Categories
contemplations Global warming Photography

It’s a Mad Mad World~

Do you ever wake up, look around you, watch the news, survey the world and realise we are living what can be likened to an apocalyptic ‘Mad Max’ situation?

We seem to see this, live through it and carry on as if nothing strange is really happening. This baffles me about the nature of humanity.

We have had a pandemic, war, aggression, hunger, rising crime rates, shootings, destruction, rapid climate change, insane leadership, economic collapse in so many places, military take-overs, assassinations, to count only some of what one hears about every day, and still, we carry on as if all is normal.

We seem to let ourselves be hypnotised by the media, by influencers, by the next trend, by television, news of celebrities, the next meal, alcohol, drugs, sex and on and on…

Where is humanity heading towards? This maybe dark for some, but that is the issue. We turn away and abdicate the responsibility of shining a light on the darkness and we simply relegate it to a trend in history.

Isn’t this a signal to a big change that is desperately needed? Who are the thinkers and planners of the better future we are all striving towards? Who can think beyond their own mortality and plan for the good of future generations?

When will we finally wake up?

Categories
Germany Photography street photography

Discovering the streets of Duesseldorf ~

They say nothing improves without practice… those 10,000 hours.

I have started organizing this meetup group over 15 years ago in shanghai and for the last 5 years here in duesseldorf. We walk the streets almost once a week with cameras, photographing, exchanging tips and experiencing the life of the street.

I love walking alone to do my photography but the group events are just as valuable. Seeing how the same scene can be translated so differently for each photographer reasserts for me the uniqueness of each human and the magic of diversity.

Our next event will be in the streets of Paris! Stay tuned.

You can see more about my meetup group here!

Categories
children children's rights contemplations Germany inspiration morning coffee talk Photography street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~ 87/365

Today I saw a lot of children and young people enjoying the sun on a cold crisp day here in Germany and it made me think of this new generation.

They have to deal with so much and to inherit a broken world lacking in hope and riddled with corruption and warp.

The world today is so different to the one I had as a child. And yes, I did grow up inside of a civil war, but today feels somehow more volatile than that.

Things seem to be changing so fast and my hope is that change can happen in both directions. I know that sanity will return and morality still exists and good take up center stage at some point. It must…

Categories
contemplations Germany morning coffee talk Photography street photography war

Daily Coffee Talk~ 86/365

Have you every had the feeling that even when you are alone, you are really not?

In my mind, there is never a dull moment. Thoughts, ponders, queries, hopes, questions, memories, investigations, plans, connecting of dots, and yes, sometimes fears and worries.

I am finding it difficult to not be concerned about what is happening around me in Europe. How can anyone not be? But why are we feeling the pain of others so much more acutely? Has something changed in the conductivity of the world?

It is quite unfathomable what humans are capable of doing to other humans in the search of their own self glory and greedy agendas.

So myself is telling me today to keep going, to keep hoping, to continue sending strength and good thoughts toward the innocent people caught up in this crazy war and to know that there is always light behind the darkness.

Categories
china contemplations inspiration morning coffee talk Photography street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~ 69/365

Shanghai~ 2019

Hi my friends, today was another packed day with so much to do, most of which was done 😊.

Earlier a conversation stood out to me about our use and our reliance on devices throughout our daily lives.

How many of you actually learn people’s phone numbers by heart? Or do you, like me, rely on the stored contact list on your devices?

Take a scenario where you are traveling and you are about to check in only to realize your phone is missing. You want to show your boarding card but you can’t, you want to show your proof of vaccination, not possible, you want to call someone, definitely can’t. It’s a mini nightmare, isn’t it?

What is it that had caused us to focus our lives away from the big world into small virtual ones inside screens?

Don’t get me started on the meta verse! That’s need its own blog entry.

Categories
children contemplations human rights inspiration lebanon morning coffee talk Photography war

Daily Coffee Talk~ 66/365

The Lebanese Revolution~ November 2019~ Tripoli

On November 13, 2019, I was in Tripoli during the height of what had come to be known as the October Revolution in Lebanon. During those months, Tripoli was given the name ‘ the bride of the revolution’, because its people rose with power, with hope, and with an undeniable spirit to right what was wronged by a failing and criminal government of thieves and war lords in Lebanon.

What I met that evening was unforgettable. Simple and humble people gathering in the city square with music, art, food and a common cause. Hope tinged the air with gold and the enthusiasm was infectious. I found myself lifted to the platform where the speakers were addressing the crowds along with my camera and lenses.

The view from the platform of the revolution on Allah Square.

But looking back on the first image today, 2 years and 2 months later, I am heartbroken to realise that back then, the cry of the people expressed in writing on that wall in red : ‘your lies are causing our hunger’, was only the beginning of a disastrous economic collapse that has left these beautiful people below the poverty line with no end in sight.

I was born in Lebanon and grew up there in a scarring civil war that raged on for the majority of my young life, until at one point in 1987, I just picked up and left, never to return except for short family visits.

And today I watch with disbelief how my country continues to suffer, how its people go hungry without food, medication, electricity, water, infrastructure or money. I feel helpless about helping them and I struggle to understand how this can be fathomed and tackled without emotion.

I hope to photograph my country again in its glory, with it people happy and smiling, well fed and armed with dignity.

keeping the hope alive in you.
Categories
art contemplations Fine art morning coffee talk Photography street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~ 65/365

Lea at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea~

Hi everyone, wherever you may be,

I hope that everyone is doing well in the midst of all the uncertainty that swirls around us on planet earth these days.

At the end of the day, we all have so much to be grateful for. Here is my list of 10 for today:

*whatever created me and gave me life

* my beautiful daughter

* being alive

* being healthy

* having a home

* my fiends

* my brain

* my well functioning faculty

* coffee

* art being art and existing in this world

What are you grateful for today?

Categories
children contemplations Fine art inspiration Photography street photography thailand

Daily Coffee Talk~ 64/365

I dream in color~

Do you have time periods when your dreams become vivid , alive and filled with color?

I am currently having those type last of dreams and they leave me wondering about where we actually go in our dreams and what part of our faculties is actually active?

There are so many levels of dreams that you can detect and so many different kinds, it would take a lifetime of research to get inside of this mystery.

Do you dream in color?

Categories
children contemplations inspiration Istanbul morning coffee talk Photography portrait story street street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~ 63/365

Those moments in the street~ Istanbul

Hi from another one of a series of gray rainy days in Germany.

So many things keep drawing me back to the streets with my camera and we are now going on over 25 years!

One of those things is a memorable moment, where everything comes together to encapsulate a memory. A smile, a story, a writing on the wall and the experience gets encapsulated in an image, never to be forgotten.

This image was take in the Tarlabasi area of Istanbul.

Categories
china contemplations inspiration Photography street street photography

Daily Coffee Talk~ 62/365

At the end of the day, when all is done,

When we realize there is no rewind button to press,

What’s done is done,

All there is to do is learn from the past,

All there is to make is a better tomorrow,

And no matter what, there are jewels to be found,

In the sands of yesterday…