I am on a journey of many destinations with not just having to learn about photography and my camera.

I am also learning about my own tastes and style.

Life is a fleeting dance, a delicate balance of moments that unfold before us, never to return in quite the same way again.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

wystarczy

czyjaś obecność

która nie pyta

nie naciska

nie znika

i mówi bez słów

zostań

dom

– Martyna Sulewska

Fall

let´s go back to the first date

let´s go back to the first coffee

let´s go back to the first laugh

let´s go back to the first talk

let´s go back to the first kiss

let´s go back to the moment 

when we didn´t care about

tomorrow.

– Giuliana Moretta

“Every thing that you love, you will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form.”

~ Franz Kafka

There has fallen a splendid tear
From the passion-flower at the gate.
She is coming, my dove, my dear;
She is coming, my life, my fate;
The red rose cries, “She is near, she is near;”
And the white rose weeps, “She is late;”
The larkspur listens, “I hear, I hear;”
And the lily whispers, “I wait.”

She is coming, my own, my sweet;
Were it ever so airy a tread,
My heart would hear her and beat,
Were it earth in an earthy bed;
My dust would hear her and beat,
Had I lain for a century dead,
Would start and tremble under her feet,
And blossom in purple and red.

from Maud (Part I)
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
A Monodrama

Regret is a bitter pill to swallow, a weight that bears down upon the soul with the burden of missed chances and unspoken words.

So, let us not leave anything for later. Let us seize the moments as they come, with hearts open and arms outstretched to embrace the possibilities that lie before us. For in the end, it is not the things we did that we regret, but the things we left undone, the words left unspoken, the dreams left unfulfilled.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

“Am Ende musst du nur den Menschen mögen, den du beim Blick in den Spiegel siehst. Sonst kannst du keinem anderen helfen und nichts bewegen auf der Welt.“

Christian Baron, Drei Schwestern

and if someone gives you a flower, don´t offer them your entire garden 

— that you took years to grow;

remember – how long you took to become, the reason your feel safe is because ypur roots run deep, and anyone who wants yout to grow won´t ask you to pluck your flowers.

baneen kashaf

Later, the coffee gets cold,

Later, people grow up,

Later, words go unsaid

Later, you loose interest,

Later, opportunities slip away,

Later, the day turns into night,

Later, you regret not doing something,

Later, life goes by…

And you had the chance.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Als es Zeit für die Predigt wurde, stieg Vater Tadeusz auf die Kanzel und blieb lange Zeit schweigend stehen.

Er sagte, er werde zu uns über Geschichte und Leid sprechen, obwohl dies nicht das übliche Thema für eine Osterpredigt sei.

Er machte eine Pause, als erwarte er einen Einwand.

Dann begann er. Ich kann mich nicht an alles, was er sagte, genau erinnern, doch seine Predigt hielt die Kirche für die kurze Zeit, die sie dauerte, in gespannter Aufmerksamkeit. Wir sind ein Land, sagte er, dass von seiner Vergangenheit besessen ist. Und dafür gibt es einen guten Grund, denn immer war unser Land eingezwängt zwischen zwei erdrückenden, gegnerischen Mächten, den germanischen Völkern auf der einen Seite und den mächtigsten Slawen auf der anderen – die einen immer ehrgeizig und die anderen ewig von einem Minderwertigkeitsgefühl geplagt. Die geographische Lage, sagte er, und sein Ton war hier der eines Lehrers, hat uns ihren Machenschaften und allzuoft ihren einmarschierenden Armeen ausgeliefert. Historiker und Professoren haben uns diese Kräfte erklärt, uns zum Beispiel gelehrt, wie Polen – immerhin zehn Prozent der Landmasse Europas – tatsächlich von der europäischen Landkarte für hundert Jahre verschwinden konnte. Sie waren gute Lehrer, sagte der, wir verstanden ihre Geschichte und verstehen sie noch heute.

„Doch es gibt auch eine andere Geschichte“ sagte er. „Und es gibt andere zehn Prozent.“ Seine Stimme wurde höher und lauter. „Ein Zehntel unserer Bevölkerung, Menschen, die mit uns zusammen lebten und arbeiteten und unter uns waren. Ihr wisst, wen ich meine. Sie sind nun nicht mehr da, und auch das ist Geschichte. Doch es ist auch Leid. Und es sind diese Geschichte und dieses Leid, die wir nur schwer anerkennen können.“

Er blickte auf die in Reihen von ihm sitzenden Kirchgänger. „Denk nur!“ sagte er. „Zehn Prozent sind nicht mehr da. Einfach so!“ Er machte mit der Hand eine schnelle, lautlose Geste.

Das war entsetzlich, ja. Doch was bedeutete es, das Verschwinden dieser besonderen zehn Prozent unserer Bevölkerung? Denkt einmal darüber nach, Brüder und Schwestern. Es ist, als wären diese Menschen ein verschwundener Stamm, nur daß sie keine großen Ruinen zurückgelassen haben. Bloß eine Art Hohlraum. Eine Leere. Etwas, über das man nicht spricht.“

[…]

