1. 2 May


    Where was my focus? This is the final chosen photo of Warsaw of course. No rainy shots in may, sun suits the city more and so do the people on this street on this moment. Nothing seems about to happen.It is seconds before the only accident happened during the whole trip. The girl was slightly hit by a distracted car, she most likely broke here ankle cause i still hear the sound of the crack. Of course I stopped taking photo’s, I helped her,  and her mobile phone landed in front of my feet.No other car crashes happend in front of my eyes while shooting on the streets, no further injuries. I still have to say Europe street’s are a safe place.

    Where was my focus? This is the final chosen photo of Warsaw of course. No rainy shots in may, sun suits the city more and so do the people on this street on this moment. Nothing seems about to happen.
    It is seconds before the only accident happened during the whole trip.
    The girl was slightly hit by a distracted car, she most likely broke here ankle cause i still hear the sound of the crack. Of course I stopped taking photo’s, I helped her,  and her mobile phone landed in front of my feet.
    No other car crashes happend in front of my eyes while shooting on the streets, no further injuries. I still have to say Europe street’s are a safe place.

     

  2. 18 Feb


    Although Crossing is not on the real roads of Europe anymore, it does not mean that all the work has stopped. I’m working hard to get this in perspective, to organize a book and many different exhibition in hopefully a lot of countries. And the final selection of all the photo’s changes every day. Today I finally got convinced by Zagreb. More updates soon but I will also try to keep some secrets for when it’s out there in Europe and further!Ow and in the last months 5 out of my 22 posted postcards out of Tirana finally arrived. Only 17 to arrive one day hopefully.

    Although Crossing is not on the real roads of Europe anymore, it does not mean that all the work has stopped. I’m working hard to get this in perspective, to organize a book and many different exhibition in hopefully a lot of countries.

    And the final selection of all the photo’s changes every day. Today I finally got convinced by Zagreb.

    More updates soon but I will also try to keep some secrets for when it’s out there in Europe and further!

    Ow and in the last months 5 out of my 22 posted postcards out of Tirana finally arrived. Only 17 to arrive one day hopefully.

     

  3. 13 Dec


    A small sneak peek of all 42 cities.That’s all Europe, more information soon.all images are © protected by Poike Stomps 

    A small sneak peek of all 42 cities.
    That’s all Europe, more information soon.


    all images are © protected by Poike Stomps 

     

  4. 28 Nov


    Country nr. 40 was Kosovo. The capital city of Pristina gave me 294 photo’s in a day and it is still so hard to choose which one is best… It could be this one or …Besides the difficult choice I have to make there is a lot to say about Kosovo, about the money going in, about the EU, about how friendly the people are, or about how it should be. Sometimes I feel that I’m not in the position to discus whats should be done. This day I just enjoyed it here. I hope you see the photo’s a made today. It is my little attempt to come a little closer and see how much we are alike. Nice fact while I am counting: I work on a short timing, most pictures where shot on red light second 73 en 71. This one is in between. All made possible in Pristina by my great assistant Habip Hakareti who also assisted Bert Teunissen a while ago. An other proof Europe is getting smaller. 

    Country nr. 40 was Kosovo. The capital city of Pristina gave me 294 photo’s in a day and it is still so hard to choose which one is best… It could be this one or …

    Besides the difficult choice I have to make there is a lot to say about Kosovo, about the money going in, about the EU, about how friendly the people are, or about how it should be. Sometimes I feel that I’m not in the position to discus whats should be done. This day I just enjoyed it here. I hope you see the photo’s a made today. It is my little attempt to come a little closer and see how much we are alike.

    Nice fact while I am counting:
    I work on a short timing, most pictures where shot on red light second 73 en 71. This one is in between.     All made possible in Pristina by my great assistant Habip Hakareti who also assisted Bert Teunissen a while ago. An other proof Europe is getting smaller.
     

