We accept and we will survive how long it take

We never could think that we will have no power for months last year. But it happened and still is. Stone town full with generators noise and smell woman with waterbuckets on there heads, give the small streets of stone town an other face and  energy, we accept and we will survive how long it take. Also we from the beautiful eyes we working hard on project two I will tell you later ,we are not waiting and sitting on the barazza, no we open the gallery now with no light the picture even become more stone towns own. I write this in livingstone THE place ware the internet still works good for them. Still visitors of our gallery are full with admiration and questions we help everyone ,I show you all an mail I received a couple days ago.

Hi Hans,

You may not remember me – I am a British guy based in Dar es Salaam who had a chat with you about photography, in your gallery just before Christmas.

I do love your photos, and use them as inspiration for my own.  I’m quite fond of portrait and landscape shots, as are you it seems.  If you do remember me, you may also remember that I’m currently in the middle of a photographic project: I try to take one good shot per day, for a year, and each one is recorded on a blog I call ‘Dar 365’:

http://web.me.com/bentreverton/Dar_365/

Please have a look if you’re interested.  And if you know anyone else you think might like it, feel free to pass on the link.  There are actually two photos in the project which were directly inspired by advice you gave me when we spoke, both are Stone Town scenes:

http://web.me.com/bentreverton/Dar_365/Dar_365/Entries/2009/12/23_day_fifty_-_rush_hour.html

and

http://web.me.com/bentreverton/Dar_365/Dar_365/Entries/2009/12/22_day_forty-seven_-_street_talk_2.html

Anyway, hope you are well, and that this ridiculous situation with Zanzibar’s electricity comes to an end soon!

Take care, and thanks once again for your advice and your beautiful photos,

Ben

So we go on and I can tell you more about project two soon

stone town october 2009 first newsletter

the start

Three months ago we started our gallery in the centre of stone town in the oldshop of zac. The idea to start THE  BEAUTIFUL  EYES as a place to present art photography in Stone town started in may 2008,  when three photographers visited zanzibar for a week of photography, they missed a place where  they could talk about, present and even buy photography.

the gallery

In september 2008 Hans Agterdenbos one of the three came back to Stone town and started investigations for a gallery.  He met his wife to be Zakia Abdullah and they founded THE  BEAUTIFUL  EYES Company Limited, a place to talk about photography find inspiration and maybe good ideas. and now we can say with prodish voice many visitor fond the way some take a original photograph home others inspiration. But every body left with a good feeling and positive words

the postcards

Our original postcards collection is printed in a small quantity and avail-able only in  THE  BEAUTIFUL  EYES gallery. The new limited collection of ten deferent is now for sale in the gallery. We printed the card A4 and folded to A5. And used quotes to make the emotion complete, famous photographers or great thinkers bring us beautiful words.

“ friends have a way of speaking without words’  and  ” it’s not the photographer who makes the picture, but the person being photographed“ sebastiao salgado and “ parents hold their children hands a while and there hearts forever”

We have been very careful finding the write word who balance he picture and so become a treasure to send to friends of relatives. Like all ows products also the postcards we working with the hiest quality we can bay in the world.

the photowalk©

When you want to increase your photography and make pretty pictures, not postcards like records of your travels or vacations. THE  BEAUTIFUL  EYES  invite you for a  ‘photowalk’ with one of their professional  photographers.  Seeing and photographing stone town in beautiful light, at the right time and on the right place,  what makes this an exciting photo adventure.  We will work on cultivating simplicity and making more powerful photography supporting the notion that a photograph is not ‘taken’ but ‘made’.  To make a photograph you only need to be aware,  open and responsive to the possibilities of the present moment. Our group is limited to only five participant per day, so one by one coaching is possible.  Because  only a limited number of participants is able to experience this extremely original photographic exercise, early reservation is needed.

Reading this words in our brochure many photographic enthusiast fond the way to our gallery and did he walk with us and we had fun great fun that is what photography most be. We opened a blog for the walkers in stone town to show the world there work made in stone town.

blog: http://stonetownphotowalk.wordpress.com

See what our photographic friends from all over the world made in stone town. We will bring next month also the possibility to work with local models in the walk and practice portrait photography.

