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CHINA inspiration Photography street street photography Uncategorized

Wanderlust~

yanghsuo portrait 2.jpg
an image of me meeting a local woman and child,  taken by a good friend on an adventure in Yangshuo, China, a few years back.

How gratifying it is to explore the spinning sphere we call home. Each time I plan a new trip, I feel a bubbling of excitement at the unknown that would undoubtedly meet, the amazing people who cross my path and the images my camera would capture. It is as soul nourishing journey when I am far from my routine, away from the usual comforts of home and when I get the chance to push the limits of what I know. It makes me think of how knowledge was collected prior to the industrial revolution and the schooling systems that created machines for the industry; before that time knowledge was sought through experience, apprenticeship and exploration. What an incredibly esoteric experience.

Where is your next journey taking you?

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art CHINA inspiration parenting Photography

Discovering the ladder of understanding~

ascension

This morning I was driving my daughter to her weekend Chinese class and we had a very interesting conversation. She was complaining about her inability to always find interest in continuing to learn Chinese whilst living in Germany and this took us to musings about the human brain and how we, humans have so much unused potential. It has been said that humans only use 10% of the brain capacity and once we push and struggle to learn  new things, we are perhaps activating otherwise dormant wirings in our brain and faculties. She became very interested in the process and walked to the class with a spring in her step.

Day 68 of 365~ 

image is a composite of a wall in Hong Kong and a closeup portrait of my daughter. 

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Photography

Preparing for a new adventure in Doha!

It has been a while after a very eventful summer, and slowly things are settling back into a routine here in Shanghai.

Michael Kistler and I are having another go at the ‘finding yourself in the streets’ workshops this Fall with one planned for November, 2015 in Doha.

fyits workshop flyer Doha

Also I had a very exciting TV interview with MTV Lebanon this summer, you can watch it here. Be warned, it’s the usual Lebanese mix of Arabic and English 🙂

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cambodia inspiration life Photography story street

Day 26~ May 26th~ Cambodia

“when there is a will there is a way”

For some, education is a valued gifting, and need is their sole motivation…

 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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art cambodia inspiration life Photography story

Day 14~ May 14th~ Cambodia

the joy of learning

In Sihanoukville there is a bright and wonderful project growing that brings hope and a better future for hundreds of children. The Cambodian Children’s Painting Project enrolls children in a program where their local staff and volunteers instruct them daily in painting, arts, and basic learning and help them to sell their artwork in order to have a better life away from the streets. I had the great chance to spend a few days with the children and staff of ccpp where my face hurt from the constant smiling, because being around such a bright endeavor, the only thing you can really do is smile. Happy children, joyful and caring instructors, warm volunteers, beautiful art, just a wonderful environment!

photo taken: Children during an english class at CCPP in Sihanoukville.

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Photography

Day Two Hundred Two, August 12, 2011

intensity

A word that is born in children and lives in their very essence. They zip through their first years with a great hunger to learn, to be, to run, to eat, to play, to see, to experience and they do that with a great intensity. And we often catch ourselves asking: “where do they get all this energy?” They are acting as a human is meant to be, uninhibited, free, soaking up the impressions of every single moment. I love observing them, photographing them, learning from them and I feel so lucky to parent one of them.

Photo: Lea in Estepona Port, Andalusia, Spain

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Photography

Day One Hundred One, May 3, 2011

hard and tough

We are born into our relatively short lives and from the very first moment we start fighting, to take our first breath of air, to overcome the pains of growth, then onto the defeats that come with learning all there is to learn, to then find our place in a competitive and cut throat world…It is hardly surprising that most of us grow a hard skin, a rough exterior that is cautious of all we meet until we deem it safe. Only then do we show the real we, the soft us.

as tough as bark