     

  5. 27 Nov


    Useful facts or not…I made it home safe and healthy and in the last city of Tirana this man on the photo made me celebrate with him. Birra Mirra - Gëzuar!!After this great year of traveling and shooting I arrived home with lots of photo’s and also a lot of facts and number because I created this excel-sheet to keep it all well-ordered and not to forget most of the details, names locations and number of people who got involved in this social media Europe. It is also an extra logbook next to my journal.  Well here some of them.It took at least 482 AA batteries to do this project in 42 capital cities. Besides this I used 2 Canon flashes, 2 packs of Lumedyne ( who died of age), 1 Elinchrom Range Quadra pack (still working good) and 1 old Metz flash (who died to).1 Mamiya 7 II and 1 Canon camera ( gladly they both work still but they are very worn out.)1 set of pocket wizard’s, a pack of Elinchrom skyport and many plugs and cables for the 2 Godox propac, computer and flashes. My 5 external hard drives, studio computer and my laptop are all FULL now.And this is only my gear, not to talk about the pairs of shoes I killed, my worn out clothes and jackets, my damages back and my burned skin and 8 pairs of cheap sunglasses.I am still counting how many pictures I made, but I’ll might keep this as a secret to myself !At the moment I am working on the final selection. In some cities that is a difficult job with so many great options but a little step back does usually the trick ! Counting continues.I used a car 4 times, a camper 1 time, I hitchhiked 1 journey with wouter, made 3 ferry trips, 1 long taxi ride,(because there isn’t other transportation possible between Podgorica end Albania), and had 26 short taxi trips, 18 airport busses to the center of cities. 11 train journeys took me to 9 countries and back (including a very hot one like 46 degrees celsius ) 10 bus routes ( sometime very dangerous and many at nig ht time) and yes yes shame shame shame on me, I made 57 plane flights, but thats also because I did it on a low budget and some european cities are hard to reach.I tried to make it up and compensate.In most cities I didn’t use the public transport but walked.I walked about 2500 km, on average 15 km every day, 4 days per city and that makes 60 km per city x 42 makes 2520 Kilometers.And yes I know I have been using to many batteries. They are all in the recycle process or still ticking as the motor of my assistants clocks because most of them I gave away so that didn’t have to trow it in the bin.I’ll try to make my book a little green and next year I’ll do most with my bicycle again. I’ll stop eating meet for one year to compensate.Endless counting. 107 assistants helped me with orientation, interpreting guiding and with photography by protecting me from traffic, fools and language difficulties. They all where more then my moveable tripod holding my bright flash. It also means my backpack has absorbed a lot of different sweat from all those hard working great enthusiastic people.Besides this assisting jobs they were also  good company and very helpful to show me where the nice places for a lunch coffee or beer were. I would have never find those local cuisines otherwise.Oh one other fact and 73 assistants smoked out of those 107.Not me, only some of my flashes smoked every now and then.About those batteries again, those 482 batteries weight in total 11,7 kilogram.Now I really sound bad, again..More numbers will come. The total covered  kilometers for example. 

    Useful facts or not…

    I made it home safe and healthy and in the last city of Tirana this man on the photo made me celebrate with him. Birra Mirra - Gëzuar!!
    After this great year of traveling and shooting I arrived home with lots of photo’s and also a lot of facts and number because I created this excel-sheet to keep it all well-ordered and not to forget most of the details, names locations and number of people who got involved in this social media Europe. It is also an extra logbook next to my journal. 

    Well here some of them.
    It took at least 482 AA batteries to do this project in 42 capital cities.

    Besides this I used 2 Canon flashes, 2 packs of Lumedyne ( who died of age), 
    1 Elinchrom Range Quadra pack (still working good) and 1 old Metz flash (who died to).
    1 Mamiya 7 II and 1 Canon camera ( gladly they both work still but they are very worn out.)
    1 set of pocket wizard’s, a pack of Elinchrom skyport and many plugs and cables for the 2 Godox propac, computer and flashes.

    My 5 external hard drives, studio computer and my laptop are all FULL now.
    And this is only my gear, not to talk about the pairs of shoes I killed, my worn out clothes and jackets, my damages back and my burned skin and 8 pairs of cheap sunglasses.

    I am still counting how many pictures I made, but I’ll might keep this as a secret to myself !

    At the moment I am working on the final selection. In some cities that is a difficult job with so many great options but a little step back does usually the trick !
    Counting continues.
    I used a car 4 times, a camper 1 time, I hitchhiked 1 journey with wouter, made 3 ferry trips, 1 long taxi ride,(because there isn’t other transportation possible between Podgorica end Albania), and had 26 short taxi trips, 18 airport busses to the center of cities. 11 train journeys took me to 9 countries and back (including a very hot one like 46 degrees celsius ) 10 bus routes ( sometime very dangerous and many at nig
    ht time) and yes yes shame shame shame on me, I made 57 plane flights, but thats also because I did it on a low budget and some european cities are hard to reach.

    I tried to make it up and compensate.
    In most cities I didn’t use the public transport but walked.
    I walked about 2500 km, on average 15 km every day, 4 days per city and that makes 60 km per city x 42 makes 2520 Kilometers.