Hope to see you soon in our gallery

Waiting for a baby to be born

The first, so recognizable cry of a new born baby, wakes me up.
My subconscious registered the primal moans of the mother in pain for the past hours.
It is 12.37 AM, I am here together with Zakia and her sister Shuu who is a doctor herself, outside of the hospital of Stone Town. We are resting on a floor mat in front of the door of the delivery ward. Zakia’s other sister, Halima is in the last stage of her pregnancy and earlier this evening she felt it was time to go to the hospital.
We walked for about 15 minutes to the hospital, which was good according to Zakia since it will lower the baby. She is experienced after having three children.
We carry the bag with the strengthening porridge for the young, exhausted mother and we have also brought sheets. You have to make your own comfort when you go to the hospital in Africa.

When I open my eyes, I notice a straycat staring at me, trying to make up his mind if he should check the contents of the bag or not.

Zakia is still asleep with her head on my shoulder and Shoo is awake and alert.

The night is restless, full of movement with women, not quite mothers yet, coming in. They clearly have difficulty to walk. They come in while their family goes home.
We’re staying, since you just do not leave your family behind.
Plus, I promised Halma that uncle Hans would be the first one to hold his new baby niece.
The father is not present, African men do not like to see a woman in pain giving birth to a bloody baby.
There is a different reason why my future brother in law isn’t here, there is no public transportation at this time of the night, even though it is only 9 PM.
He is probably at home now, nervously waiting for the good news to reach him.

When the mothers inside are quiet, silence weighs heavy on our senses. The hospital is situated close to the sea and you can hear the waves breaking on the shore. I am laying on my back, looking at the bright African sky with its numerous stars.
Every hour I hear a new life being born into this world and I am filled with intense happiness and gratitude for this wonderful experience.
Shoo tells me that the straycat is really an incarnation of a witch, full of black magic.
The straycats come here to steal the souls of the new born babies.
Of course we are on guard to protect our newest member of the family.

After a few hours of sleep on the hard surface, our niece is born.
In the early morning light, I am holding my niece, as promised, in the taxi when we drive home.
Only two hours old and she is already taking her first journey in her new life.
I fill up with joy.

The pictures are made with my Sony Ericsson phone.

Sepia

When I look out of the window I see Africa in sepia, the twig huts smeared with the brown-red Tanzanian dirt, are flashing before our eyes.
Zakia and I are sitting in a coach, that takes us from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi in 16 hours, with two breaks of 20 minutes each.
After three hours of traveling through the beautiful African countryside, I feel inspired to write.

This morning, I got up at 5 PM in our hotel, right next to our point of departure, a place I had envisioned totally different than it turned out to be.
I had in mind that the bus station might have 15 buses lined up, at the most.
As usual, Zakia is very active and busy with everything that has to be arranged. “ Wait here with the bags, I am going to buy a phonecard for Kenya”, she told me in the dark, early morning, and she disappeared into the crowd, with me trying to catch up.
When I try to find Zakia, there are hundreds of heavily packed people in my way. They are all trying to find their bus among at least 80 other buses, neatly parked in long rows.
The day has just begun but already I feel stressed.
Of course, I can not find my partner in this chaos, everyone is too late and at the wrong bus.
Searching for the right destination doesn’t stress anyone from Africa out. They all seem in peace and are patiently waiting until everyone has found his proper seat on the right bus. Fortunately, my partner, with phonecard, found me.

Together we find our coach quickly, and apparently Zakia’s friend, who reserved the tickets for us, knew what she was doing because we have the best seats available, right next to the driver.
This means front row seat, during all the skidding and kamikaze passes, on and off the road.
No, we didn’t hit any children, dogs, not even a chicken although it came pretty close a couple of times. At night, we arrive at Nirobi, exhausted but content.
It took a little longer than planned since the last 200 kilometers, from the border of Tanzania and Kenya to Nairobi, consist of dirt roads which means slip sliding to our destination.

The driver is tired and just as ready to go bed as we are, so he decides to take the advice of a passenger who claims to know a shortcut.
That doesn’t go very well and we end up lost in the dark. This turns out to be an adventure instead of a trip.
On our destination, relatives of Zakia’s friend, are waiting for us.
They take us to the hotel, the registration at the desk goes smoothly and after a refreshing shower, I fall right asleep.

After an excellent breakfast the next morning, we explore Nirobi.
It has a very modern center with many shopping malls and the streets are full with buisiness men and women, dressed in Western gray.
The restlessness that often comes with doing buisiness, is buzzing through the streets and is clearly visible in the behaviour of the drivers, nervous and uneasy.
After asking for directions, we arrive at the local office of Java House coffee,
a brand known for its high quality coffee.
Since we are planning to open our own coffee house in Zanzibar, this visit is a must for inspiration.
When we inspect their menu, we are impressed with the original and wide variety of their products. To me, this establishment is one of pure enjoyment.
With our heads full of ideas, we leave this coffee oasis and we decide to come back on every day of our stay, here in Nairobi.

