Welcome to my Blog!
I hope to share here my irrepressible thoughts on news, music, books, arts, history, cultural events 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

"I'm only myself in front of my typewriter" ¬Joan Didion (I'd replace 'typewriter' by 'desktop PC'..)

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

This book (self-published, 2025) by Peter Turnley (b.22June'55) is a stunning tribute to the enchanting city of Paris.
The photographer's exquisite talent for capturing the city's essence results in a breathtaking portrayal that feels suspended in time.
Each black-and-white image flows seamlessly into the next, weaving a vivid tapestry of key Parisian themes—charming cafés bustling with laughter, the intoxicating atmosphere of love in the air, intriguing characters roaming the streets, and the tranquil flow of the Seine.

There is something magnetic about Paris: how the light shifts over the river, how a café terrace at dusk holds infinite little dramas, how a winding alley feels like a secret told in whispers.
In Paris Je t’aime, Peter Turnley invites us into his Paris, one seen through 50 years of devotion, observation and deep feeling.
His choice of black and white lets grain, shadow and form carry story instead of colour, and the result is timeless yet rooted in memory. These are not simple travel photographs, but framed moments that echo across time: a couple turning with a smile, a man reading a newspaper in the morning light, the Seine reflecting the city’s pulse.
The book draws you in, quietly urging you to pause, look again, to find the gesture you did not see the first time.

Hardcover, 320 pages + 316 photographs (31 x 30 x 3.5 cm).

Peter Turnley is renowned for his photography of the realities of the human condition.
His photographs have been featured on the cover of Newsweek 43 times and are published frequently in the world’s most prestigious publications.
He has worked in over 90 countries and has witnessed most major stories of international geo-political and historic significance in the last 30 years.
His photographs draw attention to the plight of those who suffer great hardships or injustice. He also affirms with his vision the many aspects of life that are beautiful, poetic, just, and inspirational.

www.worldphotoadventure.com/paris-je-taime-a-review
www.peterturnley.com/about
en.wikipedia.org:_Peter_Turnley

In Leica’s anniversary year, the world-renowned photography award will once again be making an important statement with regard to the role and significance of contemporary photography, by presenting and honouring a selection of current image series.
This year marks the 45th edition of the LOBA.

The only requirements for a nomination are that the photographs be of a documentary or conceptual-artistic nature, and deal with the relationship of humanity to the environment. This humanistic constant has been a feature of the LOBA competition, since its inception in 1979.

www.leica-oskar-barnack-award.com/en/

Koekkoeksjong (Boekerij, 2013)

Robert Galbraith, none other than J.K. Rowling, is an expertly written exercise in both crime and social criticism.
Cormoran Strike is a hard-drinking, hard-bitten, lonely mess of a man, for reasons that is revealed bit by bit, carefully revealing the secrets he keeps about his parentage, his time in battle and his bad luck.
Strike is no Sherlock Holmes, but he’s a dogged pursuer of The Truth, in this instance the identity of the person who may or may not have relieved a supermodel of her existence most unpleasantly: “Her head had bled a little into the snow. The face was crushed and swollen, one eye reduced to a pucker, the other showing as a sliver of dull white between distended lids.”
Rowling’s roundup of sinister, self-serving, sycophantic characters is impressive, they inhabit the world of high fashion.
Helping Strike along as he turns over stones in the yards of the rich and famous is the eminently helpful Robin Ellacott, newcomer to London and determined to do better than work as a mere temp, which is what lands her at Strike’s door. Her employment with Strike does brings stress to her relationship with her fancée Matthew.

Perhaps because I read it in Dutch (read the English version a long time ago, the Dutch language needs more words than the English to describe the same), it was a bit long-winded but a pleasant read if you can find the leisurely rhythm.

Joanne Rowling (b.31July1965), better known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is the British novelist who wrote the Harry Potter series, published from 1997 to 2007, with over 600 million copies sold.
She writes about Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith.

Continuing the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels, The Silkworm was released in 2014; Career of Evil in 2015; Lethal White in 2018; Troubled Blood in 2020; The Ink Black Heart in 2022; The Running Grave in 2023; and The Hallmarked Man, which was released in September 2025.
In 2017, BBC One aired the first episodeof the five-season series Strike, a television adaptation of the Cormoran Strike novels starring Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger, with a sixth season being shot in 2024.

www.kirkusreviews.com/ - /robert-galbraith/cuckoos-calling/
en.wikipedia.org:_J._K._Rowling

Exhibition Kawase Hasui. Capturing the Soul of Japan (19Dec2025 - 15Mar2026)
An awe inspiring exhibition in Leiden, at the Japanhouse a.k.a. the Sieboldhouse.

Shin Hanga: the rebirth of Japanese printmaking.
At the beginning of the 20th century, traditional Japanese printmaking (ukiyo-e) appeared to be in decline. Photography and lithography were gaining popularity, and classical techniques were at risk of being forgotten.
Thanks to the efforts of the publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō, printmaking was revived in a new, contemporary form: Shin Hanga — literally 'new prints'.
In this movement, artists, block carvers, printers, and publishers worked closely together to create high-quality prints that blended traditional methods with modern sensibilities.

Master of landscapes Kawase Hasui (1883–1957) began his artistic career relatively late, producing his first prints at the age of 35.
His landscape works were the result of extensive sketching trips across Japan.
While his predecessors often focused on famous landmarks, Hasui frequently chose intimate, serene scenes, revealing lesser-known locations that he believed captured the true essence of Japan.
This approach proved highly successful, and his prints were eagerly collected both in Japan and the United States.