    And yes I know I have been using to many batteries. They are all in the recycle process or still ticking as the motor of my assistants clocks because most of them I gave away so that didn’t have to trow it in the bin.

    I’ll try to make my book a little green and next year I’ll do most with my bicycle again. I’ll stop eating meet for one year to compensate.

    Endless counting.
    107 assistants helped me with orientation, interpreting guiding and with photography by protecting me from traffic, fools and language difficulties. They all where more then my moveable tripod holding my bright flash. 
    It also means my backpack has absorbed a lot of different sweat from all those hard working great enthusiastic people.
    Besides this assisting jobs they were also 
    good company and very helpful to show me where the nice places for a lunch coffee or beer were. I would have never find those local cuisines otherwise.

    Oh one other fact and 73 assistants smoked out of those 107.
    Not me, only some of my flashes smoked every now and then.

    About those batteries again, those 482 batteries weight in total 11,7 kilogram.
    Now I really sound bad, again..

    More numbers will come. The total covered  kilometers for example.

     
     

  6. 25 Oct


    Safe the best for lest !Almost done. Safe the best for lest. I can’t believe it stops so soon. I’m gonna miss this way of living, traveling, having my camera always around my neck.  Soon the fun part starts, finding fundings to publish my first book. All types of help are welcome of course. Perhaps you have the right connection/ person to talk to ?First i’ll concentrate on Tirana, and I better pay attention to the traffic because YES it is specific here, the whole street is a zebra here, without lines. Crossing fingers !

    Safe the best for lest !
    Almost done. Safe the best for lest. I can’t believe it stops so soon. I’m gonna miss this way of living, traveling, having my camera always around my neck. 

    Soon the fun part starts, finding fundings to publish my first book. All types of help are welcome of course. Perhaps you have the right connection/ person to talk to ?
    First i’ll concentrate on Tirana, and I better pay attention to the traffic because YES it is specific here, the whole street is a zebra here, without lines. 
    Crossing fingers !

     

  7. 24 Sep


    21 September 2012, Copenhagen- København (Koopmanshaven), is a city where you could meet people you met before in other travels. In a short few days I meet a friend from Denmark who I encountered in Svalbard, friends from the Faroer Islands, and people from Iceland on an earlier Crossing expedition.I just missed out on a meeting with a Swedish friend and former school mate Linda-Maria Birbeck, I hope you recover soon, w’ll find an other project to work together one day.The project attracts attention more and more, not only online, but on the streets to. A Dutch HKU student yelled my name on the street, Hey “Poike, are you doing this Intersection project in Europe”, “Yes I am working on it now”, she unfortunately had to follow her group of friend. (she is not on this picture) I do not know here name, but contact me if you can, I got a nice photo for you. Wow Europe is small and especially here, on this strategic geographical location in Scandinavia. A real crossroads or should I say Crossing.I just made this picture hours for the rain came in, autumn has arrived in the northern part of Europe. I guess the person with the laptop does not try to search for Wifi internet while it rains like it does now.Thank you Veronika Vidø Abrahamsen for your great assistance and Vibe Aarøe Drostgaard for connection and the coffee at Kaffe Kunsten. Would it be nice weather in the south of the Balkan now?  
    21 September 2012, Copenhagen- København (Koopmanshaven), is a city where you could meet people you met before in other travels. 
    In a short few days I meet a friend from Denmark who I encountered in Svalbard, friends from the Faroer Islands, and people from Iceland on an earlier Crossing expedition.
    I just missed out on a meeting with a Swedish friend and former school mate Linda-Maria Birbeck, I hope you recover soon, w’ll find an other project to work together one day.
    The project attracts attention more and more, not only online, but on the streets to.
    A Dutch HKU student yelled my name on the street, Hey “Poike, are you doing this Intersection project in Europe”, “Yes I am working on it now”, she unfortunately had to follow her group of friend. (she is not on this picture) I do not know here name,
    but contact me if you can, I got a nice photo for you.
    Wow Europe is small and especially here, on this strategic geographical location in Scandinavia. A real crossroads or should I say Crossing.
    I just made this picture hours for the rain came in, autumn has arrived in the northern part of Europe. I guess the person with the laptop does not try to search for Wifi internet while it rains like it does now.
    Thank you Veronika Vidø Abrahamsen for your great assistance and Vibe Aarøe Drostgaard for connection and the coffee at Kaffe Kunsten. 

