Silence is golden,

my only friend, the end

2012-01-01T15:39:00.002+01:00

hello and happy new year!

i started this blog some time ago to be linked to the 'silence is golden' flickr group, but having photography already take up so much of my time and having no energy to keep it interesting i finally decided to stop that group.
i'll keep this blog to post random photgraphy or music related stuff when i feel like it.
for now: a final salute to the silence is golden pool.

regina

2011-09-14T20:50:00.001+02:00

Greys
intent to be independently blue

...

Summer, or what had to pass for it, is just about over. Here in the Netherlands it is now officially the worst one in over a hundred years. Meteorologically speaking, that is. Definitely gave me a good head start on some grey skied melancholia.
So here's a mix full of rain, tears, heart ache and brass. Depressing you say? Well, it contains at least four of my three favorite songs ever, and since when does good music no longer lift the spirits?
For those into actual mix tapes: There's a hard break after the Woody Guthrie song, breaking this in two halves of just a little over 30 minutes each, do your thing. Maybe a good soundtrack for a rainy car ride?

Greys Intent To Be Independently Blue by 123regina on Mixcloud

or download it here
sorry, no longer seperate tracks. if you like a certain song i am sure you know of a way to get it...

...

shedding skin

2011-08-09T20:11:00.006+02:00

Shedding Skin

When I was going to college (the first one) I lived next to a reptile zoo. A big house, majestically declining, with a picture of a crocodile on it. one day my roommate and I got curious and we went inside.
There were about a hundred snakes, each of them in a tiny terrarium accompanied by a few lines of text. One told us that each year more people die from slipping in the shower than from snakebites, another said that the natural habitat of snakes is so small that it wasn't so bad they were confined to such a small place now.
Personally I believe there was more truth in that first note, but somehow I always remembered that snakes need little space to live in. You can box them and put them next to each other and they won't even notice.

I have a new job since last week. After years of working for small cultural companies me and the economy thought it was time for something different. I now wave my pass in front of a gate each morning to reach the elevator and mark the beginning of my hour registration.
I get in the elevator with a bunch of people and we go up, and up some more, and then I get out on the 20th floor. I grab my almost-favorite mug (the favorite one doesn't fit) and put it under the machine and press a button. After the machine is finished I remove the cup and then put it back, so the machine thinks it's a new cup and is willing to fill it for the other half. I walk with the cup to my desk and sit there in that little space, next to a bunch of others that don't even notice.
I spend the day doing stuff and passing it on and waiting for it to come back. Like the coffee machine I just need to follow the procedure. I need to be a cog in a big well oiled machine. Be part of it. Adjust.
When my computer isn't working and I am slowing down the process I call the help desk, outsourced to a country where people don't get payed what I get payed, to solve my problems. We spend some time speaking to each other but not comprehending and in the end somehow the problem gets solved anyway and I can continue.
I talk with my coworkers during lunch, but sometimes we hardly hear each other because the room in noisy. No curtains, paintings or plants to muffle the echo of all those moving chairs. A lot of them I still don't know what they're called.

I want to write this down. I want to remember. Because one day I might take an elevator up and find flowers on my desk because I've been working in that office for ten years. I might be talking with my coworkers about the boring stuff I did over the weekend and send out a memo about a procedure that's been slightly altered. I might sit there with a smile and be happy to sit there every day.
I want to remember then, how it felt when I started out my first corporate job. I might look back with a smile, see how much more comfortable I am now and how adjusted and secure.
But I don't want to.
I want myself to remember then that I always said 'not me'. I will shed another layer of skin, glide out of my chair, sliver down the corridor and slide down the stairs.
All of them.
I'll leave the elevator for those that can walk.

***

ofcourse art is a big distorting magnifying glass, but all of this is true. reajusting is extra hard after almost 4 weeks of vacation i guess. thinking about taking my camera in there, but maybe i should wait till my first month is over...
still, aiming for a more personal version of lars tunbjork's amazing office work might be a bit (20 floors?) too high, but an interesting starting point.

