A few weeks after the holidays

my father would gather the family for the obligatory hour of looking at snap shots. He did that for years.
Since I always had very clear pictures in my mind of all the places we had visited, I never understood why he did this.
The last decade with the introduction of cheap cameras and camera phones I understood even less of this obsession with photographs. Why do people need to visit pictures of past places again and again.

It’s only a few years

ago that I finally understood why.
Turns out that I’m autistic and that one of the symptoms of autism is a difference in the working of the memory. Contrary to most people I have a photographic memory. I don’t need to look at pictures of past events to remember them by, because I have them in my mind.

Having a photographic memory

is quite nice. It gives me the ability to get through boring moment by summoning images of places I’ve been. Not only real places. A lot of the pictures in my mind are actually scenes out of books I read, movies I´ve seen.
But it also has it drawbacks: I can’t share. I can’t show anyone the pictures in my mind. I can’t even show pictures of place where I’ve been because I never took any photographs.

When I started this blog

early 2007 the idea was to learn to draw so I could draw the pictures in my mind and show them to people. But after drawing for almost two year a few things have become obvious.
I do like drawing and I’m slowly getting better at it. But it will take years to get to the point where I can use it to share the pictures in my mind.

Working on this blog also showed me one other thing.
Although I only started it by accident I do really love searching the web for paintings and photographs that show the kind of images I have in my mind.

So after thinking it through

for a while I’ve decided to refocus this blog. Although I will go on with learning how to draw and writing about it, it won’t be the main focus of this blog. The main focus will be to find photos and paintings that show my view on the world. And maybe a few videos and a little poetry.

Disclaimer

All the photos, paintings, videos and poems on this site are owned by their respective copyright owners.
I hope that by showing photos and paintings, my site will act as a kind of billboard and show people work that they otherwise wouldn’t have seen.
If you’re the owner of one of the paintings or photos on this site and you object to my showing of it. Drop me a line (in English) at info@HenkTerHeide.com and I will take it down.

However

I while ago I received mail from some Italian guy who wanted me to take one of his paintings down. I complyed and deleted the painting. After that he send me a mail giving me permission to show his painting on my site.
I didn’t.
I can’t.
Once a painting/picture is gone, it’s gone.

For this site I try to find as many as 13 photos and paintings a day. Getting permission before publishing would not only be impossible but it would make this into a job instead of a little fun thing I do.
It’s the owners choise where he wants to show his work. But think about it before you send me a mail.
Could just be that I’m sending visitor to your site.