Category: LEBANON

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contemplations Germany inspiration LEBANON morning coffee talk old age old people parenting Photography street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~ 79/365

Our fireplace today in Germany~

As long as I remember, when I still lived in Lebanon, my father would sit by the fireplace at our home at the foot of the mountain and on cold days continuously feed wood to the hungry fire and watch its raging flames and listen to its crackling sounds as it vanished into ashes.

It always made me think that there is a romantic in there hiding behind his seemingly hard exterior that he presented to the world.

The last 3 days, and in the middle of a storm here in Germany, our heating system broke down, so as we shuffle to get it fixed, I started using the fireplace as a means of generating warmth on these very cold days.

And guess what? I find myself as hypnotized by it as my father was and still is at over 85 years of age.

Life sometimes turns full circle on us…

Photo of my dad staring at his chimney 2 weeks ago in Lebanon taken by my sister.
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contemplations Germany inspiration LEBANON morning coffee talk Photography

Daily Coffee Talk~51/365

So I am changing this to from morning to daily since more and more coffee is making its way into my day. I hope that you day is going very well and is filled with your favourite beverage of choice.

a Lebanese bee~

Since I got back from the Emirates more than 10 days ago, I have seen nothing but grey skies and rain in Germany. I miss the sun, I miss its warming rays, I miss Lebanon, I miss summertime and I miss the feeling of being outdoors all the time.

With photography I can travel in my mind to the sun, I can be where I was when I took the photograph and I can almost feel the warmth. Our minds are amazing like that, we build all kinds of connections through our senses that allow us to travel mentally to certain moments that we mark on the calendar of our life history.

Doesn’t a smell sometimes bring back to a special moment in time that had its impact on your life? It happens to me all the time, or a piece of music, or the taste of something.

And the sun just came out as I write this… funny how things work.

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LEBANON morning coffee talk Photography street photography

Morning Coffee Talk~17/365

Weathering the Storm~ Lebanon

Good Morning,

This morning I am casting my mind and thoughts towards my home country, Lebanon. My thoughts are with its people, my family, and everyone affected by the economic breakdown that this beautiful country has been and is still going through.

A phrase came to mind upon waking this morning: “all the concentrated darkness in the world cannot put out the light of a single candle”. Lebanon has always glowed like a candle in the night, through its people, colours, sunshine, snow-capped mountain tops, art, history, food, its sea, and the bright radiant love of life and hope that has lifted it through the many wars, occupations and difficult times throughout history.

So today, sending a bucketful of love to my Lebanon. This too shall pass.

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LEBANON Photography street

Being Alone Together~ 2

The Future is not written till we write it~ Byblos, Lebanon

This image illustrates to me the basic reality that we find ourselves living in: that life is a journey and our tomorrows are dependent on every action we take and every step we make. To author one’s destiny is a huge responsibility that most of us abdicate from. ‘Choice’ remains our greatest gift whether we see it or not.

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lebanon LEBANON Photography

Yearning for my Country~

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human rights lebanon LEBANON Photography

Help for Lebanon~

Dear friends, as a result of the tragic blast that has crippled my country #Lebanon and my city #Beirut and its beautiful resilient and life loving people, urgent help is needed. I am deeply saddened and pained by the lost lives, injuries and resulting destruction and homelessness of my people. For that reason I have investigated a safe way to help, no donation is too small and every little bit can go to feed a hungry person or to shelter those without a home. I am offering a free print (from attached 7 images taken in Lebanon) to anyone who donates to @sealforlebanon (Beirut emergency fund 2020) any amount over 50 dollars. Please send me your receipt of donation , your address and chosen image and I will mail you a signed print and my sincere thanks and gratitude. You can find the donation link on the profile of @sealforlebanon . Thank you in advance and let’s stand together as a human family at this time. https://www.facebook.com/SEALforLebanonhttps://seal-usa.org/beirutemergencyfund/

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inspiration LEBANON Photography

There is light and then there is light~ Lebanon

My absolute favorite time to practice photography in Lebanon is the magical summer sunset. The sun takes its time and teasingly threatens to sink in the blue Mediterranean Sea ever so slowly whilst tossing beautiful colors of pastel into the Western Lebanese sky. Every day is a new performance, breathtaking, calming, inspiring and beautiful.

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children LEBANON life love parenting Photography

The gift that keeps on giving~

top of the world~_

When you have your first child you become privy to the most well guarded secret: you have just signed on for the most important and permanent job of your life. It looks so easy. Everyone does it. Our parents did it. Our friends and neighbors seem to do it. And then your child arrives! I used to hold important job after job before having my child, each with a heavy series of responsibilities, but I dove into them armed with the knowing in the back of my mind that I can just quit when I choose to. Then came the parenting job, and I realized that this is one job I can never quit!

I would not exchange this job for any other in the world because it is the gift that keeps on giving.

Day 58 of 365~

Image taken of my 8 year old daughter overlooking the valley of the saints in Lebanon, 2012

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art LEBANON life Photography

In distant dreams~

in distant dreams~_

I was going through my archives of hundreds of thousands of photographs as one often does, when I came across this image of my daughter when she was 4 years old running through the cedars of Lebanon and it made me catch my breath. She is now 13, and time has tricked us all again. How relentless it is, never pausing, never letting us catch our breath. It is always later than we think, isn’t it? So many unrealized intentions, how does one keep up with life, or should we at all?

Pausing and dreaming today in the moment of what was, what is and what will be…

Day 57 of 365~

Image taken in the cedars of God forest in Lebanon in 2008

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LEBANON myanmar Photography

Taking your spirit for a walk~

I remember as a child getting very excited about the occasional long walks we took to our favorite monastery pocketed in the heart of the Lebanese mountain overlooking the valley of the saints. We walked for hours and felt the importance of our pilgrimage with every dusty step. It says so much about pilgrimages and the necessity of removing oneself from a current situation to meet new requirements for personal development. Walking up the mountain dictated a baggage free walk and a sense of lightness and freedom that only comes from surrender to a higher cause.

I look back with so much endearment to those days, the time of innocence and magic.

Day 47 of 365~

Image taken of a young monk Myanmar during my trip there last year.