Amstel River

Grey days

in Amsterdam 197?

Way back in the 1970's I had just started taking photographs and shot rolls and rolls of film which I developed in improvised darkrooms. But since I could not really afford buying a large quantity of photographic paper, I didn't print more than one or two negatives from each roll. If any at all. Printing was mostly left "to do later, someday." And, well, you may have read what I'm thinking about "Someday" in this respect.

The photographs on this page were taken while walking along the Amstel River. December time. I wasn't going home: I didn't have a place I really cared to call home, and it was the time of Sinterklaas. I felt quite melancholy, being one of those lonely people who would not sing songs or open presents with the family.

Looking at these pictures now, I still remember how it felt to be walking under a grey sky in a city where I knew no-one, at a time when almost everybody else was gearing up to the warmth of being with family.