What is it that causes people living on islands and in remote places to be drawn to decorating their own bodies? Why are tribal people painting their faces and their chests with different colors? What specific purpose does that practice serve?
a search in art about art for art…
photo taken: a local artist detail while engrossed in his painting on a beach in Boracay.
A warm comfort that all Asians share is tea, and there is a world of tradition in there…
You can be walking down the street, inside of your little bubble of thoughts and contemplations, and suddenly a little child starts addressing you without any inhibition, as if they are picking up a conversation you were having just a moment before. Children have this great freedom about them, a fluidity, an openness and a matter of factness, that we as adults wish and long to possess. But for them, it is part of who they are, or the part they haven’t lost yet. This is one of the reasons I love photographing children so much, their essence comes right at you, into your lens, impressing itself on you. Is this what ‘being oneself’ all about?
Small things draw out our softer side. We see babies and we change our behavior immediately, we smile, we speak softly, we ‘ooo’ and we ‘aaaa’ at them. Babies and little creatures are simply so cute and we are programmed to want to care for them and protect them, most of us at least. And it is a very clever programming as you would expect from our maker for the benefit of the little people.
photo taken: baby snail on Lea’s palm
Nature is to most of us a place of peace and harmony. It is so because its laws are constant, reliable, reassuring. The sun rises every day, the moon keeps its regular cycle of waxing and waning, the seasons keep their repetitive cycle, the flowers keep blooming in the Spring and the bees keep coming back for their nectar.
This sense of harmony and rhythm is soothing, pacifying, pleasing to the human soul. When we are feeling a lack of harmony, a slow walk in the forest or in a garden has a magical way of realigning us and even helping us in our decision-making process. Much I feel has to do with a slowing down that happens which allows us to be in synch with nature.
So a walk in the woods~ it can reveal so much when done at the right speed and with the right intentions.