Bicycles on Haarlemmerstraat, 2004
It was raining lightly as I made my way down Haarlemmerstraat in Amsterdam. It was late November, and I remember being surprised at how mild the temperature was. I was used to Novembers in Chicago and Wyoming, so they were usually quite cold. I imagined a November in Seattle or Portland to be similar.
I was headed to Balraj, the Indian restaurant I’d already frequented twice that week. (The Chicken Tikki Masala is amazing.) I paused and peeked down a short alley toward the canals, and raised my camera in the rain. I snapped one photo and headed to dinner.
This is still my top-selling print.
I've been taking pictures since I was old enough to be trusted with my father's old Leica. I must have been ten years old. The old man never let me use a light meter, insisting that I gauge my settings by eyeballing the sky. Of course, my photos were often under or over-exposed, because it's very difficult to make those sorts of judgments with any accuracy. There's a reason they make light meters. It did teach me about shutter speed, film speed, and aperture, though. These days, my camera does the calculating, of course, but it's helpful to know these things... and to break the rules to your advantage.
recent comments