Welcome to my Blog!
I hope to share here my irrepressible thoughts on news, music, books, arts and such like. In general these will be items, events and issues which I feel have no place on my website (which focusses on aviation history and my travel photography).

The item immediately below this would be the latest posting.

Anybody, providing he knows how to be amusing, has the right to talk about himself. - Charles Baudelaire
Esse est percipi (To be is to be perceived) ¬Bishop George Berkeley

Not even I understand everything I am ¬Aurelius Augustinus of Hippo

In 2013 I started a series of photo albums on Blurb.com, named '36Exp' (a subject adressed in 36 exposures, a reference to the exposures on most common rolls of 35 mm film: 12, 24 & 36.) back in the day.
The books can be ordered directly from the Blurb.com or Amazon.
www.blurb.com/user/ruudleeuw

CURRENT BLOG

Walker Evans (b.03Nov 1903 – d.10Apr1975) was an American photographer and photojournalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression.
Evans understood that photographic meaning is related to context, text and connections between images, whether on the gallery wall, or on the pages of books and magazines. So, as well as being a remarkable image maker, Evans was also an editor, writer and designer.

'Walker Evans Revisited' brings together three kinds of response from contemporary artists and photographers. Firstly, the continuation and extension of Evans’ ways of photographing everyday life—anonymous people, typical places, and vernacular buildings and objects. Secondly, the revisiting and re­ photographing of locations photographed by Evans. Lastly, the exhibition presents a variety of projects by artists responding very directly to particular images by Evans. These range from appropriation and collage, to re­imaginings and homage.

'Walker Evans Revisited' contains work by Sherrie Levine, Michael Mandiberg, Camille Fallet, Julia Curtin, Darren Harvey-Regan, Jessica Potter, James Nares, Anastasia Samoylova, Bryan Schutmaat, Patrick Pound, Ute Mahler & Werner Mahler, Stephen Shore, Mark Ruwedel, RaMell Ross, George Georgiou, Lisa Kereszi, Vanessa Winship, Cortis&Sonderegger and Walker Evans.

Travel to undiscovered places in your mind, or physically move yourself to the other side of the world. These are two ways of travelling, and visual artist Andrei Roiter (1960) practises both forms. The fact that travelling is an important factor in his work is shown by the suitcase, which is a common element. In the suitcase, Roiter can bring together all his belongings.
Roiter is a citizen of the world and feels at home both everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. He is constantly on the move, shuttling between the present and the past: between reality, dreams, and memories.
To Roiter, making art is a way of casting elusive feelings such as melancholy, fear and hope in sometimes clear and sometimes poetic forms.

museumhelmond.nl/en/exhibitions/andrei-roiter

Recently I visited Rozet in Arnhem for the photo exhibition of work by Ron Giling. Only 24 photos of 150 images in his book Places, People, Pictures were on display - so I just had to buy the book!

Giling's photobook 'Places, People, Pictures' shows an amazing array of analogue black and white photos taken during his travels for work on locations from Africa, Asia and South America; they were made in the 1980s and 1990s for the Ministry of Development Cooperation and many aid organizations.
Many of the photos are portraits, in close up or surrounded by landscape or other people, holding a child or musical instruments, products from the land or possibly for going to market.
The photographs show a deep sense of empathy and respect as well as an excellent feel for style and composition.
A truly insightful book, but not in the person of Ron Giling.

'Places, People, Pictures' has an extra page inserted for the introduction by Jan Pronk, minister for
Foreign Aid & Development 1973-1977 & 1989-1998. He wrote:
"Ron Giling went out to make photos for his clients that tell the story of development cooperation. But he never came back with pictures of aid projects, pictures that showed what we did for others. Also no pictures of disasters that had to serve to pull our pouch.
No, they were pictures of people, of ordinary life and that's what it's all about.
Anyone who learns to look at it is fascinated and does not get rid of it. That's the power of these photos. Every time you revisit such a photo, you see something new, something you hadn't noticed before. The story behind it is up for grabs. 'Places, Peoples and Pictures': together they become Stories.
These are photos that you can look at for a very long time. Every photo tells a story even if it's just the image of just one person."