    Would it be nice weather in the south of the Balkan now?

     

     

  8. 19 Sep


    The Balkan has it all and they played a huge role in European history.  It is for many of us still a little bit an unknown area of Europe. But don’t be scared of it, it is a very wonderful place and people welcome you with a least two open arms.On this picture we see the capital city of Serbia: Belgrade.On my trip to the north side of the Balkan I visited Ljubljana, Zagreb and Sarajevo to. All with their own stories and special encounters. I loved it there and I will be back to to cover the south part of this region of Europe. More to follow soon.Now of to Copenhagen, preparing for autumn 

    The Balkan has it all and they played a huge role in European history.  It is for many of us still a little bit an unknown area of Europe. But don’t be scared of it, it is a very wonderful place and people welcome you with a least two open arms.
    On this picture we see the capital city of Serbia: Belgrade.
    On my trip to the north side of the Balkan I visited Ljubljana, Zagreb and Sarajevo to. All with their own stories and special encounters. I loved it there and I will be back to to cover the south part of this region of Europe. 
    More to follow soon.
    Now of to Copenhagen, preparing for autumn
     

     

  9. 15 Sep


    36 Done 6 To Do  My and Crossing’s first taste of the Balkan was a very welcome and interesting one. I just came back from my first trip there, but still have 4 countries to go to in that region. Most of us don’t know the area so well so here is a little bit of help of Wikipedia. Now days former Yugoslavia counts 7 countries.  But let’s not forget Albania to. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_Yugoslavia_2008.PNG A crossing photo will follow soon. Which one do you prefer to see already: Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo or Belgrade?

    36 Done 6 To Do 

    My and Crossing’s first taste of the Balkan was a very welcome and interesting one. I just came back from my first trip there, but still have 4 countries to go to in that region. Most of us don’t know the area so well so here is a little bit of help of Wikipedia. Now days former Yugoslavia counts 7 countries. 

    But let’s not forget Albania to.

    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_Yugoslavia_2008.PNG

    A crossing photo will follow soon. Which one do you prefer to see already:

    Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo or Belgrade?

     

  10. 27 Aug


    The capital of Ukraine is Kiev. Ukraine is a country with a population of about 50 million and in size to compare with France. Kiev is located in the middle of northern Ukraine. The city is cut in half by the river Dnjepr. Also the Desna river flows through Kiev. The landscape, particularly on the right bank of the Dnjepr is green, with a lot of forest and hills, small rivers and ravines. Kiev has an area of 836 km ² and around 2.7 million inhabitants. It is one of the unknown area of Europe, but Euro2012 did a lot of good and more tourist are finding their way to Ukraine. I liked my days in the city a lot, found within a day 4 different assistants al very enthousiastic and proud of their country and they really liked hearing that the women are very beautiful here. And I can confessed easily: yes they are. They women are always in a rivalry with each other since there is such a big concurrence. In Ukraine women ‘usually’ dress up to buy a loaf of bread or a ice-cream, you never know who you’ll might meet, It could be the man of your dreams… Or maybe it is this crazy dutch photographer showing us to the world!  

    The capital of Ukraine is Kiev. Ukraine is a country with a population of about 50 million and in size to compare with France. Kiev is located in the middle of northern Ukraine. The city is cut in half by the river Dnjepr. Also the Desna river flows through Kiev.
    The landscape, particularly on the right bank of the Dnjepr is green, with a lot of forest and hills, small rivers and ravines. Kiev has an area of 836 km ² and around 2.7 million inhabitants. It is one of the unknown area of Europe, but Euro2012 did a lot of good and more tourist are finding their way to Ukraine.
    I liked my days in the city a lot, found within a day 4 different assistants al very enthousiastic and proud of their country and they really liked hearing that the women are very beautiful here. And I can confessed easily: yes they are. They women are always in a rivalry with each other since there is such a big concurrence. In Ukraine women ‘usually’ dress up to buy a loaf of bread or a ice-cream, you never know who you’ll might meet, It could be the man of your dreams… Or maybe it is this crazy dutch photographer showing us to the world!
          

