geek for machines

Here are some of the photos I took while on my recent trip to Amsterdam.

If you haven't been to Amsterdam before, the most remarkable thing about the city are all the bikes. (Forget the pot smoking and prostitutes; what's so remarkable about that?)

These bikes were those locked up on the south side of the city's central train station.

I'm a geek for machines.

I have a horrible sense of direction, so I started using the canals to help me to figure out where I was on the map. Apparently this is better for me than a GPS screaming "YOU ARE HERE!!!" in my hand.

When I took this photo, I was thinking about how green the water looked, even against (or because of) the green of the boat.

I should have gotten closer, because what caught my eye were the letters on the sides of the buildings on the other side of the bikes.

As I walked away, I also wanted to take photos of the guys in the coffee shop on the left side of the frame, but I am too shy to take photos of strangers. You know what they sell in coffee shops, right? Well, this one wasn't filled with white guys with dreadlocks and stupid looks on their faces who look like they have been wandering ever since Phish stopped touring. These guys were the old guys you see hanging out at the local barber shop in Queens.

Lines and corners and big beautiful windows. I coveted those apartments with floor level windows overlooking the canals.

There were some buildings that jutted forward, either because their foundations had shifted or because of the shifting of the buildings around them. Or, likely, both.

It's like a movie set, isn't it?

My pictures are about shapes and textures and lines. I would love to take photos of the textures and lines of people's faces, but I tend to travel alone (primarily for business) and, like I said, I'm too shy to take photos of strangers. I need to invest in a good telephoto lens so I can do it without them seeing me.

Okay, that sounded creepy.