De Portrettenmaker

23/04/2025

Dochter Pippa is komend weekend mede-organisator van het Chronic Youth Festival in de Londense Barbican!

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2025/series/chronic-youth-film-festival-2025?fbclid=IwY2xjawJ2C31leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFzQkhXSnp4TVQweDJLYk5wAR5ML_6EsHb5sRuV0ESYiEwkv6Zl_EZ_Brp42LjJMaT02pDcyyGi939o7aWYVg_aem_k3r2yyUzy2w2LsYixOO9kA

Chronic Youth Film Festival 2025 presents Against All Odds: Resilience, community, and memory on screen.

20/04/2025

www.DePortrettenmaker.nl/blog

Hoe heerlijk, deze vroege lente 2025. Warm, zonnig, droog – een beetje té droog voor sommigen. Maar jongens, wat is het genieten buiten met je kopje koffie onder de appelbloesem…

.nl .nl

30/03/2025

Bosanemonen
Op de grens van het koude voorjaar naar de warmte steken ze vrolijk de kop op. Ik kan daar zo van genieten…

www.DePortrettenmaker.nl/blog
.nl .nl

21/12/2024

22/08/2024

Village of Thoughts 34: The Vaart
“Behind our house was the Vaart. There used to be a ferry to Alkmaar. Our vegetable garden bordered it, and we children could often be found there. In the winter playing on the ice, and in the summer swimming. That's where we all learned to swim. Not with swimming lessons, mind you, but just by jumping into the water, following our older brothers. And then hoping that you could keep your head above water. It's a good thing that mother didn't know what we were up to there, otherwise she would have had a heart attack!”

https://deportrettenmaker.nl/2024/08/22/village-of-thoughts-34-the-vaart/

“Behind our house was the Vaart. There used to be a ferry to Alkmaar. Our vegetable garden bordered it, and we children could often be found there. In the winter playing on the ice, and in the summ…

21/08/2024

Village of Thoughts 33: The dunes
“During the war, the dunes were off-limits. The Germans had built bunkers and other defences there. After the war, I often went there with Freek and Snel. We had started an aircraft club and built model gliders to participate in competitions. In the dunes you could practice how far the planes could fly…”

https://deportrettenmaker.nl/2024/08/21/village-of-thoughts-33-the-dunes/

“During the war, the dunes were off-limits. The Germans had built bunkers and other defences there. That saved the sea holly. Just before the war it was threatened with extinction because it was pi…

19/08/2024

Village of Thoughts 32: The beach
“After the war every now and then I went to the beach with friends. We didn’t have money for the steam tram Bello, so we walked all the way. I once went by bike with Freek and two of the Miltenburg sisters. In February, with thick coats against the cold. You didn’t eat or drink out then, but the beach was completely deserted and that was nice enough.”

https://deportrettenmaker.nl/2024/08/19/village-of-thoughts-32-the-beach/

“After the war every now and then I went to the beach with friends. We didn’t have money for the steam tram Bello, so we walked all the way. I once went by bike with Freek and two of the Miltenburg…

18/08/2024

Village of Thoughts 31: The sea

“Father didn’t swim himself; at most he went for a paddle. We children only sat in the shallow water, for we were so small that we could not swim yet.”

https://deportrettenmaker.nl/2024/08/18/village-of-thoughts-31-the-sea/

“Father was good to his children. He did a lot for us and with us, very different from many other fathers. For example, going to the beach. Nowadays it is busy with day trippers and tourists, but i…

17/08/2024

Village of Thoughts 30: The Zeeweg

“Sometimes at the weekend my father would put us all in the cargo bike and bring us to the sea. Over the Zeeweg, for me the most beautiful road in the Netherlands.

https://deportrettenmaker.nl/2024/08/17/village-of-thoughts-30-the-zeeweg/

“Sometimes at the weekend my father would put us all in the cargo bike and bring us to the sea. Over the Zeeweg, for me the most beautiful road in the Netherlands. Designed by a landscape architect…

16/08/2024

Village of Thoughts 29: Het Zakedijkje

“My friend Theo Gieling lived on the Zakedijkje, in houses that were built by the Roman Catholic Volksbond for poor families. Big houses, for the Catholics had to had many children. Theo was a good friend. I liked going there”

https://deportrettenmaker.nl/2024/08/16/village-of-thoughts-29-het-zakedijkje/

“My friends came from the poorer neighbourhoods. Our own class. And from the Adelbertusschool, which was Catholic. Theo Gieling for example. He lived on the Zakedijkje, in houses that were built by…

13/08/2024

Village of thoughts 26: The Nesdijk
“From the front room we saw the dunes over the Nesdijk and the airfield. On the corner of the Nesdijk there lived a farmer, where mother always bought a can of milk. During the war, a British bomber crashed on the Nesdijk, a Wellington…”

https://deportrettenmaker.nl/2024/08/13/village-of-thoughts-26-the-nesdijk/

“Our house was one of the first houses here on the edge of Bergen. There were no gardens or trees then and a lot fewer roads. From the kitchen we had a view over the meadows, all the way to Alkmaar…

10/08/2024

Memories
“I’m just browsing through some old stuff,” he said. “Do you see this map? It’s from the airport. I stole it from the Germans.”
Not true. It’s a copy of a map made by a modern copyer, probably fifteen or twenty years ago. But who cares? I know that during the war, as a child, he did break into German offices in the village, and that he did steal maps from them. But now, at the age of 96, all these memories are fading into a thick fog. Sometimes elements from different memories come together into a new story that is almost true. Almost. And that’s more than enough now, for him as well as for me.

https://deportrettenmaker.nl/2024/08/10/memories/

-art -holland

“I’m just browsing through some old stuff,” he said. “Do you see this map? It’s from the airport. I stole it from the Germans.”Not true. It’s a copy of a map made by a modern copyer, probably fifte…