When we are confronted with life changing events or the possibility of them, we tend to go inward and see life more clearly.
With the shocking onset of a war in an otherwise peaceful Europe, life becomes more real. Our senses are honed to feel, detect, and comprehend what is and might be going on around us. For a brief time, clarity replaces the fog and we become more human.
It is strange that it takes a war to make us learn the flag colors of the Ukraine, to become aware of its people, its history, and its current state of affairs because it is brought center stage at this time.
We become sensitized to the pain of others and feel a care that we previously were not conscious to.
The human and its behavior are a deep mystery to me.
There is so much that keeps me doing photography day in and day out for the last almost 30 years, but one of the most incredible reasons is the ability of a single photograph to take me back.
An image has the ability to encapsulate the moment and keep it alive beyond our memories, past our limited recollections and allows us to relive the impressions, the smells, the light and the sights that we witnessed at that moment as we freeze it in time.
And then if someone else can connect to the image and feel what we felt, then wow, mission accomplished.
Good morning from my desk somewhere in Germany on a cold winter day. It is dark still before 6 am with our very short daylight hours at this time of year. Candles are lit, Christmas lights are on outside and that makes the world around me brighter and cosier.
I created this photo with my daughter in the image at the start of the pandemic when we all was still new, unknown, and in our minds a very temporary state of affairs. Here we are now almost 2 years later, looking at a 4th wave in Germany and watching the world grapple with this virus.
Familiarity is a strange thing, isn’t it? We used to perceive masks as a strange thing as we lived in China, where they were a common sight, but then as we lived there almost 12 years, they became part of the normals. Then in 2019, to wear and see masks around us in the European streets felt extremely strange, until that again became the normal, but is it?
Will we look back at this time of our lives and see it for the strange and impactful part of human history that it really is?
Hoping you are healthy, safe and happy wherever you are…
Windows to the soul~ Pandemic days~ Through glass windows~
Waking up on the second morning here in Istanbul to the sound of the call to prayer, a stark reminder of where I am, traveling again, exploring the amazing quirkiness of another culture and the inner worlds of other people.
What first met me in Istanbul on this trip was incredibly unrelenting traffic jams, impossibly busy streets, strange smells and sounds, enchanting architecture and local color, but most importantly, HUMANITY.
It’s a great reminder of why I love to travel and why I do what I do. It’s the people. The common thread that binds us all together, we are born here on this planet and find ourselves in this strange, difficult at times and yet irresistible journey of life, finding hope around every corner.
It took coming to a place like this to reignite my wish to write and share these impressions…
From a hotel room overlooking the ferry station in kadikoy, it’s 6 am, still dark and I can hear and see the rain washing this bustling city.
Sometimes the world feels so vast, it’s people too many and the weight of it to heavy to bear. At those moments, and if you were a person that enjoys their own company with the endless mazes ripe with possibilities of self discovery, then the obvious result would be a self engineered containment. It can have the color of your own choosing, a palace on a hill or a hut on a beach, butterflies in its gardens or pebbles on its beach, the choices are endless.
So, I travel in my mind to my own palace of containment, letting my mind chart the journey and my spirit project the destinations.
These recent images from my Instagram page have been titled “chasing spirits”, and for the first time I find myself seeing a distinct line running through these street portraits that were taken by me in different Asian countries but solicit the same emotional reaction from me. There is something that draws me in to the internal processes of strangers through the maps of their faces, the history recorded in their eyes and the roadmaps of their lives in every line and wrinkle that cause me to pause and wonder: what drives me to chase these images and irks me to go to more places and stop, look and capture? It’s a strong driving force that never relents and I am hoping that after the chase, the cause may reveal itself. It’s a journey of passion and every moment brings me closer to myself…
MIMO KHAIR OF GERMANY WAS AWARDED THIRD PRIZE IN THE PX3 2018 COMPETITION.
PARIS, FRANCE
PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS (PX3) ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF PX3 2018 COMPETITION.
Mimo Khair of Germany was Awarded: Third Prize in category Portraiture for the entry entitled, ” I love you .” The jury selected PX3 2018’s winners from thousands of photography entries from over 85 countries.
Px3 is juried by top international decision-makers in the photography industry: Carol Johnson, Curator of Photography of Library of Congress, Washington D.C.; Gilles Raynaldy, Director of Purpose, Paris; Viviene Esders, Expert près la Cour d’Appel de Paris; Mark Heflin, Director of American Illustration + American Photography, New York; Sara Rumens, Lifestyle Photo Editor of Grazia Magazine, London; Françoise Paviot, Director of Galerie Françoise Paviot, Paris; Chrisitine Ollier, Art Director of Filles du Calvaire, Paris; Natalie Johnson, Features Editor of Digital Photographer Magazine, London; Natalie Belayche, Director of Visual Delight, Paris; Kenan Aktulun, VP/Creative Director of Digitas, New York; Chiara Mariani, Photo Editor of Corriere della Sera Magazine, Italy; Arnaud Adida, Director of Acte 2 Gallery/Agency, Paris; Jeannette Mariani, Director of 13 Sévigné Gallery, Paris; Bernard Utudjian, Director of Galerie Polaris, Paris; Agnès Voltz, Director of Chambre Avec Vues, Paris; and Alice Gabriner, World Picture Editor of Time Magazine, New York.
ABOUT Px3:
The “Prix de la Photographie Paris” (Px3) strives to promote the appreciation of photography, to discover emerging talent, and introduce photographers from around the world to the artistic community of Paris. Winning photographs from this competition are exhibited in a high-profile gallery in Paris and published in the high-quality, full-color Px3 Annual Book.
This man sat quietly smoking on the edge on the bustling Champs-Élysées as people walked all around and birds flew by. He was still there on my way back an hour later.
PRESS RELEASE