After days of brainstorming and excellent food, we leave early in the morning for another 16 hour experience of the African landscape.
This time, we are on the lookout for Mount Kilimanjaro since we missed it on our way in.
Once again in the dark, we arrive back at the crowded busstation of Dar es Salaam.
To find a taxi goes a lot quicker than to bargain the price for the ride.
When we finally arrive at the hotel, our reservation appears not to be registered so we have to find another place to lay our heads.
Luckily, the phone number of a hotel I stayed before, is still in my cellphone and after a quick call, the most expensive room is reserved for us.

When we arrive, the spacious bar of the hotel is filled with the most beautiful girls, all hoping to find a mzungu to start a new life.
For most of the girls, one night with a white man is as far as it goes.

The next morning we plan to take the ferry to Zanzibar and start with the preparations for our new company.

Be carefull what you wish for, it comes true

On New Years evening we walk into the entrance of the Serena Hotel in Zanzibar and we can already hear the buzz of the guests already present. “We” are Zakia, one of Zakia’s best friends, James, a friend photographer from Mozambique, and myself.A few months ago, James promised me a very expensive bottle of Champaign a couple of months ago and this is the perfect time to hold him to his promise.

The buffet is embellished by the local beauties, dressed in stylish kanga’s, swaying their curves to the music. Close to midnight, we all find ourselves on the dancefloor and start the countdown to the New Year. I look into the prettiest eyes of Zanzibar and experience enough of happiness to last me through the year.

When 2009 arrives, half of the crowd jumps into the pool, that is situated right next to the dance floor. My love and I wish for each other the things that two soulmates who go through Life together, should wish for. We can’t stop dancing, even James shows his moves…it is a beautiful evening. When we bring the ladies home through an empty Stone Town, I am filled with emotion…..a dream has become reality.

A morning shoot in shamba

If you want to see the sun come up over the ocean in Zanzibar, you have to leave Stone Town early.
I start the car while Zakia does a last minute check on our camera bags and at 4AM we leave the secure parkinglot, ready to meet the new day.
Today, we are going on a photosafari, Zakia has also been infected by the photograph virus and is a model student. For now, I have only explained to her how the Nikon works, the next lessons she will take in the photography class that starts in March.
It will be a project of “the beautiful eyes” and will be given to local students who are interested in an in-depth understanding of art photography.

The already sparse traffic signs are not visible in the dark and a couple of times we head out for the wrong direction. Just before the golden, round ball announces and brightens the new day, we are set and the camera’s are active. On this beautiful white beach we try to capture our deeply felt stillness.
To be able to captivate these moments of tranquil silence through a camera, and take them home with me, is a gift I thank the Gods for, every day.
When, after the shoot, I find the eyes of my photo partner, we do not talk. Only the eyes can express what can not be said on moments like this.
These moments are full of bliss, connections to nature and the now.

In the small village we find a restaurant that serves spice tea with chapati and maandazi.
After the small meal, we continue our travel and stop to buy a fresh mango in one of the many stalls that you can find by the side of the road.
You can find the mangos in little booths or sometimes just laid out on a small rug, in piles of 3 or 4 together. Of course negotiating the price is a part of the ritual.
By now, I have pretty mastered the art of drinking the juice right out of the fresh mango.
We decide to buy some candy to put our models at ease since they do not often get to meet a mzungu (“white person” in swahili language).
With the camera ready, Zakia precedes me into the small paths. Without trouble she seems to know exactly where to go.

For a group of children, seemingly captivated by their play, the confrontation with the big Nikon camera with zoomlens proves to be still too much.

Even Zakia’s reassuring words do not help when we try to zoom in for a second time although the candy is apprehensively accepted by the older children.
When we see one of the younger children being comforted by her mother, near one of the small houses, we decide to join them and to wait……at least the candy is now accepted by even the little ones.
We realize that we can win their trust by just taking our time.
Zakia is absorbed by her creative play between her camera and the now reassured children.

After seeing the portrait, the little model wants to do it all over again, people sharing joy in the moment.
When we leave the small village, hidden deep in the forest, we are followed by a group of children asking us for more candy and portraits.

To make art photography for our galary in Stone Town, has become a way of life for me here. Another gift from the Gods. All the pictures with this post are made by Zakia, who truly enjoys her newly found career as a photographer.