The book has no text by the photographer himself (which I regret), but it does have an index at the back of the book where the images were taken.
The index are listed by continent and include countries like India, Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Ghana, Tanzania, Burkina-Faso, Senegal, Niger, Mali, Ivory-Coast, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Mexico, Peru and many others.

fotoexpositie.nl/exposities/ron_giling_carousel
Order the book through ron ATsign lineairfoto DOTnl.
rozet.nl/ - 1/opening-foto-expositie-places-people-pictures-ron-giling

Lake Lemuria, the so-called 'Dead Sea of Ukraine', takes on a surreal, otherworldly quality in the drone photographs by Yevhen Samuchenko. Its waters turned pink by algae, its shoreline streaked with white salt deposits, the body of water might easily be confused for an abstract painting were it not for the presence of two tiny figures and their nearby car.
Many of the 130+ photos. were taken by a drone and the array of abstract impressions in a wide range of colours and compositions is truly astounding.
He captures a canyon near Kherson in such a way that it looks like a graphic in the lush green landscape. Poppy and lavender fields fascinate with their uncompromising colourfulness, winter landscapes with their monumental silence and reduction.

Samuchenko explains: "I wanted to show the scale of the landscape, because when you see the very small people, you understand how big the location is".
One can only conclude that the photographer's mission to showcase Ukraine's natural beauty succeeded
a 100%, and indeed it is a very welcome contrast to Ukraine's broken buildings and infrastructure we are treated on daily in the media after Putin's full-scale invasion in February.
So sad to see that about all regions and place names I know of the Ukraine and noted in this book, they are from battles and bombings which continue to this day, without an end in sight.

Ukrainian photographer Yevhen Samuchenko, born in Odessa, has won awards worldwide for his impressive travel photography and his artful aerials - because he captures the fragile beauty of our planet in poetic images.
Also that of his homeland, which has abruptly moved into the centre of international attention and seems more fragile than ever.
'The Beauty of Ukraine' is a declaration of love to the landscapes of Ukraine and at the same time an aesthetic delight.

Samuchenko donated his drone to the Ukrainian military, and he says it is currently impossible for him to operate as a photographer.

teNeues.com/en/book/the-beauty-of-ukraine
edition.CNN.com/style/ - /yevhen-samuchenko-ukraine-landscape-photography
www.accartbooks.com/ - /the-beauty-of-ukraine

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Douglas DC-3; the prototype DST (Douglas Sleeper Transport) first flew on 17Dec1935 with Douglas chief test pilot Carl Cover at the controls.
A version with 21 seats instead of the 14–16 sleeping berths of the DST was given the designation DC-3.
No prototype was built, and the first DC-3 built followed 7 DSTs off the production line for delivery to American Airlines. Total production including all military variants was 16.079!
More than 400 remained in commercial service in 1998.

Production was:
¬607 civilian variants
¬10.048 military C-47 and C-53 derivatives built at Santa Monica, California, Long Beach, California, and Oklahoma City
¬4.937 built under license in the Soviet Union (1939–1950) as the Lisunov Li-2
¬487 Mitsubishi Kinsei-engined aircraft built by Showa and Nakajima in Japan (1939–1945), as the L2D Type 0 transport. [->Wikipedia]

The above photos I took in 2019 during 'Daks over Duxford', the commemmoration of the June 6th 1945 landing in Normandy.

www.ruudleeuw.com/uk2019-dday_duxford

The photographs 'Mainly Manhattan' were made during a 5-year period in New York by Nicolaas Biegman, using a Leica R 3 camera and 21, 35 and 90 mm lenses (by Leitz and Leica). The film Biegman used was Kodak 400 ASA film. Black-and-white developing was done by Prolab Chominsky in New York, printing by Laurie Dool in Rotterdam.

Subjects are divided categories: Subway - Buildings - Wheels - Windows - Buying & Selling - Street - Food - Dogs - Kids - Idols - CK - ADS - Women - Men - Phones - Couples - Hanging out.
What I did not like about the lay-out of the book is that there are too many photographs over 2 pages
with the subject (person or object) obliterated by the book's fold. But, one notices that there remains plenty to enjoy among the 233 photo pages.

