Tag: bicycle

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contemplations Germany inspiration Photography street photography war

Daily Coffee Talk~ 89/365

This cloud shall pass~ Germany

Hi again from Germany. It has taken me a while to force myself to come back to this blog since current events threw me completely off balance lately. But if there is anything I am sure of, it is that I am the boss of me and there is plenty of coffee left in the world to drink while I write my blog.

I chose this image today because it has felt lately as though a cloud is over us, casting a shadow on what we love to do and how we love to be, but all clouds dissolve and all storms will pass as they have always throughout history. We live on a planet of duality after all and there is always an up that follows a down.

I still remember spending hours trying to ‘melt’ clouds with my sister in Lebanon by firing force at them with our extended hands, and you can believe me or not, it works! Try it next time you feel like having some sunshine in your life.

The best way to get over a hurdle is to help break it down, and with the sad situation in the Ukraine and other wars, well, help, find a way to support the people who are helping by donating, creating, communicating, being compassionate and all of that somehow feels like a breeze that pushed the clouds out of the way.

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CHINA contemplations Germany inspiration morning coffee talk Photography street street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~ 74/365

Sometimes it feels to me that I am cycling through my life in a comfortable pace and watching events happen around me as if on a movie screen.

But every once in a while an opportunity for change and elevation shows itself and somehow because of being so comfortable on the bike, I choose to look away.

Change means risk, discomfort, letting go of what we know, learning to adapt to a new situation and deciding to take the steps towards it without seeing the end of the road. A journey towards the unknown.

Change takes courage, will and determination and ladders are not easy to climb but climb them we will.

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CHINA inspiration Photography street street photography Uncategorized

Wanderlust~

yanghsuo portrait 2.jpg
an image of me meeting a local woman and child,  taken by a good friend on an adventure in Yangshuo, China, a few years back.

How gratifying it is to explore the spinning sphere we call home. Each time I plan a new trip, I feel a bubbling of excitement at the unknown that would undoubtedly meet, the amazing people who cross my path and the images my camera would capture. It is as soul nourishing journey when I am far from my routine, away from the usual comforts of home and when I get the chance to push the limits of what I know. It makes me think of how knowledge was collected prior to the industrial revolution and the schooling systems that created machines for the industry; before that time knowledge was sought through experience, apprenticeship and exploration. What an incredibly esoteric experience.

Where is your next journey taking you?

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art inspiration Photography

Time, motion and perception~

Everything moves at various speeds in our world, even the the life we call ‘still’. How we perceive this motion in relation to space and time is key to composition.

Random morning thoughts on photography.

Day 74 of 365~

Image taken in the back alleys of Hongkou, shanghai, China

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CHINA contemplations Photography xinjiang

Breaking out of our self-made prisons~

self made prisons~ Kashgar

It has been said that the chains that bind us are mostly self-manufactured by our own self-esteem and pride. Personal development is an uncomfortable journey upward and into the unknown, if only we dare.

Day 54 of 365~ 

Image taken in the entrance to the old tea house in Kashgar, Xinjiang

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contemplations inspiration New York Photography

Worlds colliding~

Some days it feels as though it is just impossible to catch up with all what we task ourselves to do. It seems as though time is standing there as a slave driver and a grim reaper screaming: “it’s later than you think”. On days like that I take a deep breath and remember that the sun also rises tomorrow.

Good night lovely people out there~

Day 33of 365

Image taken in Brooklyn

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Germany Photography

Living at the surface ~

Do our lives seem to be moving faster and at a more hectic pace or are we cycling on the shallow edge of life? Our news and information arrives in short blips and headlines, we have less and less time to read a good book and we find ourselves running from task to menial task without taking a breath to reflect on anything deeper than surface level.

I was speaking to my daughter about an upcoming school trip she has where for one week she must leave her phone behind. She was absolutely baffled for a moment about the absurdity of the concept and how life as she knows it will not be the same. We all need a holiday like that from time to time. Life is waiting.

Day 7 of 365

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CHINA inspiration Photography Yunnan

The Good People

The way to explore slowly
The way to explore slowly

Life is slow in Yunnan. People walk with no rush; the fields can wait. The clouds change form in slow motion; the lush mountains are great company. Even the birds chirp melodically and without strain; it’s just the way it is. In a place like that, a bicycle fits so well for exploring at the speed of the land. I came upon a child and his grandfather walking with their shadows along the rice fields and enjoying the caressing rays of the gentle sun. I got off my bicycle and began photographing them after getting their clear unspoken agreement. Then I saw alarm in their eyes as they gestured towards me; I turned around and watched my bicycle tumble with my second camera and my bag into the rice field. This man with grace, ease and a smile, put his grandson down, helped me lift my now damaged mode of transportation, with its dislocated wheel. He gestured to me and we communicated with my limited Mandarin as he helped carry my bicycle back the other way towards his home, his little grandson following us shyly. The man asked me to wait as he brought out his toolbox and slowly and methodically fixed the wheel and tested it. He smiled and his granddaughter joined them as they posed for a last photograph before I took off feeling lighter, happier, and grateful for the good people who give without counting the cost, who help because it is human to do so.

warmed by the sun and a grandparent
warmed by the sun and a grandparent

the good people
the good people

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art CHINA Photography shanghai street

The Comforts of Anonymity

passer by~ Shanghai alley
passer by~ Shanghai alley

Anonymia, Greek for nameless, the state of us urban dwellers to each other. This suggests that our names define us and and who we have become in so many different ways. Being a stranger in the big city can be so comforting to those of us who opt for this lifestyle. We can be who we want to be if we choose to; those that don’t know us cannot fix us with their preconceptions, and this gives us room to grow and to change if we are so inclined.

Yes, it might be time for a name change…

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CHINA contemplations inspiration Photography shanghai street

The urban flow~ Shanghai

an urban moving story~ Shanghai

an urban moving story~ Shanghai-2 an urban moving story~ Shanghai-3 Big cities have this way of resembling beehives, busy, constantly moving. Most of these urban centers are jarring, fast, harsh, noisy, and unforgiving to all that is slow. Not Shanghai. Shanghai has a gentle flow about it, where people just glide by on their bicycles, slow enough to examine life around them and nod with recognition at friends in their neighborhood. A bicycle and tricycle culture, so much is moved around on wheels. As long as tradition lasts, this will be (at least to me) the greatest charm of Shanghai.