Tag: documentary

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children china contemplations inspiration morning coffee talk Photography street street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~ 61/365

I am still traveling through favorite moments in photography today and these images stand out.

During my travels through Yunnan, I often had a Polaroid camera with me to make instant photographs of people and mostly the children that I could offer to them as small gifts.

This process caused a huge amount of joy and fun at the surprise of seeing their images appear as if by magic and at times like this as in the second photo, an attack of little people trying to get their hands on the magical device, my Polaroid camera 😂.

But as a traveling street photographer, this is a great way of bringing the distance between you and local people you are meeting for the first time and trying to photograph them in a short time window.

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Istanbul Photography street photography

Istanbul~ Shadow Stories

Istanbul Shadow Stories~

On this trip, I was chasing the light as most street photographers do, to experience the extraordinary dimensions that it gives to ordinary life moment.

 Istanbul in the early morning, sunset or even high noon can look quite magical through the lens. It’s a city of almost 18 million residents, bustling with life, energy and that little extra something unique to it… every photographer’s dream.

I am on my last morning here and already planning a trip back in the future, inshalla…

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Germany Photography street photography

Monophobia~

The fear of being alone~ we all have it to some extent, the great anxiety that we will have no one to share our moments with, good or bad, the whole time forgetting that we are born alone and we die alone.

Maybe we should take a moment everyday to enjoy, value and make use of our own company, learning to meet and know ourselves a little better.

I once practiced a month of silence and discovered among many things that there was so much to be learned inside of the human complex I learned to call ”me”.

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CHINA inspiration Photography street Uncategorized

Forget me not~

miscalculated twist of fate~ Yunnan

As I go through my archives, I relive moments from my past travels and like a magical time travel machine, I find myself there again in the moment, looking into the eyes of other humans, feeling what I felt then and simply connecting.

This is one of the many reasons I love photography, the real connections that are made, human to human, where all the differences melt away.

Day 76 of 365~
Image taken in the remote village of Dayangjie, Yunnan, China

Categories
Photography

Magic in the Simple Things~ Myanmar

Most of what causes in us awe and admiration is mostly based in the simple things: air, water, clouds, light, fire, nature, and how humans interact with these simple things. Aren’t clouds magical? And reflections on water?

Colorful stilt houses on a reflective lake under white puffy clouds, a background of hills touching the sky and simple happy people navigating the waters. This creates magic and I can look at this scene again and again and be lost in its charm.

This image is but a poor attempt at capturing an awe inspiring scene and atmosphere.

Day 19 of 365

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Photography

Real Life Paused~ India

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After having travelled to faraway places, they become part of you. Their people, the colors, the smells, the feelings and emotions that define each place are always at hand ready to reconnect you to that place in a split second. It is the most amazing thing. And with photography: that connection is instantaneous. A frozen moment like this of  3 girls in a New Delhi slum comes to life and buzzes with feeling when I connect to it once again. And isn’t life a continuous stream of such frozen moments?

Day 18 of 365

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Photography

A Stark Reminder~ India

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There is a place on the bank of the Ganges River in the holy city of Varanasi, where more than 300 bodies get cremated daily and the ashes thrown into the river with the belief that the soul of the dead will be allowed a chance at a new life through reincarnation. Hindus from all over India and Asia carry their dead to award them that honor. I sat for a long time on a boat watching the burnings and the surreal picture they painted while this regal bird circled around the ghat reminding me of the certain mortality of the physical body. It was eerie in a good way, because life begs us to question death and death urges us to value life.

Image taken last April in Varanasi, India

Day 17 of 365

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Photography

Spirited~ India

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When you love photography and have the tugging urge to travel the world and see as many humans as you can, you end up staring into so many different faces. Some of these faces are simply unforgettable. This girl had a strength of spirit that radiated out of her as she stood there defiantly and curiously questioning the stranger in her village. She stood her ground and all I could do was smile in awe.

One of so many stories along the way…

Day 16 of 365

Categories
Photography

The Delightful Freedom Gained From a Simple Life~

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Over time I have come to believe that the simpler life is a secret key to satisfaction of the right kind. We often feel overwhelmed with our lives, with our possessions and the responsibilities that accumulate as an aftereffect of these possessions and where do we run to? A beach, a forest, a long walk, or a meditation. They say hard work is the best remedy for an idle and restless mind, and maybe something in our design needs us to be busy and rewards us with happiness.

This beautiful girl was walking along the village road with a sack of small rocks on her head that she was taking home for a small building project. I followed her for a while till she caught on and turned around and gave me this dazzling smile followed by shy giggles.  I was in the presence of pure and uncomplicated happiness.

Day 15 of 365

Categories
myanmar Photography

Unforgettable Mandalay~ 

Innocent, untouched, warm, human, uncorrupted, devout, kind, charming…. the people I am meeting in Myanmar. I find myself smiling constantly and feeling grateful to be experiencing a culture so rich, and I pray for the hands of our modern world to go easy in their inevitable plans of tourist invasions and homogenization. 

Day 2~ Myanmar