The author wrote: 'I complied this composite portrait of New York, focusing on the streets of Manhattan with an occasional excursions to places like Red Hook, Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Brighton Bridge. All this over a 5-year period, in a state of never-ending amazement at the urban landscape and the multicolored inhabitants.
Amazement at the shapes and sizes of buildings, bridges, parks (“If you have a Park Related Problem call 1-800-201-PARK) and parking lots, at the sculptures and monuments in the squares and plazas and the graphics of the bold white arrows, lozenges and words on the asphalt; and the general friendliness of the natives…
If the visitor, struck by the fact in the subway people do not look one another in the eye, concludes that New Yorkers are an unkind lot, he is mistaken. Rather, protecting one’s space in a means of defending one’s visual and physical integrity in the crowded environment in which New Yorkers have to live.
Therefore, the golden rule in the New York code of conduct reads: avoid contact, whether eye or physical, save by mutual consent. If you bump into a stranger, or touch him inadvertently, apologize him humbly. You may look at someone, but when you see his eyes turn in your direction avert your gaze unless you wish to strike up a conversation, which is usually no problem .

'Mainly Manhattan'
Language: English | Author: Nicolaas H. Biegman |
Pages: 233 | Published 1997 by Goose Press (Amsterdam)
ISBN-10907157055XISBN-139789071570551

About the author:
Ambassador Nicolaas Hendrik Biegman
1998 – NATO Permanent Representative of the Netherlands

Born on 23Sep1936 in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Married to Mirjana Cibilic
Education : University of Leiden, The Netherlands. (Ph.D. 1967), Turkish, Arabic, International Law.
Career : Since 1963 Dr. N.H. Biegman has been employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands.
As a junior diplomat he was posted, from 1963 until 1977, in respectively, Cairo (1964-1967), Canberra (1967-1969), Dar es Salaam (1969-1972), Atlantic Cooperation and Security Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1972-1977).
1977-1980 == Counsellor with Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of The Netherlands to NATO, Brussels
1980-1984 == Head of the International Organisations Department of Foreign Affairs, The Hague
1984-1988 == Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of The Netherlands in Cairo, Egypt
1988-1992 == Director-General for Int'l Development Cooperation, Min. of Foreign Affairs, The Hague
1992-1997 == Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York

The stalls were turned into shops for the Christmas Marketfair. Stuff these fairs sells rarely turn me on.
We did enjoy the mulled wine (glühwein) for it was was quite cold (in fact we warmed our hands on the huge kettle with the glüwein brew!).
We were not allowed to walk in the gardens.
A somewhat disappointing visit to Kasteel Middachten for me.

HISTORY:
The history of Castle Middachten goes back to the year 1190, when Jacobus de Mithdac lived there on a socalled 'free estate'.
On the site of the current house, a medieval castle developed over the years, which was destroyed and rebuilt several times.
At the end of the 17th century, the house got its current palatial shape when General Godard van Reede-Ginkel, first Count of Athlone, had the castle converted into one of the most beautiful country houses in the
Netherlands.

www.middachten.nl/english/

An impression of a Dec.14th visit to Museum MORE in Gorssel (Dutch province of Gelderland). It is the largest museum for modern realism in the Netherlands.
It connected nicely with the course in Art History last month.
From 20th century masters to contemporary realists and upcoming talent are here on exhibit in a grand way.
The art (besides some paintings also a few photographs are on display as well as objects can be seen on two locations: Museum MORE in Gorssel and Museum MORE @ Ruurlo Castle.

www.museummore.nl/en/
More photos on Flickr.com

This autumn, Museum MORE is showing people in the metropolis.
' Streetview' shows photographer Bas Losekoot's vision of life in densely populated cities, which are expanding further and further.
A selection of dozens of photographs in which Losekoot illuminates the individual from the crowd offers
a unique look at our mutual relationships. How do we find our way, surrounded by overwhelming architecture and immense crowds? Are we displaced or in our place in modern mega cities?

