Wonderful Chaos at Sail Amsterdam

Koningsdag – King’s Day Orange Celebration

Today, 27 April is the birthday of King Willem Alexander, King of  the Netherlands, but yesterday it was celebrated with the first King’s Day (Koningsdag) in the whole country. I was in Amsterdam and the atmosphere was great and orange! People are very creative with what they are wearing and also what they are selling.

This woman sells knitted orange crowns and beards, and she has got a customer too!

Children and adults have an opportunity to sell their bric-a-brac and many a good bargain can be had.

These kids have invented some kind of game, a family tree with sweets, and the sign says you always win a price.

I spy with my little eye…

This mask on it’s own is fun, and it becomes even funnier (to me) with the sign above it, which says “Hotdog roll”.

Of course the Dutch Lion, which appears in the coat of arms, cannot be missed at the party.

It is custom to fly the Dutch flag from your home on King’s Day (used to be Queens Day).

Tompoucen are a Dutch delight and usually pink, but for King’s Day they turn orange. The drink you see is not lemonade, but it is a liquer called Oranjebitter.

Wynyard Quarter Exhibition (part 2)

In my post of 2 August 2013, I talked about the exhibition at and about the Wynyard Quarter. The show has now closed, and I am happy to post some images of the work inside the blue container.

Photos from my book “A Second Wind”, about the coal fired steam tug “The Daldy”, which was also exhibited.

The two photos on the left were taken by me in the fast-changing Wynyard Quarter. For the first one I was standing on top of one of the old silos and I spotted a young girl holding balloons and wearing a helmet, which seemed quite peculiar. The one next to it is my impression of “The Cloud”, a multi-purpose event venue built in 2011. The two photos on the right were taken by Ruth Ames also in the Wynyard Quarter.

These three images are also work by Ruth Ames, who documented the changes happening in Daldy Street.

“Cynthia” is a series by Sonya Roussina, which shows Cynthia, who is a regular visitor to the Wynyard Quarter piano.

Great to see people enjoying our work! For a better look at the images, please visit my website.

Sandringham Spring Festival 2012

The Sandringham Spring Festival is an annual event held at the Sandringham Village in Auckland. It is a great community event with lots of people, music, dance, food, and goods on offer at the many stalls. This year the Sandringham Community Centre created a Family Fun Zone where children were entertained with face painting, a bouncy castle, crafts and playground. It was a fun day and I thoroughly enjoyed photographing the event.

 

Eden Park Fan Cam

Here are some images I took for Eden Park at the Bledisloe Cup game last Saturday, All Blacks versus Wallabies (Australia). The All Blacks beat Australia 22-0 retaining the Bledisloe Cup for a 10th successive season. It was a great event! To see more of my images, go to the Eden Park Fan Cam page.