The tower used to be part of a complete church building that was built during the 15th century in the then new town center of Nederwetten. Over the years the town moved westward, and in 1895 a new church was built there. This was good for the people of the town because they didn’t have to walk as far to church anymore, but it was not so nice for the little old church because it was torn down; except for the tower, which was left in it’s place. The current shape of the tower was determined in 1938 when the tower lost its steeple during a violent storm.

And now, about 500 years after it was built, the tower still stands, no longer in the middle of town but in the middle of a field.

In case you’re wondering what the title of this blog post is all about, the shutter speed of my camera for this photo was 20 seconds.

From 1914 until the early 1960s, the Philips Electronics Research department (“NatLab”) was situated in that particular building.  Important (at the time) research into long wave radio, radio tubes and digital audio was done here.  This used to be a hot bed of scientific research, a capital of knowledge in the Netherlands, a place where people like Albert Einstein lectured.

The hay days of fundamental research, backed by seemingly unlimited corporate funds, are definitely over here in Eindhoven , but the legacy is still there. These days the city of Eindhoven is trying to become the design capital of Europe, and a newly restored “NatLab” building matches perfectly with that agenda.

People overtake me on my bicycle all the time. I see them look forward and just go wherever they are going. I’m looking around, enjoying the sunrise and the beautiful colors it creates and I think, what a pity, everyone seems to be missing out on so much.

So, when you look at the photos below, don’t dismiss them right away as being photos of boring objects. See the beauty in the bright blue and red colors. Enjoy the contrast between the red of the traffic sign and the blue of the sky. Look for the yellow light of the sun on the buildings in the background. See the colors. See the light.

Now, to show you how much the color of the sky changes around the time the sun sets, I have another series of photos. The next photos were taken a couple of days before the above ones were taken, when the sun was just about to disappear behind the horizon.

The next day, when I went back to take some more pictures in the same area, I saw two people walking up to the door. To my surprise someone came outside, opened the doors and they all went inside. I waited for them to go inside and after a while I peeked in. I saw a long hallway, all tagged up. Not my kind of place I tell you, but very interesting none the less.

Well, I seem to have rebounded from my little photographic slum pretty quickly I think. During my lunch break yesterday I discovered a perfect photo location for the next couple of weeks: the former Philips S-Complex. It’s an old industrial park that is being revamped into a modern commercial and residential center. Lot of interesting stuff to photograph over there. I think you’ll be seeing quite a bit of old junk on this blog in the near future…. captured in an interesting way of course.

But, before I’m going to expose you to the interesting world of urban decay and reconstruction, I have something else to present. Yesterday morning I went over to the Henry Dunant park in Eindhoven and captured a stunning sunset sunrise.

I guess the city counsel of Eindhoven decided that the park needed a bit of a futuristic impulse, and so they planted this smoke stack looking piece of art right on the waterfront. It looks pretty much out of place most of the time, but I have to say that it does look pretty good in the morning light.