Hasui Kawase (b.18May1883 – d.07Nov1957) was a Japanese artist who was one of 20th century Japan's most important and prolific printmakers. He was a prominent designer of the shin-hanga ('new prints') movement.
After seeing an exhibition of Shinsui Itō's Eight Views of Lake Biwa, Hasui approached Shinsui's publisher Shōzaburō Watanabe, who had him design 3 experimental prints that Watanabe published in August 1918.
The series Twelve Scenes of Tokyo, Eight Views of the Southeast, and the first Souvenirs of Travel of 16 prints followed in 1919, each issued 2 prints at a time.

www.sieboldhuis.org/en/exhib/kawase-hasui.-capturing-the-soul-of-japan
en.wikipedia.org:_Hasui_Kawase

From 02Nov2025 - 01Mar2026, De Roode Tooren (museum @Doesburg) will dedicate a special exhibition to the Doesburg city draftsman Derk Jan van Elten.
Extensive research over the past few years has led to the tracing of several of Van Elten's works.
Almost twenty of these will be on display at the exhibition, some of which come from De Roode Tooren's own collection.

Derk Jan van Elten (June 24, 1750, Doesburg - January 28, 1807, Doesburg) was born as the son of Nicolaas van Elten and Johanna Smit.
He married Helena Theodora van Zadelhof (1757-1829) in 1786 and worked his entire life in Doesburg. Van Elten was buried in 1807 in the Grote or Martinikerk.
Both Derk Jan and his father Nicolaas are listed as painters and glaziers.

In 1805, following the painting 'The Fire at the City Windmill' (1804), he was appointed city drawing master by the Magistrate of Doesburg.

deroodetooren.nl/expositie/derk-jan-van-elten (NL)

For lovers of enchanting atmospheres and magical winter evenings: Castle Town Illuminated 's-Heerenberg returns in 2026!
On (this) Saturday, January 24th and Sunday, January 25th, 2026, the historic town of ‘s-Heerenberg will once again be transformed into a fairytale-like setting, with sparkling lights, cozy spots, and special experiences.

This year, the event will be entirely dedicated to 'the history of Bergh.'
During these special evenings, the rich history of the town and its surroundings comes to life in a dazzling display of lights.
Walk through centuries-old stories unfolding in the streets, experience how buildings reveal their secrets, and be enchanted by the grandeur of Castle Huis Bergh, the shining centerpiece of this unique spectacle.

Witte wieven (regional dialect for "white women") also: witte juffers, joffers, jomfers, widde juffers, juvvers, wiefkes, olde witten, guede holden or telewitten) are folkloric beings.
It is the name for female figures that appear in legends and are sometimes benevolent, sometimes malevolent!

Mist patches or fog banks are also called 'white ladies' in the north and east of the Netherlands.
' White ladies' / 'Witte Wieven' are often associated with witches or ghosts.
These white ladies have many similarities with the Irish sídhe, the Celtic-Irish banshee, and the Spanish-Mexican 'woman in white': la Llorona.
Connections are also made to marsh women, fairies, or elves. The word elf occurs throughout the Germanic languages and originally seems to have meant 'white being'!

nl.wikipedia.org:_Witte_wieven (NL)
www.kasteelstadverlicht.nl/
More on Flickr.com

Foam presents Witnessing Life, a solo exhibition by Co Rentmeester (1936), one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.
As a pioneer in both photojournalism and commercial photography, Rentmeester has shaped our collective visual memory with iconic images, including the famous Jumpman photo of Michael Jordan, which was selected by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential images of all time.
Also The Gunner is iconic, imo, and the many LIFE magazine covers.

Jacobus Willem Rentmeester (b.28Feb1936 -), nicknamed "Co" or "Ko", was a Dutch rower (1960 Summer Olympics in Rome ). He later became a famous photojournalist and covered the Vietnam War (among others, e.g. the Watts Riots in Los Angeles).

In early 1961, Rentmeester moved to the United States and studied photography at the Art Center College in Los Angeles.
After receiving his Bachelor of Arts, Rentmeester initially started his career as a freelance photographer in 1965 for Life Magazine. A short time later, he joined the LIFE Staff from April 1966 thru 1972, when LIFE Magazine folded.
After Rentmeester was wounded by a Vietcong sniper near Saigon, he returned to the U.S. in 1972.
His pictures from a trip through Indonesia were shown in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and Asia House in New York.
In the following years, Rentmeester worked for numerous major publications as a photojournalist and as an advertising photographer.

www.foam.org/events/co-rentmeester
en.wikipedia.org:_Co_Rentmeester

The Ice Sculpture Festival 2026.
Step into a world where you stroll among gigantic sculptures made of ice and snow, each carved with incredible detail by the finest artists. A place where fantasy, creativity, and wonder come together in a magical winter experience.
From December 13, 2025 to March 8, 2026, the Dutch Ice Sculpture Festival will once again open its doors in Biddinghuizen. Forty-five international top artists will transform over 300.000 kilos of ice and 275.000 kilos of snow into a breathtaking world you can experience for just one winter.
This year’s theme is Let’s Go to the Movies: Ice Sculptures from the Silver Screen.
The festival is entirely dedicated to iconic films... See if you recognize them all.
Sail aboard the Titanic, disappear into Alice’s Wonderland, escape traps and dangers with Indiana Jones, swim with the sharks from Jaws, or dance through the streets of Pulp Fiction.
It was (again) a great visit, we admired the art on this icy movie set!

https://ijsbeelden.nl/en/