Categories
CHINA Photography

Yunnan’s Smoke Culture~

Yunnan's smoke culture
man with pipe

Going back through images from a past trip to Yunnan’s Honghe area. I am planning a return visit to the region very soon. This is the first of a series on images of smoking inside the traditional life of the ethnic minorities residing in Yunnan.

Categories
life Photography story street Yunnan

The clouds of his mind~ Yunnan

the clouds of his mind~ Yunnan
the clouds of his mind~ Yunnan

Men puffing out tobacco smoke has become such a common daily sight for us living in China, people smoke in the rain, on bikes, while working, in classrooms, and sometimes even while eating! Yunnan was no different. The ladies smoked their pipes leisurely while the men smoked cigarettes and water pipes. The tobacco fields can be seen spread out for miles around the valleys and mountainous regions of Yunnan and the smoking traditions thrives.

This man was sitting in a small one room restaurant in a marketplace and he enjoyed his tobacco while I photographed him feeling almost proud and theatrically demonstrating his skill at exhaling the clouds above his head.

Categories
CHINA inspiration old age old people Photography Yunnan

from the heart~ Yunnan

from the heart~ yunnan~ China
from the heart~ yunnan~ China

A woman from the Yi ethnic minority with her traditional square hat laughing with all her heart at the market after my friend showed her her image on the camera screen.

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old people Photography street Tokyo

The ultimate contradiction

the ultimate contradiction ~ Tokyo
the ultimate contradiction ~ Tokyo

We struggle to protect ourselves from what we perceive as threats only to balance those threats with what gives us pleasure. We tend to somehow negotiate a deal with ourselves that makes it all ok.

Categories
art CHINA inspiration life Photography shanghai street

lost in life’s great theater

lost in life's great theater~ actor~Shanghai
lost in life’s great theater~ actor~Shanghai

Every moment is an act, every action a drama, when passion leads the way…

Categories
art CHINA contemplations inspiration life old people Photography shanghai story street

Let me spin you a tale

with every puff of smoke, a story flows
with every puff of smoke, a story flows

I was walking in an old street in Shanghai with my camera taking in all the sights, smells and noises of the crowded narrow lanes when an unusual sight drew me in. I looked inside a smoky large room packed with  rickety tables, chairs, tea pots, and men in hats, so many men in hats. I walked in and after I stopped being looked at as the stranger in the village, I began to be approached by the curious of the gathered men. Each wanted to tell me stories, because this is what we humans do, we carry our his-story with us, in our minds, our hearts, etched on our faces and we long to tell them and to pass them on before we leave, so that parts of us can stay behind and make an indelible mark. I listened and tried my best to comprehend, but the best story this man can tell is written all over his face and I present it to you here in this frozen moment…

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art CHINA inspiration life shanghai street

Is this the final destination or does the journey go on and on?

In transit~ Shanghai
In transit~ Shanghai

It is the biggest question of all! Are we here only for this lifetime? Do we go on afterwards? Why can’t we remember where we came from? Does it make any sense for it to end here? What kind of a bad investment would that be?

The questions that haunt us all and the answers that we think we are so sure of, but are we? No one has been there and back yet, have they?

Categories
CHINA contemplations Photography shanghai street

Gateways to the soul

Gateways to the soul
Gateways to the soul

So much power can travel from and between human eyes, intensity, excitement, alarm, fear, inspiration, hesitation, suggestion, avoidance, guilt, pride, strength, wisdom, glow, inner beauty, and so many other emotions and radiations, too many to list here. Gateways to the soul? Portals of higher communication? However we see them, once the mouth is masked as it often is in Asia, I find that the eyes intensify as it does in other places around the world where only the eyes are shown.

Categories
CHINA Guilin Photography Travel

Day 27~ December 27th~ Guilin

The beautiful yao
The beautiful yao~ on the Longji ricefields

The Yao, one of the 54 recognized ethnic minorities in China, number over 2 million and retain today many of their original traditions. Bright colors and silver adorn them and mountains are their preferred settling places. They form part of the colorful mosaic that China is.

Categories
art contemplations Guilin inspiration life Photography

Day 13~ December 13th~ Guilin

every boat needs its boatman
every boat needs its boatman

… so is our soul to our body, that would otherwise roam the world aimlessly…