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Like a dream in transit
Like a dream in transit Aeroplanes came and went. Lost in thought, I watched the loading and unloading taking place right outside in front of me. Suddenly, the figure of a young woman glided into my field of vision and lingered there, an arm’s length away. She stood with her back to me. The contours…
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The universe in a forest
The universe in a forest I took this photograph in the same woodland as last week’s picture. I was fascinated by the illuminated green specks – leaves and reflections of leaves – in the middle of this very dark pool. But it was only when I looked at the photograph on the screen afterwards that…
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Primeval forests
Primeval forests Streams and pools in deep, dark forests heighten the primeval atmosphere. It takes my thoughts back to ancient times, hundreds of millions of years ago, when life first emerged on our planet; life that has since evolved slowly. In the right-hand corner of the photograph, part of my own shadow can be seen.…
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Sympathy
Sympathy A girl is photographing tiny red flowers against a backdrop of green leaves. Beautiful flowers. Beautiful girl. Her attentive gaze perceives colour, life and beauty in a minuscule detail of nature. Her gesture betrays a modest, sensitive spirit. And me? I see the outstretched arm, take in the whole scene at a glance and…
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Coincidence
Coincidence I walk under an archway, towards a square, and see a tree. The archway frames the tree beautifully. A woman crosses the square and something I cannot see catches her eye. She slows her pace, stops and takes a photo. My gaze, the woman, the tree: three points on a straight line. And I,…
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ENOIKIAZETAI
ENOIKIAZETAI In the spring of 2013 I happened to stay for a day or two in Livadia, a medium-sized town in Greece, in the vicinity of Mount Parnassos. I had time to explore the city and it struck me that the cafes and terraces were teeming with people, young and old. “They don’t let themselves…
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Non-objects
Non-objects My criticism of the large number of mirror works by Anish Kapoor in last week’s post, doesn’t do him justice sufficiently. He has made other, different works that deserve attention. Nevertheless I start here again with a distorting mirror work. Kapoor has named it a Non-Object, a title that fits many of his works…
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Distorting mirrors
Distorting mirrors I remember with delight the fun-fair that once a year pitched its tents in the small Dutch town in which I grew up. One of the attractions sometimes was a tent full of concave and convex mirrors in different sizes and combinations that showed the strangest, distorted reflections when one stood in front…
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Mirror images
Mirror images A mirror not only confronts us with ourselves, but can also reflect objects from a part of the room or space around us that would otherwise be invisible from our vantage point. Or it can reflect a side of an object that we would not be able to see without a mirror. In…
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Reflections
Reflections I love reflections and photographs that feature reflections. Reflections invite us to look more closely and encourage us to reflect – see my previous posts ‘Floating Baobab’ and ‘A stick in shallow water’. It is probably no coincidence that the word ‘reflection’ has these two meanings: a reflection or mirror image, and a thought…
καιρός remembered
… the right moment, position chosen, shoot …
καιρός remembered 