True at first Light

” In Africa a thing is true at first light and a lie by noon and you

have no more respect for it than for the lovely.perfect weed-

fringed lake you see across the sun-baked salt plain. You have

walked across that plain in the morning and you know that no

such lake is there. But now it is there absolutely true, beautiful

and believable”

– Ernest Hemingway

I found this work of Ernest Hemingway in one of the book stalls on the corner of the street of my new home and “The House of Wonders”.
If you’re a little familiar with the labyrinth of Stone Town, you’ll know that I can see the ocean from my patio. My girlfriend Zakia knows how much I enjoy being home but still like to be outside, so this patio is our ‘heaven’ in paradise and the main reason to rent this house. When the first rays of sunlight reach the patio early in the morning and the scent of the Jasmine plants fill the air, meditating becomes an almost transcending experience.
My visits to the second hand book stalls have become a tradition, especially now everyone knows I am a photographer who will be staying here, especially “now he found his Love.” The welcoming, small cups of coffee and the conversations during these visits I truly enjoy.
My Zambian beauty is known here as a very strong and intelligent woman and the local people treat her with respect. This makes my stay here a lot simpler: when the small renovations in my new home are not done appropriately, the problem is solved very quickly.
Some of the books I find in the stalls were left behind in hotel rooms and have inscriptions that tell about the recovery after a disease or a love, lost and found.
I appreciate these personal touches, left by strangers, and am buying myself a new library for a very reasonable price.
My reputation as practitioner of meditation and Zen Buddhism is enough for some of the book salesmen to offer me their books on Buddhism for free.
I choose not to have a TV so the old American movies pass me by. Most evenings are filled with a good book, of course in English since my English is a little rusty, and the scent of Jasmine.
Some evenings I spend, with my beauty at my side, visiting a “tarab”, an evening filled with traditional music, in Zanzibar oftentimes held in the auditorium of a school.
The Arabic word “tarab” has to do with a ‘mood or atmosphere of enchantment’ created by a performance.
My friend, like most other women on these evenings, is dressed in one of her best gala dresses and smells like a red rose. The room is filled with ladies in creations of eye catching colors and breathtaking scents. Their evening attire is carefully selected and well put together.
The ladies experience their highlight of the evening when the singer recites a beautiful line about loves lost. As touched by Cupid, the dark beauties stand up and move, hips swaying and singing along with the performer, towards the small stage.
With a few paper bills in hand, they raise their arms to offer him their money and buy the heartfelt line they are yearning to hear. Most of them will take their dream home to an empty bed.
At the end of our evening, Zakia and I walk home, softly talking in the dark night.
The shadows we meet, greet us with respect. Respect is giving freely in Stone Town.
After escorting my evening sweetheart to her door, I walk home to my heaven, full of warm feelings and beautiful photographs.

The promised land

It is November 5th, my birthday.
I wake up to the sound of heavy rain, it is 6 AM.
Stone Town has a fresh awakening this morning, the monsoon creates small rivers that seem to revigorate the old streets. I text message my girlfriend Zakia, asking her if it would keep raining today?
She answers that she doesn’t know but, “ we do as we plan” and “ yes, we go.”
So we take off to the Promised Land Beach Resort to experience a special birthday and a nice candlelight dinner for two.

The resort is owned by Adam, a friend of mine.
This Christmas, he will organize a music festival there, for which I offered my services as a photographer.
I truly enjoy music and am looking forward to experiencing the beach festival for a couple of days.
To celebrate New Year’s Eve together with hundreds of others but also with Zakia’s beautiful eyes and champaign, was an invitation I could not resist.
This was an opportunity for us to see the resort and to enjoy the unique, white sand beach and the small island, just off the coast. Zakia, positive and understanding as always, tells me: “ it is your day, be free and go wherever you want… I will follow.”

Jeff a local taxi driver gives me the trip to the resort as a birthday present. After a 1.5 hour trip in his car, we arrive in the promised land. One of the employees comes out to meet us, since Adam is very busy with all the preparations for his festival. After we drink a cup of chai, we soon discover that this was far from the promised land we expected. We are worried about the amount of work that clearly needs to be done on the part of the beach, designated for the festival and decide to try to help out as much as we can with the preparations when we get back in Stone Town. Jeff starts his Toyota 4WD and after Zakia makes a few phone calls, we travel 10 kilometers further to the Makunduchi Beach village. I am getting better at at letting things go and staying free and open, in order for Life to take its course.
At Makunduchi, we experience a perfect photographer’s view, a place to settle down and never to close one’s eyes any more. Tears of joy are dried with care by a fellow companion.

