New Photobook: Le Nord

We've been visiting the French north for more than ten years, to work on my Dutch-language guidebook, the Dominicusgids Noord-Frankrijk ( More info ). From the start I've been in love with the northernmost part of it, close to the Belgian border. Lille is a magnificent town, blending the best of north and south. The countryside has a pure, nostalgic charm: golden grain fields, windmills, hills, grand vistas and big skies with towering clouds. The charms of it can't always be shared in the relatively small pictures in a standard guidebook. That's why I've created a photobook (my second) wich can be ordered from Blurb.com, 80 pages of it in full colour. You can find more information and a preview of the book  here op Blurb.com. More of my Blurb books here en my "regular" books published by the Dutch publishing house Gottmer are on my website, www.ericstrijbos.nl 

 

Le Nord by Eric Strijbos | Make Your Own Book

 

Panorama in Cassel (French Flanders)

(Panorama from Mont Cassel, Dpt. Nord (59), France. 5x1 photos, original 10036 x 2446 pixel; no HDR. © Eric Strijbos 2012 All rights reserved.)

French writer Marguérite Yourcenar about French Flanders, the country where she grew up:

"Here, just like in Holland and Belgian Flanders... there are these vast flat landscapes and their big skies, where clouds constantly change those immense skies; humility and modesty, the solid countryside buildings, the beauty of rows of trees which line the horizon, the beauty of an atmosphere that constantly changes, like in some 17th century paintings, paintings that sensed the North's beauty miraculously well."

We're back. Thankfully, most of the time the weather was fine...

(View on Mont Cassel, Dept. Nord, France. © Eric Strijbos 2012 All rights reserved. )

 

Wrocław elected European cultural capital in 2016

Yesterday, the EU announced that the Polish city of Wrocław was elected European cultural capitol for 2016, together with San Sebastian (Spain) - congratulations!

Wrocław isn't Poland's prettiest city (Cracow is hard to beat), but it's a taster of Poland if you've never been there, and genuinely interesting. Old and recent history are tangible and hard too overlook, present in the city's jigsaw of contrasts: Polish against German, beautiful and ugly, old and modern, and a photographers' treat either way. Although Wrocław was a German town until 1945, you'll find a typically Polish town centre: a rectangular rynek (market place) around a colourful ratusz (town hall). Bordering it are cheerful baroque houses but also 19th century blocks from the Kaiser's era and a gaunt medieval church. Don't miss the serene, medieval neighbourhood Ostrów Tumski (see my pictures, below), the lively Rynek and the Panoroma painting of the battle of Racławice.

 

 

Beautiful People

This afternoon, I went through some of my old slides, en in a tray with strays I found a casually shot pair of portraits done in the tiny place Lendas, south coast of Crete, 1993.

I'm not a portrait photographer. Slightly nervous, I had pressed too soon, which led to the picture above. So, after the woman had sorted out her headscarf and posed herself, I turned my camera to portrait-orientation and took a properly framed shot at the "right moment". On that picture, there's nothing to be seen from the context except part of the pickup truck, but the woman's smile had frozen, en the man too looked less than candid. On the other hand, the picture above looked even worse to me when I saw it again - the light was off, and there was all this clutter!

Lendas has never been more than a row of houses and a small beach, framed within rocks. We had been advised to go there by a friend or colleague who had a good time there. Typically for many Greek places is that you regret your arrival - what on earth am I doing in this mess - and you regret your departure even more. That kind of place. Even now something was built that was outscaling the old little houses, Lendas remained authentic and endearingly improvised. Once, it will have been a fishing village. "Once" must have largely covered the lives of my two protagonists. But although tourism changed and maybe upset their life, they loved to pose. The 'clutter' around them can't harm them, it was part of their history.

Slide, scanned digitally and postworked to correct the light.