Do you dream in color or monochrome? I have had this wish to recreate dreams in visual designs and until I started to learn motion design, this was not even a remote possibility. I am loving this journey of expanding my skillset to include live footage, animation, photography and sound design. I believe that we should never stop learning new skills and sharing them.
What new skills are you learning?
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”.
One of my favorite things about big cities is movement. People moving, going places, coming from places, going up stairs, crossing roads, cycling, running, walking and playing a part in rotating the great metropolis wheel. It’s the urban magic waiting for us photographers on every corner.
Behind the modern facade of Shanghai and the fashionable lifestyle of its rich, is a world of tradition hidden in the city’s old alleys. Every week when I visit these neighborhoods, I find less and less of them left. The city is changing so rapidly and the new has no room for the old. Modernization is consuming tradition and Starbucks cups are quickly replacing the famous tea containers of the Shanghainese. A paradise for street photographers, I feel so lucky to have lived in Shanghai as long as I have.
Every stitch on her costume, every threaded bead she decorates herself with, every wrinkle on her face plays a part in telling her story, a life so different to ours, a world so alien to 21st century culture, an existence rising out of old traditions, she belongs to a tribe that allows strangers no access. All I could capture was the sense of her presence and the few photographs that I always hope could link to the state of standing in front of these amazing people.
So many have walked, are walking and will walk this earth. How indelible of a shadow are we going to leave behind? Is our life going to be forgotten or will there be anything in the universe that would have been positively impacted by our lives and how we lived them?
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?
I dream of a world were we can walk together looking forward with a sense of mission and not at each other with suspicion
I dream of a time when we see with a clear vision and not be hindered by wars, disputes and division
I dream of seeing the day when the fog finally disperses and humans can champion the onset of future forces
Today I end this journey back into the past. It has been very enlightening for me to revisit some of the places I have been to and deepen my connections to them, but I feel moved to put an end to this and move forward into something new before the 365 days end on this project. Tomorrow is a new day and with it I will start a new project.
Wishing you all a very smooth ride into the new year and all the hidden possibilities it may bring.
With love from Germany!! xoxo