Spooky Black Skies....

Can’t remember why I’d even considered taking my camera along on my walk with Gillian, but do remember that I regretted the decision to leave it behind when I got a look at the crazy skies around the corner from our house. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a blue sky covered with such black clouds.

It was strangely ominous, but we managed to stay dry.

By the time I made it home, grabbed my Nikon and went back out, the sky was the usual gray and rainy, but at least there was a rainbow for my efforts. 

Designated Driver...

Gillian called me one morning in November and asked if I could go with her to the hospital. Her doctor had already sent her for an x-ray due to pain in her hand and wrist after being injured while coaching gymnastics, so it was time to see what the treatment was going to be for the two small breaks. The first step was a plaster cast in the emergency department, where I was allowed to accompany her for support and to document the process.

She was in that heavy cast with a sling for one week so it was good that I was along because she clearly couldn’t drive.

One week later, I drove her back to the hospital for an appointment in the cast department. Her heavy plaster cast was replaced with a lighter fiberglass one available in a variety of bright colors.

Unfortunately for Gillian, the woman who made this cast didn’t put her thumb in the correct position, so her husband took her back to the hospital over the weekend for yet another replacement cast. 

Three weeks later and I took her back for the big unveiling.

While she no longer needed a cast, the nurse made her this cool removable cast which she could use at gymnastics as a symbol that she still needed to be careful with her hand for several more weeks.

The Zombie Hash...

Despite Charleroi being a city full of abandoned buildings, including most of what you see in this photo, the hash didn’t go into a single one of them. The hare hadn’t attended either of the previous Zombie Hashes and somehow misunderstood the primary mission which was to scare everyone by hiding among abandoned buildings. 

Instead, he led us to the biggest hill in the area where the zombies were waiting for us. I didn’t even bother trying to avoid them as I knew that they could easily outpace me up the monster hill.

At least the hare was waiting for us at the top with a shot stop. Later we went through a cemetery and there were no zombies there either. If it had been a regular hash, it would have been a pretty good trail, but as a Zombie Hash it was very disappointing. So disappointing that Celine and Richard volunteered to hare next year. Although they are Amsterdam hashers, the Netherlands has a lack of urbex, so they’ll likely hare somewhere in Belgium. Hope they don’t try to sucker us into being zombies.

Ashlynn couldn’t join us in Belgium because she had a Halloween party that evening. Since she’s a vegan, she figured that dressing as a hunter would be quite ironic. I especially liked Josie’s costume as spaghetti and meatballs. 

The Coolest Cooling Tower...

I must confess that I was nervous walking up the stairs, but once I got inside I was just amazed at how cool it was.

There were plants growing in some of the troughs and some graffiti.

There was also this really cool hole at the top. 

We weren’t alone. Some Belgian guys were filming with a drone. 

After we had a nice chat with them, they surprised us by offering to let us try their virtual reality glasses to see what the drone saw as it flew at top speed up and out of the tower. They suggested that we sit down because the experience can cause vertigo. It was incredible!

Here’s a link to the video that they produced that day.

A Family Selfie

A Cooling Tower in Charleroi...

After visiting this abandoned cooling tower in Charleroi in 2015, Jimmy and Veronica were excited about showing it to me.

According to an article in Slate, the plant was built in 1921 and closed in 2007 due to its high carbon dioxide emissions.

Across the river were more abandoned buildings. In fact, Charleroi is so full of them that this city in the French-speaking region of Belgium has earned the unofficial title of Ugliest City in the World.

We were clearly in the right place considering we were in the area because of the Brussels Manneke Piss H3 Zombie Hash. Rather than driving down with some other hashers, we borrowed Gillian’s car so we had the flexibility to do some urbexing before the hash.

Last Shoot of 2017...

In late October, Ashlynn did another unpaid shoot. This time it was for a photographer’s portfolio and it took just a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. She looks pretty angry here...

....and pretty intense here. When I shared these photos with her Paris agent, she labelled them “beauty shots” rather than “high fashion,” and said they would not be useful for her portfolio.

It is unfortunate that Ashlynn has been unable to build up her portfolio here in the Netherlands per the standards set in Paris. Hopefully this won’t make things too difficult for her when she goes in September to castings for Paris Fashion Week

Big Hair Gone Wrong...

This is a short story of a downside of modeling. On September 11, Ashlynn took half a day off of school to do an unpaid shoot for a hairstylist. Ashlynn hadn’t been in front of a camera in awhile, so figured it was worth doing, especially since the woman committed to paying for her transport. Ashlynn sent us this behind-the-scenes photo.

It is now five months later and not only did the hairstylist never reimburse Ashlynn for her transport, but she never sent the photos to her agent. This was the only one I was able to find online. I have asked her agent multiple times to follow up with the client, but to no avail. All I can do is cross fingers that this will be her only experience of being taken advantage of.

Early Morning in The Hague...

Walking back to Den Haag Centraal before the stores even open was a rare opportunity to take a few shots in places where there usually seems to be a constant flow of people. Here is the empty Passage...

...and the nearly empty Nieuwe Passage.

Twice that day I found bikes parked right in front of No Bike Parking signs. This spot was just across from the train station with clearly lots of people ignoring the request. 

These hand drawn signs on a small residential street in Delft were polite enough to be in both English and Dutch, but appear to be a complete failure.

More Views...

It was very cool to get a different perspective of the city...

...such as noticing the Nepalese prayer flags on this rooftop.

Kevin Coellen, the photographer leading the tour, is a young German guy going to university in The Hague. He pulled out this sphere and let me take a shot, but clearly I had no idea what I was doing. 

Here is the view looking straight down at the church built in the 15th century.

Here is the tower as seen from the ground. It was originally built in the 15th century and then rebuilt in 1542 after a lightning strike. It is 303 feet (92.5 meteres) tall.

This tower is part of the old town hall, built in 1564, when The Hague decided to spend its money on a fancy building instead of city walls. 

Where’s the Sun?

Unfortunately, the sun never did make an appearance, but it was nice to see the sky lighten.

As you can see, I took a lot of photos.

Despite being the third largest city in the Netherlands, somehow The Hague still has a small city feel to me. However, from this viewpoint, it seems to just keep going on forever. 

Despite no longer being the editor of Going Dutch, I am still always on the lookout for potential cover shots.

A Sunrise Photo Shoot...

I was thrilled when I saw that one of the local photographers that I follow on Instagram had arranged a special sunrise photo tour from the Grote Kerk Tower, which had just recently opened to the public. It meant getting up ridiculously early on a Saturday morning to catch a train. The Plein was empty, but nicely lit up. 

There was 11 photographers plus the tour guide who climbed up the 288 stairs to the top at 7:30 a.m. It was windy that high up, but the walls surrounding the balcony were high and thick, so easy to perch the camera on top (of course still attached to me with a strap) without fear of either me or the camera falling.

The sky was especially dramatic when we first arrived.

While everyone else used a tripod and were essentially anchored to one side of the tower, I continued to walk around for the nearly two hours that we were up there.

Perhaps it is not a surprise that it was this side facing the tall buildings of the city center that was the most popular view.