Wow. So that was interesting. I should have guessed what I was going to find when I typed the words “Amsterdam and Travel” into the Blogspot search engine; the ramblings of a bunch of American college students on holiday where both prostitution and weed have been legalized and the city is known to be a bit of a party mecca. Entertaining as it was reading through the posts, I didn’t think it was quite what this assignment was looking for, as there wasn’t much reflection on the use of urban space past the awe of women in windows. About 20 links down, however, I found this gem called One Year in Amsterdam, a photoblog of a student during their year abroad. The content, as seen by her lens seemed to be focused on the quiet or whimsical moments inlife, the flowered bicycle seat, or an empty train compartment.
Also, I very rarely found there to be Amsterdammers (Amsterdamians?) in her photos, and only the last post showed a picture of her face. Instead, I took from it that, it was her exploration of the city, but without the citizens who inhabited it. Each moment she captured seemed to be for her enjoyment alone, even if she was sharing it with thousands of people on the internet.
As one of those people looking through her blog, I was having a tough time figuring out what kind of framework she laying onto her photos. I could find no pattern in what she took pictures of or when. There were the lovely outdoor shots of famous architecture, as well as some of the more thoughtful pieces pictured above. The only structure that I could come across, be it obvious or not, was that she broke down her posts by neighborhood. Perhaps, for as wide ranging as her topics were, they were still seen as either a product of their environment, or as a subject that could only be seen within the particular space of Amsterdam. Her blog was altogether rather easy for me to navigate, simply by clicking the links to the left the entirety of her year was on my desktop in .78 seconds.
Each one of her snapshots could easily been seen as a social construct of space, controlling what she wants her readers to see of the city. She made it picturesque, and both whimsical and modern within a few frames. She was showing the city as she saw it, a happy place that was clean, wealthy, well fed, and white, with no obvious social inequities. The space was had both wide open areas as well as charmingly cramped alleys lined with shuttered houses.
The Play in her posts was finding those quick snaps of something unexpected, enjoying sharing something that may never be seen again. The play for me, once I moved past the sophomoric humor, which I hold so dear, found in previous blogs, could also been found in those moments as well as a sense of joy.
P.S. I just noticed that Max covered this blog too. Ah originality, how elusive you are.
I almost did this one too!