2011-06-28T22:39:00.003+02:00

yes, another mix.
it appears i don't really have the time, inspiration and energy to edit photographs etc at the moment. sorry :/

so, for your living room dancing/listening pleasure there is this. probably the closest to a hiphop mix i will ever make. and yes, i do realize this means i pass up the biggest chance of slipping 'baby got back' in there somewhere...
hope you enjoy regardless.

Nerdy rapping hood - ceci n'appelle pas une mixtape #6 by 123regina on Mixcloud

and of course you can download it, too.
please do have a listen to the mix version though. i think i am getting better at transitions. also, the seperates download misses the last song (media fire doesn't like files that big)
>>> here you can download the mix
>>> here you can download the seperate tracks

xxx

***

esl2

2011-06-05T14:47:00.003+02:00

A new English as a Second Language mix. Afrobeat, Ye-Ye, Ethio Jazz, Bollywood, Neue Deutsche Welle and much much more. Ready for an eclectic summer?

E.S.L.#2 by 123regina on Mixcloud

>>> download mix here
>>> download separate tracks here

If you like this music you might also like this mix my friend Alex made. He has a great record collection and is hosting/playing at Vintage Voodoo in Canvas (Amsterdam) coming Saturday.

Tropical Bash Mix by Music With Soul

the same/best thing

2011-06-01T14:26:00.002+02:00

first final edit of my night time series.

sharpness is such a bourgeois concept

2011-04-13T16:23:00.004+02:00

"Sharpness is such a bourgeois concept."
Henri Cartier Bresson

Recently I was asked my the ever so friendly and talented Marja to join her in the hunt for good unfocused pictures in this flickr group.

It's a really great pool, so I thought I'd post some pictures here. Black and white ones, for a change.

2011-04-02T14:05:00.005+02:00

a religion inspired mix (long) and edit (not that long) from the silence is golden pool...

***

listen to it here:

No Heaven = No Hell by Regina Van Der Kloet on Mixcloud

>>> and/ or download it here

***

***

2011-03-14T21:49:00.004+01:00

We like things by Benedetta Falugi

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Benedetta likes these things

Benedetta likes cappuccino and croissants. A lot.

She likes to listen to this music, read these books and watch movies by Kieslowski.

Besides the work of some famous photographer (like Diana Arbus, Nan Goldin and William Eggleston) she likes a lot of photographers she finds on flickr, like Ana Kras, Tatjana Radičević and Rafa Castells.

Somehow I am not very surprised she has great taste...

***

2011-02-07T22:36:00.009+01:00

ESL#1
ceci n'appelle pas une mixtape#3

E.S.L.#1 by Regina Van Der Kloet on Mixcloud

>>>download it here

***
Thought some cheerful music might be needed, it being the end of winter and all. I am taking a plane to Colombia this week so I got a bit inspired by that. Somehow no cumbia, though.
I never tried this mixing on a computer before, so don't be too disappointed if it's not super slick.

2011-01-15T18:32:00.001+01:00

silence is golden #3

"on top of every mountain
there was a great longing
for another even higher mountain
in each city longing for a bigger city"

dirty projectors - stillness is the move

***

i got inspired by the cool tv shots in the flickr pool.
so i feel i have to show some others, too:

***

2011-01-01T14:11:00.003+01:00

"The storm really doesn't matter until the storm begins to bring you down"
Jesse Jackson

"I'm so glad for that storm to hold, for the pain it formed gave us so much room to pour our love into"
High Places

