Seen at yesterday’s street festival at Spuistraat. The atmosphere was so awesome that I decided to record some sceneries with my mobile phone. You can find them on my Instagram account: http://instagram.com/humansofamsterdam#

“He is the best dog in Amsterdam, Well except for that one time he trashed my house, ruined the furniture and ate all the food he could find the in fridge.”

Approaching Humans on the streets of Amsterdam and asking them for their photograph and story can be challenging and sometimes even scary. I still remember the first day I went out on the streets. I was not really familiar with my camera and had no idea how I was going to approach people. Over the past year I have received many emails asking me how I go about it. And indeed since that first day I have stopped at least a 1000 humans on the streets, taken their photograph, made them tell me their story. I have tried to explain how it worked but I think if you are really curious you ’d better experience it yourself.

That is why I would like to challenge you to go out in your own neighborhood and do it yourself. Ask a stranger for his/her photograph and story. You can send your photo and story to humansofamsterdam@gmail.com and on the 5th of May I will post 5 of the best portraits in an album on the page. The winners will receive a set of Humans of Amsterdam postcards. In order to participate you don’t need a professional camera. The photo can even be taken with a mobile phone. Neither do you need to be from Amsterdam to participate. Great humans and stories can be found all over the world.

If you need some support, here are some of my (golden) tips:

– Approach people in a friendly way and explain why you would like to take their photograph
– If somebody doesn’t want to be photographed, no hard feelings. Stay kind and don’t take offence, it has nothing to do with you.
– Ask specific questions, that is how the story becomes personal.
– Make use of the environment. Each city has typical characteristics like for example beautiful streets, cool walls etc. all of which you can include in your photographs.

I am looking forward to see your response.

Good luck,
Debra/HOA

“In the winter of 1944 me and my brother had to leave Amsterdam because of the Hunger winter. My mother wasn’t able to provide food for us so we were send by boat to a family in the north of the country. The worst thing was that we didn’t know if we were going to be reunited ever again. We lived on a big farm with a very wealthy family. They were very good people but I remember being incredibly homesick. We were too young to really understand, but old enough to know there was a terrible war going on. In may our country was liberated from the German occupation and we returned back home to our parents in Amsterdam. Even though I was young I remember it very well. On the 8th of May 1945 the American and Canadian tanks we riding through the city of Amsterdam and the feeling was indescribable. We were finally free.”

Sunsine has arrived in Amsterdam. .