Bas Losekoot is Dutch-born artist and photographer, concerned with socio-cultural issues in cities around the world. Working with cinematic techniques he is challenging our understanding of reality in everyday city-life as well as the limited narrative potential of representations of truth in documentary photography.
With an intuitive eye he visualizes the human experience in modern megacities.
His practise combines concepts of mobility, liminality, the cinematic, social geography and the influence of mass media on human behaviour.

Bas Losekoot holds a BA in Fine Art Photography from the Royal Academy of the Arts in The Hague and recently graduated for an MA in Photography and Urban Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London.
He is trained by Alessandra Sanguinetti and Alex Webb at Magnum Agency.

His work has been sold to various private collections by auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s. His work is exhibited widely in galleries and at festivals like: New York Photo Festival, Voies-Off/Les Rencontres d’Arles and Unseen Photo Fair Amsterdam. The Urban Millennium Project is published in a variety of international media like: The New Yorker, Die Zeit, Volkskrant, CNN Editions, GUP, IMA Magazine and the British Journal of Photography.

www.dupho.nl/fotograaf/baslosekoot
project.baslosekoot.com/

First day (barely) possible ice skating on natural ice in a few places. Powerful Dutch tradition.
@LAAG-SOERENSE BRUG (SPANKEREN) / APELDOORNS KANAAL 14DEC22 - entry to

It is cold and so the skating fever has erupted again for many people in the Dutch Lowlands.
A race gets underway for the first natural ice rink to open: a few centimeters over a concrete floor spread with an ice machine often for at least 36 hours when during the day it also remains firmly under 0 degreses Celsius.
For people from abroad living in the Netherlans this feverish sensation remains a crazy sensation! The skates are brought down from the attic and carefully repaired and the weather conditions are carefully followed. One day during the day above freezing can spoil it all, so does snowfall...
It takes colder conditions during a few days longer, over still water to see ice growing on canals and lakes. The parts under bridges take longer too and remain treacherous.
These people were careful over the 4 centimeters of crackling ice, but in the UK 4 kids died of exposure when they went through the ice...

The Dickens Festival is visited annually by more than 125.000 visitors. The festival is open on both days from 11:00 to 17:00. Admission is free. Please take into account a considerable waiting time (the line we waited in took one full hour to get us to the entrance) at the entrance to the Dickens Festijn in the Walstraat.
Expect to need at least 01:30 upto 2 hours to complete the full tour. Visitors will end up on the 'Brink' with plenty of foodtrucks and restaurants.

Charles John Huffam Dickens (b.07Feb1812 – d.09Jun1870) was an English writer and social critic.
He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius.
His novels and short stories remain widely read today.
Born in Portsmouth, Dickens left school at the age of 12 to work in a boot-blacking factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. After 3 years he returned to school, before he began his literary career as a journalist.

www.deventer.nl/dickens
dickensfestijn.nl
en.wikipedia.org:_Charles_Dickens
more on www.flickr.com/photos

Since the advent of the camera, there have been photographers whose mission is to record and interpret the public sphere in all its aspects.
Eugene Atget (1857 – 1927) documented evidence of everyday life in the streets as well as the buildings and monuments of Paris. Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908 – 2004) pursued what he called "The Decisive Moment", the moment in which the meaning of an event was most clearly captured in a photograph.
Their work, and that of many other masters, has inspired generations of photographers to wander public spaces, camera in hand, searching for meaningful moments in time...

Success requires the street photographer to be proficient with their equipment, to be constantly aware of their surroundings, and to have a keen eye.
Quick reflexes and self-confidence are essential: Street photographers know from experience that hesitation or procrastination could mean missing a once-in-a-lifetime shot. The adage "it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission" was probably coined by a street photographer.

'In Street Photography: The Art of Capturing the Candid Moment', Gordon Lewis helps readers understand and conquer the challenging yet rewarding world of street photography.
Another crucial element to becoming a good street photographer is learning to travel light, with minimal equipment. Lewis gives readers practical advice on everything from cameras and lenses to camera bags and clothing.

