Photos

A collection of photos I tokenized on the ethereum network. The current sources where I mint my photographs are MakersPlace and ZeroOne.

Gartered Trogon in Panama A Gartered Trogon spotted at the Metropolitan Natural Park in Panama City on January 31, 2024 around 1:36 PM Panama time.

Basking in the morning sun A Gentoo penguin basking in the morning sun. Shot on February 11, 2024 at 7:23 AM South Georgia time at Godthul, South Georgia & The South Sandwich Islands.

Dancing clouds in Ushuaia Clouds dancing at the horizon in Ushuaia early in the morning between 5:30 and 7 o'clock Argentina time, filmed on February 5, 2024.

Call from a Great-tailed Grackle A call from a Great-tailed Grackle shot on January 31, 2024, at 12:03 PM Panama time near Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel in Panama City, Panama.

Moving clouds ☁️ Recorded on January 24, 2024 at dusk in Paramaribo, Suriname. 🇸🇷

Sun rising in Suriname Sunrise in Suriname on January 13, 2024 filmed and field recorded sounds between 6:30AM and 7:45AM near Vierkinderen

Steadfast As twilight embraced the sky, an osprey alighted upon a weathered post, its gaze steady amidst the churning waters below. There was no catch yet, but it stood resolute, the embodiment of wild patience. Shot near Brantimakaweg in Paramaribo, Suriname on December 3, 2023 at 6:14 PM local time.

Eyes on target With wings spread wide, the osprey glides on the breath of the evening, its sharp eyes fixated on the waters of Paramaribo's coast. The fading light of dusk casts a serene glow over the scene, but for the sea hawk, it's a bustling time of opportunity as the ocean whispers tales of hidden prey. A silent mantra in the cool air. Shot near Brantimakaweg in Paramaribo, Suriname on December 3, 2023 at 6:11 PM local time.

Weg naar Zee A Sunday afternoon at the coast of Paramaribo, Suriname. Shot taken on December 3, 2023 around 4 PM local time.

Pied Water-Tyrant In the fading light of a Sunday afternoon near the coastal city of Paramaribo, Suriname, a Pied Water-Tyrant perched gracefully on a swaying branch. Shot near Brantimakaweg in Paramaribo, Suriname on December 3, 2023 at 5:43 PM local time.

Seaside Sonata A Ruddy Turnstone found solace along the shoreline of Paramaribo, Suriname. The rhythmic waves embraced the sandy expanse as the bird prepared for its Sunday afternoon ritual- a bath that would unfold like a dance with the elements. Shot at Weg naar Zee in Paramaribo, Suriname, on December 3, 2023 at 4:20 PM local time.

Sky painters With wings ablaze in fiery hues, the birds painted the sky with their vibrant presence. Shot near Brantimakaweg in Paramaribo, Suriname, on December 3, 2023, at 5:43 PM local time. This photo is the third part of a three-series collection. (3/3)

Contemplate One Scarlet Ibis perched on a branch, a solitary masterpiece against the backdrop of the Surinamese afternoon. Shot near Brantimakaweg in Paramaribo, Suriname, on December 3, 2023, at 5:39 PM local time. This photo is the second part of a three-series collection. (2/3)

Feathered Duet In the amber glow of a late Sunday afternoon in Suriname, the Scarlet Ibis, resplendent in its vivid plumage, gathered with its companion. Shot on December 3, 2023 at 5:38 PM local time. This photo is the first part of a three-series collection. (1/3)

On the hunt In the tranquil marshes along the coast of Suriname, a Snowy Egret gracefully stalks its marine prey, displaying nature’s poetry in the warm, golden hues of a serene Sunday afternoon. Visuals were taken on December 3, 2023, at 'Weg naar Zee' in Paramaribo, Suriname, around 4 PM local time.

Grietjebie A grietjebie hanging out in the backyard of a friend's house on an overcast Sunday afternoon.

Sunday dawn in Paramaribo Filmed on Sunday, November 12, 2023, around 6 AM Suriname time near Doebriesingweg in Paramaribo, this audio-visual data acquisition aligns with the daily rhythms of the local environment. The observational session drew to a close shortly after 7 AM. It is also the first decent field recording I did with an iPhone. Despite the subtle presence of ambient background music, I used a vocal remover provided by EaseUS to eliminate it.

Kankantri Natural selection or human intervention? Woodlice threatens this Ceiba Pentandra. Located in the capital city of Suriname, it's an iconic tree in the area for many years.

Bosrokoman A toucan was flying around Suriname Bird paradise, a place at Lelydorp. 'Bosrokoman' is what the natives call this bird.

Great Tinamou A great tinamou majestically strolled past us one early morning. Shot on August 27, 2023, at 7:16 Suriname time at Mamba Project.

Sluggish tree-dweller A sluggish tree-dweller searching for leaves to munch on. People in the area say that you can frequently spot two sloths in the trees. Located at Cultuurtuinlaan in Paramaribo, Suriname.

Swift peek A swift peek to see who's passing by their habitat just close to sunset. Photo taken in Paramaribo, Suriname during the sunset of October the 12th, 2023

Common Squirrel Monkey Just as the sun was about to set in the northeastern part of South America, a common squirrel monkey made a quick peek to see who was passing by its habitat.

Blauwtjie Early afternoon somewhere in the northeastern part of South America, a cool blue-gray bird is sitting on my neighbor’s tree. ‘Blauwtjie’ is what a friend of mine calls it in Surinamese.

Dreams Life under moonlight and sunshine

Suriname A dutch-speaking country located north of South America on the Guiana Highlands. It is known for its massive landscape of tropical rainforest, dutch colonial architecture and multicultural population.

