Going Dutch Blog

(Emily Naff) As I prepare for the upcoming Fall semester, I find myself reflecting on my summer adventures.   I am sure that fellow faculty members and students will be curious about my experience teaching photography in The Netherlands.   So, I spent a little time looking over student work and selecting what I thought were some of the best photographs taken by my students this summer.  The students photographed a wide variety of subjects for their various assignments. Assignments included architecture, shadows, reflections, graphic elements, the power of color and sense of place. Work by all students is included in this slideshow: Ryan Farmer, Trinity Falter, Matthew Zingg, Dylan Kahn and Lindsey Overhalser.  To see work by each individual student follow the link to the NING Website.

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Sunday we all went to the strand, or beach, at Hoek van Holland, 30 minutes by train from Rotterdam. We had no problems and were walking to the beach when we passed an old WWII concrete bunker on the left of the road. a guy was painting it black, and it was stenciled with “Atlantik Wall Museum.” It turned out to be a volunteer-run museum of sorts, filled with photos, models, and artifacts from the 1940-45 occupation, when huge fortifications like this were built along the east coast of Europe by the German military. A really great guy named Pieter gave us a tour. Afterward we headed out to the beach, which was cold and windy. But the sun was out and, no matter where you are, the beach is the beach. We had lunch at an outdoor cafe, buried Matthew in the sand, and threw the frisbee in a stiff sea breeze. Oh, and we did eventually did Matthew up again. We came home exhausted though. What is it about the beach? Monday everyone was dragging in class and went to bed early.

—Todd Duren