While having dinner at night, the lights in the restaurant abruptly turn off, leaving only a few candles to light up the tables. Some of the guests try to use their cellphones to locate their plates.
All of a sudden, a long snake of cooks and waiters come out of the kitchen, while singing an Italian birthday song. By the candlelight, I see Zakia smiling and realise she knows a lot more about this.
They offer me a wonderful icecream cake, beautifully decorated with my two Christian names, carefullly copied from my passport.
What an ending to a beautiful birthday!
I hope to have many more on this island, together with these beautiful people.

A prayer to God and he sent me maria

It was in May of this year when I saw Maria for the first time, in “ The Silk Route” restaurant in Stone Town, Zanzibar.
Everything felt fresh, the restaurant just opened a few days before and it was my first time here, in Zanzibar. My friend and soul mate James invited me for a photo-safari, together with a fellow photographer from his hometown, Tete Mozambique.
For days, we ecstatically explored the labyrinth of Stone Town through our motor drive camera’s, capturing all and everything that moved and was willing to pose.
Schoolchildren whose curiosity always won from their fear of unshaven men with big tele lenses.
The men on the market, posing with their mixture of acceptance and patience while waiting to make a sale. Women in veils that protected them from the lusting eyes of men and in our case, our camera’s.

At night, after a refreshing bath, we usually discussed the day gone by in the best restaurants of Stone Town. “ The Silk Route” quickly became our favourite restaurant.
While my colleges greatly appreciated the exotic cocktails and dishes that were gracefully served by Maria, I mainly came for Maria and her beautiful eyes.
From the start I saw her as my model, and it was then and there that the name for our project “the beautiful eyes” was conceived.
I asked her if she wanted to pose for me but unfortunately we did not have the chance to come together in a photograph at that time.

Now, even after staying in Zanzibar for over five weeks, it was very hard to keep the promise I made to Maria in May. After a visit to “The Silk Route”, it was clear Maria did not work there anymore.
Luckily, Stone Town is like a village where everyone knows each other, and I found out that a friend of Maria worked in a hotel where I regularly had my breakfast.
An arrangement was made to meet each other in the Jaramuri Garden.
Luck was on my side when I was on my way to finally meet Maria.
I passed a photo shoot for the election of Miss Africa where gorgeous models with heavy make up and high heels, were waiting for the directions of their photographer.
The scenery of the worldly models in the small, ageless street in busy Stone Town, a sign of the things in store for me?

When Maria came, together with her lady friend, she was very careful.
She made clear she would not take off anything but that was not what I came for, I only wanted to photograph her eyes.
This had to become the cover photo of my first photo book.

This photograph is one of those first pictures made of Maria, Maria as herself.

Now, with the cover photo in my possession, the rest of my photography book will definitely follow.

sitting on a white sand beach

Somehow, this white sand beach and it’s mesmerizing surf, guide me to the perfect mood to write down my daydreams.

I am sitting close to an abandoned villa, clearly weathered by time and tiresome sea winds, it’s elegance of better days still showing with each rolling wave.

It is the beginning of our project “the beautiful eyes”.

By letting go of all that seems safe and sensible, I followed my most inner feelings, and found myself in Zanzibar, Stone town.

For 16 days now, my senses are fully alert, trying to taste everything new that enters my spirit.

Maybe I have been guided here, to this special place, to reawaken my photographic vision and pass it on to everyone who wants to capture their soul by using photography as their medium.

Next to me, a fisherman has surrendered to the rumble of the waves and is sleeping in his canoe.

I’ll ask him if he can find a vacant canoe for me tomorrow so I can take my afternoon nap here as well.

All this feels so much like home that I would not want to miss these azure blue waves in my life.

While walking through a labyrinth of narrow streets to the place where I lay my head, I savour the warmth of the smells coming out of every small home, the tranquility in the eyes of the people, children playing and the tingle of a packed bicycle, carefully gliding by.

Time itself is overwhelmingly present in the worn, stone alleys and wooden doors, illuminated only by the reflections of light.

Yesterday on my evening stroll, I captured my first emotion in beautiful lighting, a young mother, full of joy, with her newly born baby.

To capture your emotion with your camera is being in the Now, feeling one with what is and to press the shutter button. Only once…because you just know it is right.

These coming weeks I will try to find the place, the place that feels as if this is where it should happen. Where the distillation process has already taken place but is only waiting to be picked up.

In my mind-set guests already enjoying their coffee and the gallery full of Zanzibar’s black and white beauty in emotions of the soul.

These dear and sweet people and children who want to share everything they own with me, draw me closer and closer.