Whether your style is to engage your subjects or to remain unnoticed and take candid portraits, Lewis offers ideas on how to capture fascinating moments: a gesture, expression, or composition that may exist for only a fraction of a second, but can leave a lasting impression of the wonders, challenges, and absurdities of modern life.

About the author:
Gordon Lewis is a dedicated street photographer with over 40 years of experience. He began his writing career answering letters from owners of Olympus cameras, Vivitar flash units, and Kiron lenses.
From there he graduated to being a contributing editor to magazines such as Camera 35, Petersen's Photographic, and Camera & Darkroom.
Nowadays he earns his living as an e-learning instructional designer for Fortune 500 companies.
Gordon lives just outside of Philadelphia-which, not reportedly, is an excellent location for street photography.

www.goodreads.com

'Il piccole virtú'

Natalia Ginzburg (b.14Jul1916 Palermo – d.07Oct1991 Rome) is one of the best and most prominent Italian writers of the 20th century and has been rediscovered internationally a few years ago.
This autumn, the collection of essays 'De kleine deugden' was published, a collection of 11 portraits about life, in which Ginzburg transforms well-known objects and experiences – worn shoes, piggy banks, meatballs, childhood, silence – into subjects of great significance. While haunted by fascism, Ginzburg turns her gaze to that which shapes our lives: friendships, relationships, and parenthood.

The book includes an appendix (editor Domenico Scarpa) how the final compilation of essays came about, a protracted process; also a series of reviews over the years are quoted as well as an index on publications (in chronological order) detailing 'Il piccolo virtú' and her life year by year.

Natalia Ginzburg was an Italian author whose work explored family relationships, politics during and after the Fascist years and World War II, as well as philosophy.
She wrote novels, short stories and essays, for which she received the Strega Prize and Bagutta Prize.
Most of her works were also translated into English and published in the United Kingdom and United States.
An activist, for a time in the 1930s she belonged to the Italian Communist Party. In 1983, she was elected to Parliament from Rome as an independent politician.

en.wikipedia.org:_Natalia_Ginzburg

Photobook with portraits of all the entrepreneurs on 'De Zeedijk' in Amsterdam, recorded in early years of the 1990s. Photos showing stores, listing owners by name.
After many years with drugs, crime and prostitution' rampant on De Zeedijk it has risen from the ashes like a phoenix and has become another street in Amsterdam one can be proud of.
And this thanks to the years of efforts of local residents, entrepreneurs and the 'NV Zeedijk', who, despite all the seemingly insurmountable problems, continued to believe in this special part of the city.
Eveline Renaud and Marian van de Veen experienced this process up close. They decided to photograph all entrepreneurs posing in front of their business and thus show how diverse and characteristic the Zeedijk had become.
They went up (uneven numbers) and down (even numbers) each side of the street with their camera and documented owners, often with customers and/or wares, standing proudly before their store.
Annejet van der Zijl wrote an essayy about the history and life behind the facades. All this resulted in an exhibition in 1995.
The photos are compiled in this book. A worthy time document, but above all a tribute to all those entrepreneurs (many have their ownership dating back to the 1990s, but some stuck around through the years of notoriety) who made great financial and personal sacrifices to keep their business and thus De Zeedijk afloat.

Printed by Stadsdrukkerij Amsterdam (1996)
Core of the text by www.bol.com/nl/nl/p/ondernemer-op-de-zeedijk

Anne Holt has Chief Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen back from her grief-soaked stay in Verona to rejoin Oslo’s Violent Crime Section. She finds Billy T. has taken her place heading the investigation team and her name has been a taboo, nobody seems to have regretted her sudden flight to Italy.

It's been many years since I read a book by Anne Holt and never read a book featuring her protagonist Hanne Wilhelmsen. From the start and throughout the book this hampered the appreciation of the various characters.

