The building in the foreground (left hand image) is currently a rather expensive restaurant frequented mainly by wealthy american tourists staying at the ‘Renaissance Hotel’ (across the road) on the corner of the ‘Kattengat’ near Central Station in Amsterdam. I have lived in the narrow street to the left for almost 20 years and (give or take a few cars, lots of sign posts and graffiti) this is basically what i still see everyday. The only big difference is that this colour image was taken almost 100 years ago by local photographer ’Bernard F. Eilers’ whose ‘foto chroma eilers’ technique was one of the earliest and best of its kind. You can find more of his fascinating ‘Amsterdam in color’ series here. Also worth a look is the enormous collection of the Amsterdam City Archive online (Stadsarchief). Eilers was briefly celebrated for his work but soon overtaken by american competitors such as Kodak and Agfa, now themselves in turn, just a part of history…

The shop manager of DIY store Hubo on the Wittenburgergracht was frustrated by the amount of plastic cups he and his colleagues were using. That is why he made these cup holders on the wall of the store. Using mugs would even be more environmental friendly. But every bit helps.

Porn meets art in the film ‘Ancient Amateurs’ by Stefan Ruitenbeek. The work is set in the heart of the Dutch porn industry – that also financed the project. Ruitenbeek about his film: “I found some people underground. I took them out of the cave. We’ve entered the civilized world. [But] it’s not a mockumentary.” The film allows us to see the context of the set where the actors, interested on-lookers, friends and acquaintances hang out. The protagonists – including producer Kim Holland (our country’s most famous porn star) – are interviewed. Weird but inspiring. Ancient Amateurs is exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam until June 3rd 2012.

With this kind of weather it’s easy to get depressed when you walk the streets of Amsterdam, but since two days I am walking with a smile on my face, together with Professor Penguin. And it’s very stimulating, I must say. Professor Penguin is a small, upcoming band from London and that’s what we like at the very small office of Johan Kramer – especially Giri our giraffe receptionist. Let’s get Professor Penguin over to Paradiso! Check it out – the album is available on iTunes – and fly away with Planes 1 and 2. Enjoy!

I was intrigued by the picture on this lamppost. The instrument looks exotic. Most likely self-build. And the software being used to record the audio also didn’t look familiar. Quite an unconventional set up, that made me curious to hear the sound. This guerrilla-type self-advertising endeavor seemed effective. At least for me. But I’m an easy victim where it comes to grabbing my attention by using vintage or otherwise quirky looking electronic instruments. I checked out his band camp page and tumbled into this story of a guy named Brandon, who is from Sant Fe, but lives in Berlin now. He gave up everything in the quest to make it as an artist. Going to his website, there’s a letter to his fans, in which Brando apologizes for almost dying, being suicidal and some more intense stuff. But he concludes with a thank you to everyone who believes in him  and with renewed energy he continues his journey to survive as an artist. I guess Brandon wanted me to know this when he put up his ad on the lamppost. Well now you know too.

I really love this gallery concept of Hansje van Halem. She has a 1930′s showcase cabinet from Germany in her living room slash studio. Every now and than she invites artists to show their work inside the cabinet and opens her place for visitors. She calls her gallery Schrank8. It refers to a small handwritten label on her cabinet which says: ‘Schrank8′. It makes Hansje wonder where the other seven cabinets are. On April 20th Schrank8 presents Koen Taselaar, from 5pm till 8pm. You are invited at the Wagenaarstraat 331 in Amsterdam. After this the exhibition opens by appointment, until May 20th, 2012.

There was a recent ‘Positive Protest’ on the Dam Square to celebrate the arrival of Spring. The season when everyone smiles again and good vibes start rolling.  The Waterbar was giving away cups of water charged with ‘Positivity in Action’. The catch was, you needed to add your own positivity. So you were asked to think positive thoughts while drinking a nice cold cup of water. “Tastes much better, doesn’t it!” declares Sorah, the Waterbar dealer.

There are so many things to inspire us all, for me one of the most inspiring things is not some amazing piece of graphic design or a life-size model of the Eiffel Tower built with match sticks but quite simply: language.

I love to read everyday and playing around with letters is even my job. When i first moved to The Netherlands and couldn’tspeak a word of dutch a sign like the one above, would never cease to fascinate me. For an Anglo-Saxon brain this hoarding contains an impossible and unpronounceable combination of vowels and repeated consonants. Type somehow never fails to look really funky if you have no idea what it says. Strange how foreign things always look so much more appealing.

So what’s my point? well nothing special really… just a reminder to myself: never get complacent and remember that the most inspiring things are really ordinary & all around you all day, every day… they might even help you find a place to park your bike.

Nowadays, lots of people have no time anymore to just walk and look. Each time, they’re out on the streets they are glued to their Iphones. It’s a pity because you miss the most beautiful things. Last week, I was shooting in Paris and each morning on my way to the studio, I came accross some really sweet drawings that made me happy. They are made by Fred de Chevalier, a street artist & urban poet whose gallery is the street. Go out for a walk in the Marais & Montmartre and leave your iPhone home! Enjoy!

Usually street name signs in Amsterdam include the name of the district in which the street is located. In this case that should be ‘Centre’. But unknown banksyesque persons have declared Amsterdam to be independent. What makes some places on earth pull away from the rest? Is Amsterdam a free state? Why do creative, enterprising people feel at home in Berlin, NYC, Portland, Okinawa, Amsterdam etc? In cities where you have lots of free thinkers living together in a small space, it gives a nice vibrant feel and rise to a new culture, a fertile breeding ground for new initiatives. A perfect opportunity for entrepreneurs in the worlds of art, fashion, architecture, advertising, design etc to inspire each other and to experiment. And that’s only possible if you’re slightly separate from the rest, with your own rules and regulations. Those are the best conditions for inspiration. The big question is: is Amsterdam that kind of place right now? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Downtown Amsterdam, opposite ‘luxury’ bookstore MENDO, you’ll find Boekie Woekie. The shop itself is hard to find because the outside of the store looks more like a giftshop or tobacconist, but it’s actually an artist’s bookstore. Inside they sell great books and zines made by artists from all over the world. Most of these books are self-published and printed in small editions. Boekie Woekie also sells multiples, postcards, prints, audio and video works. Shelves brimming with inspiration at Berenstraat 16.

Inspiration is a stimulus. A catalyst for greatness in the world of ideas that may or may not be transformed into the tangible or physical world. It let’s us create things that are beautiful and meaningful. But what is truly inspiring to me is that we ourselves are a creation. Stuck in our 3-dimensional earthly reality. We aspire to transcend this reality with our art, inventions and religions. But perhaps the key to unlock this transient realm and find true meaning is already within all of us. Some say it goes by the name of DMT, The Spirit Molecule – see documentary trailer here. In a nutshell: “What we achieve inwardly, will change outer reality” (Plutarch). Full documentary here.

I created this piece titled “Inspiration lies in the eye of the beholder”, it’s a variant on the classic quote “Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder”. What appears as inspiration to one person may seem utterly meaningless to another. I believe inspiration is a personal process. How we experience it is unique to our own sensors, and then what we do with it (or not) influences our creative expression. Our industry perpetually challenges us to generate original, creative, effective and sustainable ideas. Yet it’s riddled with as much imitation as it is innovation. So, where do you get your creative inspiration from?