     

  11. 24 Aug


    Time for an update: Where did I go after posting the crossing photo from Ankara. I went to Vienna, Bratislava, Bucharest, Sofia, Chisinau, Minsk and Kiev.It’s such a nice experience, I’m learning so much about Europeans, about countries, languages and cultures, seeing rare specific habits in all cities, but also seeing a lot of similar behaving, brands, banks, drinks/food and women in dresses. Some of these things are visible in the photo’s, at least I hope so. One thing in all these places was all the same and I heard it is a bad summer in Holland, well not is these Cities of Europe: It’s usually hot here. Ljubljana is going to be the next city where the temperature are hot as well. The search of crossings continues to Zagreb and is followed by Sarajevo end Belgrade.The next few trips will go to Bern, Podgorica, Skopje, Tirana, Pristina and Copenhagen.Thanks for making it all possible followers, donators, assistants, Voordekunst and friends!Can you guess where this photo is been taken?

    Time for an update: Where did I go after posting the crossing photo from Ankara. I went to Vienna, Bratislava, Bucharest, Sofia, Chisinau, Minsk and Kiev.
    It’s such a nice experience, I’m learning so much about Europeans, about countries, languages and cultures, seeing rare specific habits in all cities, but also seeing a lot of similar behaving, brands, banks, drinks/food and women in dresses. Some of these things are visible in the photo’s, at least I hope so. One thing in all these places was all the same and I heard it is a bad summer in Holland, well not is these Cities of Europe: It’s usually hot here.

    Ljubljana is going to be the next city where the temperature are hot as well. The search of crossings continues to Zagreb and is followed by Sarajevo end Belgrade.
    The next few trips will go to Bern, Podgorica, Skopje, Tirana, Pristina and Copenhagen.
    Thanks for making it all possible followers, donators, assistants, Voordekunst and friends!

    Can you guess where this photo is been taken?

     

  12. 26 Jun


    Oh Ankara.. What did you do to me? Yes it was my stupid mistake not to bring my passport with me that day so I could not show my visa. The police pulled me off the street with 4 officers because they got 155 complaints about me taking pictures on the street. I remember this guy recording me on his iPhone and said, “I go to the police with this, what you do is not allowed”. They wanted to take me to the police-office but what finally helped was my business card of the Dutch Embassy witch I got that morning because of a small assignment. That kept me out of the cell, suddenly it was okay and what maybe helped was that Holland and Turkey celebrated 400 years of diplomatic relations and the fact that I had a assistant who spoke Turkish. Just leave now the yelled: GO GO GO! Undercover police was everywhere I realized later.

    Oh Ankara..
    What did you do to me? Yes it was my stupid mistake not to bring my passport with me that day so I could not show my visa. The police pulled me off the street with 4 officers because they got 155 complaints about me taking pictures on the street.
    I remember this guy recording me on his iPhone and said, “I go to the police with this, what you do is not allowed”.
    They wanted to take me to the police-office but what finally helped was my business card of the Dutch Embassy witch I got that morning because of a small assignment. That kept me out of the cell, suddenly it was okay and what maybe helped was that Holland and Turkey celebrated 400 years of diplomatic relations and the fact that I had a assistant who spoke Turkish.
    Just leave now the yelled: GO GO GO! Undercover police was everywhere I realized later.

     

  13. 17 Jun


    Today is my last day in Bratislava with makes it to 27 capital cities so far. That’s the number of the European Union. Today is an exciting day, not only in Greece but for Europe. I really hope it brings some peace in the Continent, or should I say world.I still have to go to 15 more capital cities in Europe before in captured the countries on my list of 42 in total. This map of europe shows where I still have to go and where crossing is already part of everyone!

    Today is my last day in Bratislava with makes it to 27 capital cities so far. That’s the number of the European Union. Today is an exciting day, not only in Greece but for Europe.
    I really hope it brings some peace in the Continent, or should I say world.
    I still have to go to 15 more capital cities in Europe before in captured the countries on my list of 42 in total.
    This map of europe shows where I still have to go and where crossing is already part of everyone!

     

  14. 7 Jun


    It almost starts in Warsaw, and I mean the European Championship.When i was there I had sun and some rain, which I enjoyed. I did not enjoyed is being a witness of accident with a pedestrian, yes the Polish are not the best drivers..Soccer fans, be careful!At the moment I am enjoying Cyprus. More photo’s to be posted soon. 

    It almost starts in Warsaw, and I mean the European Championship.
    When i was there I had sun and some rain, which I enjoyed. I did not enjoyed is being a witness of accident with a pedestrian, yes the Polish are not the best drivers..
    Soccer fans, be careful!
    At the moment I am enjoying Cyprus. More photo’s to be posted soon. 

     

  15. 7 Jun


    Green Vilnius.More to follow soon. 

    Green Vilnius.

    More to follow soon.