***

Those might not be the most cheerful quotes to start the new year with, I admit. Of course I wish everyone the very best, like I would any other day. "Folle Lok en Seine" we say in Frisian, which means lots of happiness and blessings.
But I know that the power of words is limited. As much as I wish the best for everyone chances are that somewhere in 2011 you will have a moment where you feel beaten or lost. In those cases you should listen to this mix:

walk tall
ceci n'apelle pas une mixtape#2

1 - walk tall - the cannonball adderley quintet (+ jesse jackson)
2 - peepers - polar bear
3 - cheerleader - grizzly bear
4 - most things - the strange boys
5 - hang on to your ego - the beach boys
6 - wonderful beasts - not cool
7 - tell 'em - sleigh bells
8 - don't fucking tell me what to do - robyn
9 - it's my life - the animals
10 - blue - joni mitchell
11 - (what's so funny 'bout) peace, love & understanding - elvis costello
12 - i'm not down - the clash
13 - love goes on! - the go betweens
14 - see a penny (pick it up) - yacht
15 - freedom - george michael
16 - lucky 1 - avey tare
17 - the storm - high places

>>>download here

***

If ever during this year life is killing you and all the good things have been taken. If you wonder if it really has to be that way and if there's any chance on things changing, listen to this mix and think of the following video, because the storm really doesn't matter, until the storm begins to bring you down.

Lots of love and a happy, exciting and productive 2011 to you all,
Regina

***

2010-12-22T22:16:00.010+01:00

We like things by Simon Bates.

Things Simon likes:

Photography:
"Three photographers immediately come to mind; Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, and Joel Meyerowitz. I guess I’m drawn to the colours, formal compositions, and the hidden meanings that lie somewhere within the frames of the images."
American Suburb X
Amy Stein
Not Common People

Books:
Ernest Hemmingway
Nicholson Baker

Film:
Stanley Kubrick

Music:
"When I was a child my parents owned a small hotel, where we also lived. I was definitely influenced by the 70s disco and 80s electronic scene. Nowadays I listen to anything from Chemical Brothers, to Johnny cash, to traditional Irish music."

***

Especially for Simon: the best of both worlds: Johnny Cash and eighties electronics. I am not too sure he'll apreciate the tossed in Marilyn Manson, though... (should he?)

I asked Simon to be the first person featured because he has so much images in the Silence is Golden group. Which I guess means I like his work and he likes the group.
Funny (though maybe not that surprising) that it turns out the first three photographers on the top of his mind are the ones I would name first, too. Even in the same order. And as I post this American Suburb X opens up with a piece on another favorite of mine, Dash Snow.
I guess I have a very common taste. Don't we all.

***

2010-12-12T13:49:00.003+01:00

Silence is golden #2

You could listen to this while watching:

A selection from the flickr group silence is golden.

2010-12-08T17:31:00.010+01:00

Family Album

A lot of times, if not always, when I hear photographers talk about their influences they mention some famous photographers. And of course we are all influenced by the people we admire. I would be crazy to think I have not been influenced by the details of Stephen Shore's or the tension and composition of William Eggleston's work.
But those influences are maybe very intense and passionate, but not that deep. They are only as long as my love for photography as an artistic outlet.

Far deeper and longer is the influence of the pictures I saw when I grew up, the pictures my mother took on holidays and vacations and put in albums that have been opened and closed so often that some of them are falling apart. The old black and white photographs of my mother as a young woman, younger than I am today. My grandmother without grey strokes in her hair and my grandfather still having the majority of his.

me and my younger sister, asleep on the back seat after a day at an amusement park.

These pictures strike a chord. They tell me something about people I know or moments I might not have remembered if it weren't for the picture.
My mother was never a great photographer. She isn't a photographer at all. She has no artistic intent, but just tries to capture moments she wanted to share and to remember. And I think that's what I like about these pictures: there is nothing deliberate about them, it is the pure registration of a moment, and sometimes the elements are all in the right place and it is a great photograph.

My mother used cheap point and shoot cameras. I don't know what kind. I have spent hours in the attic looking for them, but apparently she threw them away. She thinks anyway.
The viewfinder was always a bit strange so lots of times the framing is probably not what she intended at all, but maybe it's something better. There is a picture of me as a little girl that fell asleep between her dolls, 3/4 of it is taken by the carpet, a seventies pattern in different shades of brown.
I love that picture.