The plot: the murder of Brede Ziegler is anything but straightforward. Norway’s best-known culinary chef stepped on a million toes to achieve celebrity status. His wife of six months, Vilde Veierland Ziegler, was barely half his age and does not share his home adress.
Brede's body was left on the unused back staircase of the Police Security Service. He also seems to have died twice..
I found the narrative somewhat confusing, but that was possibly because it bothered me that the main characters remained vague for me.
Elsewhere this book 'No Echo' was labelled 'tangled and forgettable', and I quite agree: it did not make an impression on me at all.

www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/anne-holt/no-echo/
en.wikipedia.org:_Anne_Holt

Sinterklaas, or Sint-Nicolaas is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children.
Other names for the figure include De Sint ("The Saint"), De Goede Sint ("The Good Saint"), and De Goedheiligman ("The Good Holy Man") in Dutch; Saint Nicolas in French; Sinteklaas in West Frisian; Sinterklaos in Limburgs; Saint-Nikloi in West Flemish; and Kleeschen and Zinniklos in Luxembourgish.

The feast of Sinterklaas celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December. The feast is celebrated annually with the giving of gifts on St. Nicholas' Eve (5 December) in the Netherlands and on the morning of 6 December, Saint Nicholas Day, in Belgium, Luxembourg and northern France (French Flanders, Lorraine and Artois).
The tradition is also celebrated in territories of the former Dutch Empire, including Curaçao and Suriname.

Sinterklaas is one of the sources of the popular Christmas icon of Santa Claus.

For a number of years now the appearance of 'Black Pete' is under severe discussion in Holland, for a racial context. Increasingly we see the faces only with 'soot' smudges (for the myth of him coming down the chinmey to leave presents in the living room overnight). On this event I saw no fully blackened faces, neither did I see full colour faces (e.g. green & yellow instead of black).
There were two clownes in the march and those clownes scare me more that Black Pete ever did!
This event saw a massive turnout for the last two years it had been cancelled due to Corona pandemic.

Wikipedia
More images of Sint's arrival today: Flickr.com

While in Maastricht a while ago I visited a bookshop and picked up this magazine. First time I came across this Leica photography magazine! Had lots of interesting articles so I took it home.

¬ 75 Years Magnum: Women in the Agency. On the occasion of the agency’s jubilee, LFI takes a look at some of its female members, and reveals unforgettable, groundbreaking images
¬ Lucas Barioulet: A Gateway to the World. Women’s football in Mauritania? Absolutely! Lucas Barioulet accompanied the courageous women forging their way towards emancipation
¬ Ruediger Glatz: Reflecting Pasolini. From costumes used in his films all the way to personal mementoes: a tribute to the Italian film director and artist Pier Paolo Pasolini
¬ Jan von Holleben: Sugar wow! Sugary sweet: the photographer converted his studio into a land of milk and honey, and created colourful still lifes out of masses of candies
¬ Jim Marshall: The Rolling Stones 1972. Touring with legends: The Stones and Jim Marshall – a photography rock star in his own right – met at the high point of their creativity
¬ F/STOP: 40th Leitz Photographica Auction / Leica and Xiaomi / Club Nagoya

Ordering a single copy from the website is hugely expensive, makes taking on a subscription doubtful for me. But ordering 3 or 4 (including backissues) at a time may be something worthy of consideration.

lfi-online.de/ceemes/en/#
lfi-online.de/ceemes/en/magazine/lfi-magazine

I picked this issue of Reporter San Frontières up at Gare du Nord (Paris) because of the photos by David Bailey. Not much use for the article as my French is not sufficient to read it. Anyway, I doubt if the text had much to add on the biography I recent read on him!
But you don't pass up on 100 photos by David Bailey if you have a two hour wait at busy Gare du Nord!

LOOK AGAIN, David Bailey's autobiography on MyBlog 2022Q3

Whilst not particulalrly interested in 'vintage photography', I am intersted in history and have work by Ruben Lundgren on China (in which I have a specific interest as well). Browsing I cam across a few more interesting articles!

I gather it is printed once a year, coinciding with the 'Dialogue Vintage Photography Festival'.
'Vintage Photography' is classified as photography during 1839 – 1989.