Epoch A walk through thick and thin.

New Horizon The sun settles for the day to begin anew.

Blowin’ in the wind How many times must a man look up, before he can see the sky? Yes, ‘n how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry? Yes, ’n how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind. The answer is blowin’ in the wind. Words of Bob Dylan.

Keys & Phrases The moment you start talking and thinking about Bitcoin, it brings up a very difficult question: what is money? Most of us have no idea how money works. It’s one of those ancient technologies that is so deeply embedded in our culture that it has become completely invisible to us. At its very basic level, money isn’t value. You use money to get things of value like products or services, but there is no value in the money itself. Money is a language that human beings created to express value to each other. As a language, it’s one of the fundamental constructs of civilization that allows us to exceed what’s known as the Dunbar number. Money is also, ironically, a system of control. Controlling money confers great power to those who control it. As a result, kings and governments have always held a very tight control over money. Now that has changed. On January 3rd 2009, the world changed because some person(s) created a peer-to-peer protocol: a flat network with no central servers— all clients, that is able to express money as a content type. Money that is expressed purely as data, transmitted using any communication medium that can convey information. Pure information on a network that is simultaneously uncensorable, open to anyone, neutral, and global. There are no borders on this new technology, just like there are no borders on the internet. The real exciting thing about this technology is not the blockchain, which is a database artifact created out of this protocol, but the ability to achieve distributed consensus among parties that don’t trust each other, across great distances, without any central party, authority or intermediary. The world is now connected. Finance is now an application and money is a content type. Words of Andreas Antonopoulos.

Gold coin There’s a difference between currency and money: Money must be a store of value and maintain its purchasing power over a long period. Gold and silver have proven over thousands of years to be the ultimate store of value. Gold is only formed when a star explodes - a supernova - and it stays around forever. This is one of the properties that makes gold the ultimate money. It keeps governments under control and maintains a solvent system. Governments don’t like gold because it imposes restraint —words of Mike Maloney.

Surinamese Guilder The Surinamese Guilder was the fiat currency of Suriname until 2004 when the Surinamese Dollar replaced it. They - like all fiat currencies - are legal tenders whose value is backed by the government that issued it. It shares the same similarities with gold, but a crucial difference is that the government can create as much currency as they want, which in effect makes the currency lose value over time. It is not that goods are getting more expensive, but rather the currency losing its purchasing power.

Corrupt system The current banking system is corrupt. You may argue that all systems are or can be corrupted, even Bitcoin. And I agree. But the beauty of Bitcoin is that the code is open-source, and if you don’t agree with Bitcoiners, you can fork the code and make a new system. If Satoshi was a person of power, would he have given the code to the people or patented it since the beginning?

Open Road I get why some governments still want to nationalize. One reason might be to stimulate the country’s economy by focussing on local production. But I think they are missing the big picture. Nationalization is a thing of the past. The world is now more interconnected than ever. Most of the end products are created through different parts and labor from all over the world. This interconnection is rare, yet here we are. I believe this is through free-market behavior. As the world is now amid a COVID-19 pandemic, working together is essential now more than ever. Ventilators, masks, medicine research - if we work together to get through this as global citizens, we just might come out stronger than ever.

Broken Country The New York Times 25/Mar/2020 Economic Crisis Prompts a Showdown, and a Shutdown, in Suriname. Prosperity is taken from people time and again by mismanagement of governments through central banking. In the words of Mike Maloney: True wealth is your time and freedom. Money is just a tool for trading your time, a container to store your economic energy until you are ready to deploy it. But the whole world has been turned away from real money and has been fooled into using currency, a deceitful imposter that is silently stealing your two most valuable assets - your time and freedom.

Bitcoin v. Banks of Suriname Until 1957, De Surinaamsche Bank acted as the default issuer of currency. The Central Bank of Suriname is currently Suriname's highest monetary authority and the country's governing body in monetary and economic affairs. The problem with central banks issuing currency is that they have the power to create as much as they want, hence flooding the market, which affects the purchasing power. Bitcoin fixes this by being the first decentralized peer-to-peer network with no central authority and a limited supply. It is borderless, and you have total control and authority over your Bitcoin. Transactions cannot be frozen or intercepted, it cannot be censored, and it cannot be stopped. By opting out of the central bank system, it means removing the power that politically-driven entities have on your life's savings.

Folks of Suriname Folks aren’t happy nowadays in Suriname ... it may be partly due to our current economic situation. The Surinamese Dollar lost almost 80% of its value since the presidency of Desi Bouterse in 2010. If the country would’ve adopted Bitcoin, things might have been different this time around.

Statue of Jopie Pengel Johan Adolf Pengel was the first Surinamese politician in the 19th century to make demands on the former colonial regime. He also gave the Surinamese folks a sense of dignity. Wacht even, weest gerust, alles komt terecht.

Sunday morning at the Independence Square of Suriname It's the 3rd day since Suriname announced its first case of COVID-19, a pandemic of the 21st century. Although I was afraid of going out, I promised myself to get out of bed early in the morning just to stroll around the spot where folks usually bring out their birds on the Sundays. Today was as quiet as it could be. I felt awkward, not because of the situation, but because it's been a while since I've been strolling and taking photos of the streets in Paramaribo.

Tennis with fam 🖤 It's been a while since we've played tennis together, but it feels like yesterday to me. Seeing them on the field made me reminisce the days when our uncle used to pick us up to play.

Winter There’s a fine line between tranquil and solitary depending on a person’s state of being.