Adelaide Ivanova shot this series of her grandmother that I really like.

The first picture I ever took was when I was four. My mom was changing my baby sister's diapers and somehow the camera was lying on the table. My guess is the roll from christmas had to be finished so she could put a new one in before we went on vacation. I asked my mom to turn on the camera so I could take a picture of my sister.

My mom does not remember this moment, but I do vividly. I had to point out to her that the picture was taken from a very low angle to convince her of my story.
The picture consists for the majority of a white dresser. on the left you see a bit of the wooden panels on the wall and on top, lying on the dresser, is my baby sister, staring straight into the camera with her gigantic eyes. Her whole baby album basically consists of those two gigantic eyes, first blue, later brown, staring at you from different places.
Maybe if they were put in an interesting order and bound nicely it could be sold as an art-book. I don't think she'd like that, though.

Chris Moxey has started a great collection of found family shots.

Call it 'vernacular photography', call it 'snapshot aesthetic', call it what you will if it makes you happy. I think it's just a bunch of silly labels, but I think one of the reasons labels like this are used and that photographs that get those labels are made is that we have all been influenced by our family photos.
We love them, we love how they make us feel and we want to find a way to use that, to channel that, to maybe even reach that level of purity.
In our own old family photos we see stories we remember, maybe triggered by the image, or stories we have only heard of. This allows us to see details and hidden stories in the family photos of strangers and maybe also in the photographs we shoot today.

I, for one, always feel like I am on the search to find a way to capture things that will make them at once meaningful and careless, like only a picture in a family album can be.
Maybe the only person that gets me is Alec Soth. Maybe I am doing it al wrong. Maybe instead of trying to make pictures as a little child I should try to make children, so they can take the pictures. Because in a way I think I will always be aiming to shoot something as good as my first picture, and failing for the rest of my life: I am a photographer that is nostalgic for the time she couldn't photograph. Silly perhaps, but there's nothing wrong with aiming for the impossible, now is there?

***

2010-12-03T10:08:00.004+01:00

Silence is golden #1

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Images selected, from the Silence is golden flickr group, by Andy Walker.
I wish people would upload bigger files...

***

2010-12-01T11:40:00.008+01:00

if you will, a picture
ceci n'apelle pas une mixtape #1

1 - remember you - the zombies
2 - distant camera - neil young
3 - photo booth - ola podrida
4 - i hate camera - the bird and the bee
5 - polaroid-roman-photo - ruth
6 - photojournalist - small black
7 - future memories - klaxons
8 - wishing (if i had a photograph of you) - a flock of seagulls
9 - redlights - salem
10 - when doves cry - prince
11 - can you picture yourself - tony church & the crusade
12 - i forgot to remember to forget - elvis presley
13 - photographer - pretty things
14 - remember - john lennon
15 - if i lived in a picture - the green pajamas
16 - i am a camera - gentle giant

>>> download here

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2010-12-01T10:20:00.007+01:00

sleep/sand

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Just started working on a new project,
for now it's called sleep/sand.
These might be in it.

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2010-11-30T17:34:00.006+01:00

A little selection from the little flickr group Pattern-Recognition.

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2010-11-30T17:13:00.011+01:00

Poplar

As far as I know, not like anyone
Is all that I could answer

But lean and strong and kind and worn
With arms reaching out for the sky
all weathered and beautiful
and into the light

If I had a choice, no comparison
Everyone in their own right
But if you can't be one of a kind
Then maybe you are like a tree
all weather and beautiful

And into the night
I will watch you leaf

***

A poem I wrote not that long ago. I don't write them as much as I would like to, but maybe in the future? Starting tomorrow I will work less hours at the office and have more time for my creative endeavours.
I guess this is also the reason I finally started a blog.

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