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CHINA Photography shanghai street

Behind the screen windows of Shanghai’s alleys

behind the window screens of Shanghai's alleys
behind the window screens of Shanghai’s alleys

Shanghainese women, famous for their strong personalities and their control of the household including their men have become a stereotype in China. The wife in Shanghai is known to make her husband hand in his whole salary at the end of the month and to only give him back a small portion as pocket-money as she sees fit. He also has a strict curfew for coming home at night and he is expected to perform certain household duties on top of his daily job. I took a sneak peek at some of these lovely ladies’ mahjong gambling activities in the afternoon behind a dusty window screen in one of the alleys of the old city, and strength is certainly a quality they emanate.

 

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CHINA contemplations friendship Guilin Photography street

Day 29~ December 29th~ Guilin

the card game
the card game

Where the seconds melt into minutes, and the minutes into hours, where conversations flow, where bonds are made, where friendships and money are made and lost… the village card game.

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art Boracay inspiration life Photography story street

Day 2~ August 2nd~ Boracay

stones, hands and bottle caps

If you were living in an island far far away, wouldn’t you invent your own games from what is available around you? Humans and their art…

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congo life Photography story street

Day 20~ April 20th~ Congo

in the game

One of the most precious gifts we humans receive upon our birth is the gift of choice and free will…

We have the faculties that allow us to think, evaluate, compare, investigate, evaluate and then based upon our findings make an informed decision. It is a the first and most important principle for our freedom.

But when this gift is stolen, taken away, then we are forced to live in oppression and to become the involuntary players in the games of others.

This boy was destined to become a player in a game of war, not by choice, he is far too young and far too vulnerable to make his way towards his freedom. He is a prisoner in one ugly scheme and it has drawn the old man out of the little boy.

And the game is till being played…

“May the odds be in his favor”… the quote that still haunts me from the recent movie “the hunger games”

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Photography

Day Two Hundred Ten, August 20, 2011

airport day!

Doing a 365 photography project, you are bound to have a day spent in airports. These days we find ourselves in transit so often and our children become expert travelers at such a young age.

I still remember my first flight as a child (from Lebanon to Cyprus) and how totally exciting it was for me to get on that flying machine that was almost too magical to comprehend. I still remember so many little details and the flights after that were counted on a diary page proudly as a great achievement in the world of adventures and quests.

Not for my daughter, she flies too much to keep count of her journeys, too often for it to be super special, and too easily available for it to be an achievement. Another strange onset of the modern world we are creating!

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Photography

Day One Hundred Sixty Five, July 6, 2011

living in a virtual world

And how many communication gadgets do you own and how addicted are you to them? Almost everyone I know flirts daily with at least one phone, one computer, one ipod, one ipad, one game with a wireless connection, among other newly invented virtual reality toys, and they spend a large chunk of the day engrossed in that world, that it becomes real. The virtual avatars, gravatars and buddy icons become as real as you and me (well you are probably virtual to me as I am to you anyway) and it is kind of scary. We are living the scifi movie that we watched and wondered at as children. These days you can even play a highly addictive computer game where you create your own alternate world and be with others in it, fall in love, meet new people, get a new career, that some end up preferring it to their real life and get sucked into it as they gradually lose their grip on their physical world. Just some thoughts that were triggered by the subject of my street photo.

Photo taken: a girl in Shanghai completely oblivious to me, the pedestrian and car traffic while texting