In case you have not guessed it: Kamera means camera in German.

It is a pretty different task to take photos of a place you live in. There is less of a feeling of discovery. This is obvious, since you already know the place itself. In a city the size of Rotterdam you will eventually have seen most of the streets and visited all parts of town. But when going out with a camera it obivously does not mean that you are just looking for new places. You are looking for interesting "things". And these can be right in front of your door, out of which you might have stepped out for years already.
Both familiar und unfamiliar places have their appeal for photography. Each encourages looking for somewhat different aspects of visual reality.

Seeing is essential. The camera is secondary. Even though it is necessary as a tool to take the pictures. You are dependent on it, thus some knowledge of how it works is important. But in the end you don't need a good camera to take a good photo.

In a previous post I wrote in Japan I mentioned that the images in it were generic. That they could have been taken anywhere. Looking at this post reminds me of that. Modern urban shapes are indeed somewhat generic. They tend to look alike since they were globally designed according to similar rational principles. Maybe one strength of the selective view of photography is that these similarities can be highlighted through it.

What is really unique about a place anyway? A lot of times it is the atmosphere and vibe of a place. Something, which is hard to convey through images or sometimes even words. But they might give you an approximate idea.

These photos probably evoke a certain vibe. People looking at them who never visited Rotterdam might think the city looks like some jumble of geometrical shapes. It does. But that is often the case with rectangular places.

This time the photos in this post were not only taken in Rotterdam south. Some of them are but a considerable amount of them is actually from the city centre. The sun of the last days was motivated me to cross the Erasmusbrug and be once again amazed at how many people crawl out of their apartments when even a single ray of sun is piercing the clouds.

Humans swarm to cafes and hold their pale faces into the sun. For some reason people who are genetically unfit to get tanned want exactly that.

Did people always complain about the weather in Europe? They probably did. Or is it only prevalent since a majority can afford to consume images of and travel to places with a milder climate?

I have no idea.

Thank you for reading and seeing. Tot ziens. Bis bald. See you soon.