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Flying birds
Flying birds The world of advertising isn’t the real world. The flying birds on the photo above in front of the big advertisement board of Giorgio Armani aren’t real birds. In that sense the two go well together. The beautiful woman and – sometimes – the handsome man on an advertisement photo are not available,…
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Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras This is again the weekend of the big Mardi Gras Parade in Sydney, attracting masses of LGBTQIAP people from all over Australia and the world. Two years ago I happened to be there with my wife, two simple H’s looking on in amazement. ….. Mardi non, Gras oui ….. LGBTQIAP: LesbianGayBisexualTranssexualQueerIntersexual (whatever that may…
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Katoomba
Katoomba or: nature sold as amusement park Come and discover the Scenic World of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains! With the Scenic Skyway (photo) one moves at 270 metres above the floor of the Jamison Valley in the highest cable car in Australia! If next you don’t go down into the valley with the Scenic…
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Yak horns
Yak horns Turning prayer wheels, as mentioned in last week’s post, and prayer flags fluttering in the wind, as mentioned in an earlier post, are effective ways of amplifying and spreading the positive effects of the sacred texts they contain. Another very ancient custom is the use of engraved stones or animal skulls and horns…
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As the world turns
As the world turns Praying whilst chatting with friends in the square … for Tibetans, this is possible thanks to their prayer wheels. Sacred mantras such as ‘om mani padme hum’ can be written repeatedly on paper in large numbers and placed on a scroll inside the wheel. It is believed that turning the wheel…
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Tibet café
Tibet café In this simple Tibetan café, we see a not necessarily hostile mix of people and their cultural expressions from China and Tibet. The large thermos flasks and at least one of the guests are clearly Chinese, whilst the lady with the impressive silver buckle is a typical, traditionally dressed Tibetan woman. The thermos…
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Waitangi Day
Waitangi Day On the 6th of February 1840 representatives of the British Crown and some 500 Maori Chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi (after the place where it was done), which guaranteed the Maoris right to their land and gave them the rights of British subjects. This sounds nice and generous, but the main thing…
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Bathing in paint
Bathing in paint We’re back at the Italian pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2011. In an earlier post I had called it a sort of junk art shop. The larger than life portraits of a man and a woman bathing are impressive. Look how true-to-life the water is flowing in plenty over their heads! The…
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Washing at the pump
Washing at the pump The lives of seasonal workers in the brickworks revolve entirely around hard work, eating and sleeping in tiny huts and, as we can see in this photograph, washing themselves and their clothes at the communal hand pump. What struck me so much last week in the photographs of women working in…
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Pillars of strength
Pillars of strength So there they are, India’s working poor! Especially the women. Without their constant dedication and care, the whole of society would collapse in no time at all. Although they are vulnerable to exploitation and even slavery, these migrant women workers in the brick factories have one advantage over their middle-class employers. Their…
καιρός remembered
… the right moment, position chosen, shoot …
καιρός remembered 