Good Morning,
So for those of us who think we are sitting at home or standing still, ponder this:
Our planet is spinning around its axis at a speed of 1000 miles/ hour
It is also rotating around the sun at a speed of 67,000 miles/ hour
and our Milky Way is spinning around at a speed of 130miles/SECOND or 1.3 million miles/ hour!!!
And you, me, and the neighbour’s cat can stand still and balance on one foot (well not the cat) !
Summer weather and the start of some kind of normalcy in Düsseldorf bring a sigh or relief after months of lockdown. This past weekend I sensed a feeling of liberation in people as they strolled around in the city streets and waited in line at restaurants and cafes.
Is this the beginning of the end of the pandemic? Will the new normal every look like the old normal? One thing is sure: we all went through a dramatic change on a very deep level and my instinct tells me that more change is on its way.
It’s always a good time to restart a blog, but there is something more compelling about living through:
Yesterday I decided to just go see what other people are doing during this almost 10 days of unusual arctic temperatures in Germany. So after spending one hour trying to remove thick ice from the car, I made it on the icy roads to Duesseldorf, to find joyful people, walking in the bright sun, on white frozen snow, next to a Rhein River in high tide, some masked, some not and I was in awe of finding out how much I missed people in general, the passing conversations with strangers and the funny smiles I get when I perform my weird acrobatics to get strange angled shots.
what have you been up to these days?
For so many of us, much has changed in the last few months. I thought it would be important to make note of some of these altered perceptions in case we forget. Perhaps some of these changes would be good to keep the process and results of as we move into our future.
This video contains a collection of thoughts and images from some lovely people from around the world.
Thanks again to all who participated in this ongoing lockdown project!
At this time, when ‘physical distancing’ has become a daily used term, what kind of an impact has this had on us all? Those of us who are used to being with other people on a daily basis, the extroverts who thrive with social contact, the teenagers who miss the daily get togethers that fill their day with purpose, and even the introverts, how are we dealing with the new normal under Covid-19 lockdown?
The concept of ‘human connection’ is taking on a new meaning and invites a new definition, so I put out the challenge this time to my photographer friends to come up with words and images to go with their new understanding of human connections. Here below is the work we did.
Enjoy!
Part two of this collaboration from artists and photographers putting an image and words to a concept was about ‘peace of mind’. Here is the result:
Two months ago, lockdown began as a precaution for the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany. I had to find a creative way to change the way that my busy and very active photography meetup group of over 2000 members meets and keeps on finding inspiration.
So the photographing a concept came to life. The first idea was to invite everyone to try and photograph ‘hope’. The results (photographs and words to go with them were sent to me and we had a short zoom meeting afterwards to reflect on the process and share the work). I had no idea what would happen. To my surprise the process caught on immediately and attracted people from outside the group who saw the posting on facebook. The results were so inspiring to me and the process has kept us all busy week after week (we are up to project 5 by now). I will be sharing the presentations from each of these here starting with ‘hope’.
Great weather has been our blessing here in the North-Western part of Germany since the lockdown over Covid19 began a few weeks ago. Mild weather, Spring bursting with color, birds chirping loudly and clear skies that go on for miles. That all somehow seems to soften the blow of the sad news of death and illness coming from all parts of our beautiful globe.
Last night was the second night of the super pink moon and I mustered the stamina to get out to the fields at moonrise to catch a glimpse, feel and an image of this beautiful phenomenon. I waited in the deserted dark field outside of our neighborhood for over two hours waiting and wondering if the moon has forsaken us. It was a clear sky shimmering with stars, but no moon to be seen. I called my friend Donna in New York to make sure she really saw it last night and that was a special moment connecting across the globe and chatting about our spinning sphere and the other spheres around it.
To make a long story concise, there was one single cloud and the moon was playing hide and seek behind it giggling and keeping me in quarantine in the dark field. I did some fun light painting as I waited and then chased the moon for a glorious half-hour as it emerged mimicking an orange sun. What a great reminder of how small we are and how beautiful our world is and how much there is still to explore.
Here are some images, some of just the moon in its showing off phase, and others are fun manipulations that I was tempted to create.
Wishing you all health and well being…