From 2022: 'On Dialogue you will find photos from the earliest history of photography: salt prints, daguerreotypes but also photo albums from the Dutch East Indies, press photos from the 20th century, vintage art photography, amateur photography and snapshots.
With prices between € 5 and € 100,000, there is something for everyone. A treasure trove where visitors can browse, search, dig treasure and marvel.'

focusmagazine.nl/2022/09/13/dialogue-vintage-photography-festival

This is the prequel to the Laidlaw trilogy, written by the late William McIlvanney and which was completed posthumously by Ian Rankin.
I hadn't read any other books featuring DC Jack Laidlaw, I came across this book title because I am a fan of Ian Rankin's books...
This was a drawback because while reading The Dark Remains I never became much interested in the character of Jack Laidlaw, wasn't even sure who the pratagonist was at first: Laidlaw or Bob Lilley?
The subtitle,'Laidlaw's First Case' could have been a clue, but then again I am not a detective, ha!

The story is situated in Glasgow (1 particular week in October 1972) which I visited for the first time last May, so that was nice in terms of familiar locations. Maybe I should read the other Laidlaw books too (1.Laidlaw 2. The Papers of Tony Veitch 3.Strange Loyalties) to appreciate the character better, in this book it is unclear why he behaves like that and why people put up with his behaviour.

When William McIlvanney died in 2015, he left behind various unfinished manuscripts, and his estate commissioned Ian Rankin to complete The Dark Remains (published in 2021).

Laidlaw is a detective sergeant, not a detective inspector in this timeline. In some ways this is an origin story. How does Laidlaw become Laidlaw? He certainly arrives with a certain reputation as an outsider and not the world’s best team player; but at the same time a person of integrity as well as hunches. The Laidlaw here is nevertheless recognisable. He is a kind of flâneur, drifting through the streets, going on buses, staying in slightly run-down hotels despite having a wife and children.

www.scotsman.com/ - / - /book-review-the-dark-remains
en.wikipedia.org:_William_McIlvanney

Made a walk in the grounds of Castle ('Kasteel') Rosendael, it was a lovely sunny and mild autumn day.

Rosendael Castle is originally a late medieval castle, which was built by the Count of Gelre (Guelders?). The castle is located in the Dutch province of Gelderland.
It is first mentioned in 1314, and Count Reinoud I was the first occupant. His son Reinoud II was also lord of the castle.
After the counts and dukes of Gelre, the castle became the property of drost Willem van Scherpenzeel, who sold it to Dirck van Dorth in 1579.
Van Dorth had a lot changed about the castle, and had the gardens, ponds and streams built.
The shell galleries are 18th century.
Superb!

NL.wikipedia.org:_Kasteel_Rosendael
More on www.flickr.com/photos/Gelderland

During a recent stay in Rome (Italy) I came across this catalogue of work by Robert Doisneau published for the exhibition in Palazzo Roverella (Rovigo, Italy) during 23Sep21-30Jan22. Would have loved to visit that exhibition but the photobook is certainly second best!

Robert Doisneau (b.14Apr1912 – d.01Apr1994) was a French photographer.
From the 1930s, he photographed the streets of Paris. He was a champion of humanist photography and with Henri Cartier-Bresson a pioneer of photojournalism.

In 1931, he left both the studio and advertising, taking a job as an assistant with the modernist photographer André Vigneau. In 1932, he sold his first photographic story to Excelsior magazine.

In 1934, he began working as an industrial advertising photographer for the Renault car factory at Boulogne-Billancourt. Working at Renault increased Doisneau's interest in working with photography and people. Five years later, in 1939, he was dismissed because he was constantly late.
He was forced to try freelance advertising, engraving, and postcard photography to earn his living. At that time, the French postcard industry was the largest in Europe, postcards served as greetings cards as well as vacation souvenirs.
In 1991, he said that the years at the Renault car factory marked "the beginning of his career as a photographer and the end of his youth."

In 1939, he was later hired by Charles Rado of the Rapho photographic agency and traveled throughout France in search of picture stories. This is where he took his first professional street photographs.
He was appointed a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour in 1984 by then French president, François Mitterrand.

en.wikipedia.org:_Robert_Doisneau
www.robert-doisneau.com/en/robert-doisneau/
Maison de la Photographie Robert Doisneau on Facebook