This evening I bumped into this magnificent video, ‘Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS‘:

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by the crew of expeditions 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October, 2011, who to my knowledge shot these pictures at an altitude of around 350 km.

Meanwhile on the surface: sometimes I feel like I’m hovering in this urban space of ours, zooming in on the little things that we, more often than not, pass by on a regular basis, without noticing.

Like this scene: a mom trying to put her gloves on with her teeth, while riding home with her child.

She figured she could manage the last stretch by rubbing her hand over her upper leg.

She couldn’t, so she finished the job the way she started.

Life’s little observations. Precious.

On Saturday Nov 14 I took part in the (second) Snap The City event, a coming together of photography enthusiasts…snapping the city with just smart phones & only allowed to edit/enhance the photos on the device. Not just that: assignments had to be given by followers/fans (mostly through Twitter) and we needed to complete 5 of them.

Allocated time: 2 hours. Our domain: the Red Light District. Ha, a home game for me ;). I took to the streets with @CHADINAMSTERDAM.

My first assignment was sent in by my buddy @bicyclemark, before Snap The City had even officially started: “Show me a street vendor, any kind will do.” Top photo, meet Theo, from Amsterdam-Noord. I got to talk to him for half an hour, a real pleasure as he was a genuine Amsterdammer (8th generation) and a keen observer & admirer of this city’s history. We’re going to continue where we left off next time, for sure.

The second assignment was webcast by @IcycleMEL from Melbourne, Australia: “I want to see a hooker on a bike.” Predictable, obviously tricky too…nah, an easy one if you happen to know a ’short-cut’ :). Third assignment: “Red shoes” by @LoveToPedal from Dallas, Texas.

@Bicyclemark came through once more: “A picture of a window”

@LeoVerdonck from Amstelveen & Knokke (Belgium) requested “Bikes & bags”. I figured ‘Bikes & Boxes’ would fit/be allowed too. An employee from the infamous Nieuwmarkt fish shop had just parked on Zeedijk for a fresh delivery.

Not 1 minute later, I captured a proper “Bikes & Bags”.

@Bicyclemark helped me out further with “Show the youngest & the oldest person wandering the Red Light District”. I caught the latter, with the first I had passed up on some candidates, figuring I’d be able to snap a really young individual, as that’s quite common in my hood, there being a kindergarten and all. I #failed :).

@thisjay requested “Someone on a bike with flowers”. I got someone on a bike, waiting for her bouquet at the flower stand on Nieuwmarkt.

And finally, my sweetheart @lstitle tweeted to help me out: “Someone carrying someone”. I do that topic well.

Suffice to say, it was good fun & a nice exercise. Looking forward to the next one.

“Best Mode”

“1+1 Own The Lane”

“Leave Your Hat On”

More here.