Categories
art contemplations morning coffee talk Photography Uncategorized

Daily Coffee Talk~ 76/365

When you have a few words to say, and you let the words fade, you are happy to be blank, to be in the moment, where words are not necessary.

Such is being inside the domain of art.

Categories
contemplations inspiration morning coffee talk Photography street photography UAE

Morning Coffee Talk~ 41/365

Photographed: Brigitte at Etihad Museum in Dubai

Good Morning,

Today I am writing from a higher place, from above the clouds. I just had my morning coffee on the plane that is taking me back home.

The last 13 days have been like a magic carpet ride of new impressions, inspiration and learning. I have seen a glimpse of what the future might look like and how the past continues to have its grip on present day generations.

Returning home is a process that is not only physical but also mental, emotional and spiritual. It’s a coming back to a gold state of stability that one works on building all their life.

I journey now back to my internal state, to my containment, to the gold.

Categories
contemplations Germany inspiration morning coffee talk Photography street photography

Morning Coffee Talk~ 20/365

Good Morning,

Every morning I wake up with a small excitement about what the new day may be bringing. This sense of unknown is there no matter how pre-planned the day or week is. Some part of it is never up to us, an unexpected event, an unusual encounter, a strange weather phenomenon, a rainbow, a new discovery, it could be anything.

I could never imagine a life where all is predictable, it would seem so robotic and unnatural to what a human is and is designed to do.

So with this new year arriving swiftly and intensely, I welcome change and the unexpected unknown.

I wish you a peaceful transition and hope that many good things show up at your doorstep.

This image was taken yesterday at the Kueppersmuehle museum in Duisburg (highly recommended).

Categories
art Germany museum Photography street photography

Rescued by Art~

On yet another gloomy winter day in Duesseldorf

museums and art galleries can save your soul
This image was created by using in camera multiple exposure of a photograph I took of a fellow photographer and an exhibited gallery photograph, I love what the camera did with the head and eye …
another in camera double exposure
who said a visit to the bathroom has to be boring!

All images taken during a meetup of photographers I organized last Saturday in Kunst im Tunnel museum in Düsseldorf.

A self portrait I created using shutter priority setting at 1/8 of a second
Categories
art CHINA Photography shanghai Uncategorized

The Unknown Beckons~

fullsizerender3fullsizerender10fullsizerender20

Isn’t every moment a step further into the unknown? We think we know where we are going, we have it all planned out, then life reminds us of the futility of our false certainty. I welcome the unknown, I want to live in the joy of discovery, to be surprised by life, to meet the future with an open mind.

I took these images today at the amazing James Turrell exhibit in Shanghai.

Categories
art Photography shanghai

Calling Home

The option to connect is there, at every moment
The option to connect is there, at every moment

For it to work, we must pick up the phone
For it to work, we must pick up the phone

We struggle all our lives to achieve higher understanding, to get closer to the truth, but most of the time we fail to make the first step.

Photos taken in Shanghai, at the Power Station of Art.

Categories
Egypt history Photography story

Day 8~ March 8th~ Egypt

the burial mask of Tutankhamun~ Cairo museum

 

The journey to Egypt was more a journey of feelings, sensing and of connection than that of collecting brain information. There were places and things in Egypt that let me ‘feel’ so much more than others. One of these beacons was the tomb of Tutankhamun.

The son of Akhenaten, king at age 9, reformer of religion from god Aten to god Amun, youngest Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, the young boy king was to die at age 18. There has been so much written and said about this enigmatic king and so much of it fails to meet logic.

One thing that was for me undeniable standing in the tomb where Tutankhamun’s mummy was found, despite it being a much simpler tomb than that of other kings, a soft and gentle cloud wrapped itself around the place and a great quiet, a stillness that I feel even now as I write this. The mummy was housed in 7 levels of gold and wood and it was discovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter.

the alabaster canopic jars of Tutankhamun

the burial mask of the boy king

 

Categories
Egypt history Photography

Day 6~ March 6th~ Egypt

Nofet~noble woman and princess

There is something so entirely remarkable about the statues and the art you see from ancient Egypt. Putting aside any feelings of eeriness and discomfort, the art feels somehow, yes, alive. It radiates, it vibrates, it holds your gaze, it stirs deeply…

And after doing all of that, it makes you think, question, dwell and contemplate. Someone once put out the rather obvious but profound observation that can be easily missed: “Why are teeth never shown in ancien Egypt? What is that all about?”

The seated statues of Nofret (Nefret) and Ra-Hotep (noble prince and Pharaoh’s son and princess) from the 4th Dynasty of Egypt were photographed in the Cairo museum, they stand about 1.2 meters high and are remarkably well preserved. The light on Nefret’s face is from a passing by guide’s flashlight.

Nofret and Ra-Hotep~ Cairo Museum

Categories
Egypt history life Photography story

Day 3~ March 3rd~ Egypt

Ka (ancient wooden statue with out-stretched set of arms above the head at the Cairo museum)

While searching and researching inside the realms of Ancient Egypt, the unseen comes into focus as the seen gradually gets blurred…

The ancient Egyptians believed that each person hosted in themselves a double, an electrical entity that ushered and guided them towards their true destiny. They called it the Ka. Their Ka was to live beyond the death of their physical bodies and mummifications served as preparations for homes that the Ka would one day return to inhabit.

Their lives were lived in great discipline as to remain pure and adhere to purpose because any deviation from purpose was an abomination of the Ka.

What was most haunting for me standing in front of this statue was the look in its eyes. It was the kind of look that can take you on a journey, far beyond where you would normally be.