At the end of the day, when all is done,
When we realize there is no rewind button to press,
What’s done is done,
All there is to do is learn from the past,
All there is to make is a better tomorrow,
And no matter what, there are jewels to be found,
In the sands of yesterday…
Good Morning,
Last night I dreamt of a man walking in the fog and woke up today to find a foggy world around me. But that’s another story.
Have you noticed how much time we spend capturing life in our devices without taking the time to feel it, sense it, be with it and understand it? I am guilty of that on account of my photography and I resolved to make myself put my devices away at times and just ‘be’ with what is trying to ‘be’ with me.
I can’t believe how fast this project is moving with already 45 posts done. Time waits for no one. It is later than we think…
Good Morning,
I am back in Germany getting readjusted to my routine and processing the 13 day journey I just had in the Emirates. Before it blurs into the halls of my memory, I thought to list 9 words that I would choose to describe the trip and my experiences. It’s a challenge to do this live here as I write the blog, so here goes.
1. Art
2. Sister
3. Reconnected
4. Warmth
5. Innovation
6. Future
7. Overwhelming
8. Tradition
9. Otherworldly
Luckily my camera will keep so much of this extraordinary experience alive. That’s another reason I love photography.
Upon first arriving in Istanbul, you are overwhelmed with the sheer amount of visual stimuli and with the unusual that makes the city what it is. Magnificent architecture, unique sounds and smells of its exotic cuisine and spices, the water ways surrounding it, and mostly the birds.
The seagulls and pigeons are everywhere, flying, fishing, communicating loudly and making themselves the stars of the show.
The birds complete the final touches on the spectacular canvas that is the city of Istanbul.
It rained most of the day today In Istanbul. Rain has this way of forcing it’s mood on you, doesn’t it? There is a sense of containment and going inwards, where if you had the choice, you would curl indoors with a book or bake cookies.
I love rain photography, when reflection, rain drops and moody skies abound. Istanbul delivers all that and more.
You can even find the smiles between all the grumpiness of bad weather if you search for them hard enough.
Summer weather and the start of some kind of normalcy in Düsseldorf bring a sigh or relief after months of lockdown. This past weekend I sensed a feeling of liberation in people as they strolled around in the city streets and waited in line at restaurants and cafes.
Is this the beginning of the end of the pandemic? Will the new normal every look like the old normal? One thing is sure: we all went through a dramatic change on a very deep level and my instinct tells me that more change is on its way.
Sometimes the world feels so vast, it’s people too many and the weight of it to heavy to bear. At those moments, and if you were a person that enjoys their own company with the endless mazes ripe with possibilities of self discovery, then the obvious result would be a self engineered containment. It can have the color of your own choosing, a palace on a hill or a hut on a beach, butterflies in its gardens or pebbles on its beach, the choices are endless.
So, I travel in my mind to my own palace of containment, letting my mind chart the journey and my spirit project the destinations.
Yes, our destinies can be re-written, by us.
The greatest part of living in Europe is the proximity of different cities with their varied history and culture and if you enjoy photography and travel as I do, then magic is just a few hours away.
Now being back home in Germany, the short journey feels like a pleasant dream added to my visual diary of this amazing world we live in.
One of my favorite things about big cities is movement. People moving, going places, coming from places, going up stairs, crossing roads, cycling, running, walking and playing a part in rotating the great metropolis wheel. It’s the urban magic waiting for us photographers on every corner.
Visiting the city we called home for almost 12 years is nothing short of strange at first. But within a day or two I felt the streets call me back with their charm, unique flair and warmth of the people. So little of the old city is left as the large construction projects drive forward leaving bits and pieces of the beautiful old alleys around the city. As I walk around and find huge empty lots and big buildings on the sites of my favorite alleys, I realize that all my photography over the years in Shanghai has been about recording history and vanishing alleys that are never to come back again…