuwe instituut’ (new institute) is the Museum of architecture, design and digital culture in Rotterdam. At the street site, the building has an arcade.

[2023, Iceland] Hverir is a geothermal area at the foothill of Namafjall, not far from Lake Myvatn. The area features colorful sulphurous mud springs, steam vents, cracked mud and fumaroles.

[2023, Iceland] Jökulsárlón is a large glacial lake in the southern part of Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland. Icebergs calve from the glacier edge and drifts towards the river mouth, dependent on tide, wind and size.

[2023] Harpa is a concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavík, Iceland

[2023] LX Factory is a hotspot in Lisbon. A former industrial complex has been transformed into an art -, food – and shopping centre.

[2023, Porto] Largo de Artur Arcos in Porto hosts a stencil grafitti mural of artist Daniel Elme, artist from Caldas da Rainha, but living in the town of Porto: a figure of an old lady.

[2023] The classic view of the city Porto along the river Douro.

[2023] ‘STRAAT’: is the museum for street art and graffiti in Amsterdam and a must-see. The exhibition displays more than 160 artworks by 150+ artists. The artworks were created on-site and most of these works are as big as outdoor walls. STRAAT resides in an 8000 m2 former warehouse on the NDSM wharf, both a national monument and the biggest outdoor playground for street art and graffiti in Amsterdam.

[2023] A pedestrian – and bicycle tunnel under the Amsterdam Central Station hosts a remarkable tiled artwork: a seascape showing the Dutch herring fleet. The artwork contains more than 70,000 hand-painted tiles and has been created by Irma Boom who is also a graphic designer. This artwork was commissioned by the Municipality of Amsterdam and ProRail (Dutch railway infrastructure).

[2022] An artwork in the Wielakker street in the city of Arnhem.

[2022] The skyline of the city of Vlissingen.

[2022] From Stewart in Britisch Columbia, Canada, it is easy to cross the border to Hyder (on a dead-end road), situated in Alaska, USA. In Hyder you can observe brown bears catching salmons during the yearly salmon run at the Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Site.

[2022] In Moricetown (Canada, British Columbia), local fisherman are fishing on a special place in the river, where the river narrows and is forced through a small canyon. They use nets to catch the fish from the waterfall and this does not seem a harmless activity.

[2022] Maligne Canyon is a canyon located in the Jasper National Park near Jasper, Alberta, Canada. Eroded out of the Palliser Formation, the canyon is over 50 metres deep.

[2022] the Columbia Icefields in the Rocky Mountains along the road from Banff to Jasper (Canada, BC).

[2022] For the second time we visit the Marker Wadden, new artificial islands created in the IJsselmeer. The first time we were here (2017), the main island (only one island can be visited by people) was just a pile of sand. Now, it has been developed with walking paths and bird hides and the island has turned green. The photo shows a common tern (Dutch: visdief).

[2022] Rheinfall is the biggest waterfall in Europe and when staying in Schaffhausen (Switserland), it is a must-see to have a look at it, although the fall does not compare to the falls on other continents like Niagara or Victoria.

[2022, Zürich] Every day we read about people who tragically lost their lives while fleeing. But what does it mean to have to give up your own home, job, family and home? In the “FLUCHT” exhibition, in Zürich, visitors can take on the role of those affected and get an idea of what it means to be on the run.

[2022] The skyline of the city of Zürich along the river Limmat.

[2022] A day in a bird hide at The Veluwe. This common backbird (Dutch: merel) is drying up after a bath in the water pool.

[2022] For one of my photo projects I desired a few photo’s of folk costumes in The Netherlands, especially for the region The Veluwe. There are a few villages left in the country where people wear regional clothing in daily life. However, there are many communities who preserve the cultural identity and show the costumes during festivals and celebrations. The photo shows a costume of the community in Nunspeet taken at such an event.

[2022] Endless areas of cork oaks in the south of Portugal where you can see where the bark has been extracted from the trees. After harvesting it will take many years before a new layer of bark can be extracted.

[2022] It was opened in september 2021, the Holocaust Names Memorial in Amsterdam and today we had the opportunity to visit this impressive monument. The memorial is a labyrinth of passageways flanked by two metre tall brick walls. Each brick represents a victim with an inscription of name, date of birth and age of death. On top of the walls there are shapes of reflective stainless steel. Seen from above, the steel forms four Hebrew letters that make up a word that translates as ‘In memory of’. The memorial is a design of Daniel Libeskind.

[2022] It was opened in september 2021, the Holocaust Names Memorial in Amsterdam and today we had the opportunity to visit this impressive monument. The memorial is a labyrinth of passageways flanked by two metre tall brick walls. Each brick represents a victim with an inscription of name, date of birth and age of death. On top of the walls there are shapes of reflective stainless steel. Seen from above, the steel forms four Hebrew letters that make up a word that translates as ‘In memory of’. The memorial is a design of Daniel Libeskind.

[2021] Fall colours, probably at peak, in a city park of Arnhem.

[2021] The Cordoaria Nacional in Lisbon hosts the exhibition Rapture of the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. In front of the museum a huge artwork “Forever bicycles” of Weiwei guides you to the entrance.

[2021] Rua Nova do Carvalho in Lisbon has a shady past, but a project was started to improve the street and the neighbourhood. The street was painted pink (“Pink Street”) and transformed into a vibrant hangout.

[2021] The ARoS Aarhus Art museum is a spectacular 10 stories tall building opened in 2004. The architecture of the building was completed in 2011, with the addition of the circular skywalk “Your rainbow panorama” designed by Olafur Eliasson. Visitors can walk through the corridor and have a panoramic view of the city. Apart from being a landmark for Aarhus and Denmark, the museum is a must-visit. Already the design of a new major extension of the museum is in progress.

[2021] The ARoS Aarhus Art museum is a spectacular 10 stories tall building opened in 2004. The architecture of the building was completed in 2011, with the addition of the circular skywalk “Your rainbow panorama” designed by Olafur Eliasson. Visitors can walk through the corridor and have a panoramic view of the city. Apart from being a landmark for Aarhus and Denmark, the museum is a must-visit. Already the design of a new major extension of the museum is in progress.

[2021] Fur is a beautiful Danish island in the Limfjord. On Fur and a few other places around the Limfjord, you can find moler, which is a special kind of clay layered with black volcanic ash. Cat litter is made of it.

[2021] Like The Netherlands and Germany, Denmark has several islands in the Wadden Sea. We explored two of them: Rømø and Mandø. Mandø has a simple unpaved access road, which can be safely crossed during low tide. You can also be transferred with a tractor bus. The photo shows the many wooden breakwaters around the island.

[2021] The historic salt warehouses in Lübeck (Germany), built in the 16th–18th centuries, where salt was stored to be shipped to the Baltic region.

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