„Für zu viele unter uns war das, was diesen Menschen geschah, kein Leid. Es war etwas Entsetzliches, aber kein Leid. Seht ihr, daß da ein Unterschied ist? Das Entsetzliche war nicht auf uns zurückzuführen. Man konnte uns nicht die Schuld dafür geben, und so konnten wir es auf gewisse Weise akzeptieren. Wir sollten das Leid akzeptieren, doch wir weisen es zurück, denn wir haben unsere eigenen Probleme, unser eigens Kreuz zu tragen. In Wirklichkeit sagen wir, daß diese zehn Prozent für uns anders waren – sie lebten unter uns, aber sie gehörten nicht zu uns. Wir sagen, ja, drei Millionen von ihnen sterben auf unserem Boden, doch auch von den Unseren starben drei Millionen in dem Gleiche Grauen. Und so haben wir keine Gleichheit, sondern einen Unterschied. Unsere und ihre. Unsere sind Polen, Ihre sind Juden

Das Gedächtnis der Wälder, Charles T. Powers

“Levity is that unseen force that lifts you skyward, whereas gravity is the opposing force that pulls you earthward. Unchecked levity leaves you flighty, ungrounded, and unreal. Unchecked gravity leaves you collapsed in a heap of misery,” she writes. “Yet when properly combined, these two opposing forces leave you buoyant.”
― Daniel H. Pink

if you can dream with a damaged mind and love with a broken heart,

you deserve this world and all of its treasures.

– unknown

“The influence of the senses has, in most men, overpowered the mind to the degree that the walls of time and space have come to look real and insurmountable; and to speak with levity of these limits is, in the world, the sign of insanity. Yet, time and space are but inverse measures of the force of the soul.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Over-Soul

“When you take a photo, you often take your own reality into your camera – the reality that you shaped in your mind – and not the real reality over there, whatever it is!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“It is our suffering that brings us together. It is not love. Love does not obey the mind, and turns to hate when forced. The bond that binds us is beyond choice. We are brothers. We are brothers in what we share. In pain, which each of us must suffer alone, in hunger, in poverty, in hope, we know our brotherhood. We know it, because we have had to learn it. We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach out our hand. And the hand that you reach out is empty, as mine is. You have nothing. You possess nothing. You own nothing. You are free. All you have is what you are, and what you give.”
― Ursula K

“The body, she says, is subject to the force of gravity. But the soul is ruled by levity, pure.”
― Saul Bellow

“Wciąż jestem taki sam, istota błąkająca się bez konieczności, wygnaniec z własnej woli, człowiek nie znający odpoczynku, wieczny podróżnik, który gnany głosem wewnętrznym nie buduje, nie kupuje, nie uprawia żadnej ziemi, ale przechodzi, patrzy, zostaje chwilę i odchodzi”.

― Henri Frederic Amiel, Dziennik intymny

“Desire makes life happen. Makes it matter. Makes everything worth it. Desire is life. Hunger to see the next sunrise or sunset, to touch the one you love, to try again.

‘Hell would be waking up and wanting nothing,’ he agrees.”
― Karen Marie Moning

“Jeżeli jest” Agnieszka Osiecka

Na naszą słabość i biedę, niemotę serc i dusz.
Na to, że nas nie zabiorą do lepszych gór i mórz.
Na czarnych myśli tłok, na oczy pełne łez lekarstwem miłość bywa.

Jeżeli miłość jest, jeżeli jest możliwa.
Na ludzką podłość i małość, na oschły Boży chłód.
Na to, że nic się nie stało, a zdarzyć miał się cud.
Na szary mysi strach, bliźniego drogi gest, ratunkiem miłość bywa.
Jeżeli miłość jest, jeżeli jest możliwa.

Tu kukły ludźmi się bawią, tu igra z nami czas.
Tu wielkie młyny nas trawią i pył zostaje z nas.
Na to, że z pyłu pył i za początkiem kres ratunkiem miłość bywa.
Jeżeli miłość jest, jeżeli jest możliwa.

Na krajów nędzę i smutek, na okazałość państw, policję, kłamstwo i nudę, potęgę małych draństw.
Na nocny serca bój, że człowiek żył jak pies ratunkiem miłość bywa.
Jeżeli miłość jest, jeżeli miłość jest.

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

“When you take a photograph, things stay still.

The way that they were, is the way that they are, is the way that they will always be.”

― Victoria Schwab, City of Ghosts

“[…]the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road

“It is frightening to realize in full depth what it means to be a human being: that is, to realize that we are all embedded in the flux of generations, whose legacy of thought and feeling we irrevocably carry along with us. Most of us never become aware of the importance of this heritage that man alone of all mammals lugs forward through time. And seldom have we any notion how to make the most of our given burden.”
― C.W. Ceram, Gods, Graves & Scholars: The Story of Archaeology

“Darling soul, some of life’s richest moments come from the ability to laugh at yourself. We make errors; we blunder in the things we do. But this will never give another person the right to humiliate you.
There is no punch line in who you are. No joke that could ever be made at the expense of your life.
If someone seeks to embarrass you, they are taking it too far.”
― Courtney Peppernell, Mending the Mind

“Stillness is the most powerful virtue against all odds in life.”
― Aditya Ajmera

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you
The love of all man’s days both past and forever:
Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.

[A fragment of Rabindranth Tagire´s poem “Unending Love”]

What Are Heavy?

What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow:
What are brief? today and tomorrow:
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth:
What are deep ? the ocean and truth.

– Christina Rossetti

Bluebird
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I’m too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I’m not going
to let anybody see
you.

[A fragment of Charles Bukowski´s poem of the same title]

“Seasons flow in a cycle.
Life too, passes through difficult winters.
But after any winter, spring will follow.”

― Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Tales from the Café

“Who Am I?”

I am more than merely me:
I’m the hearts I touch, the air I breathe,
The thoughts I think, the things I see,
And the footprint that I leave.

You can find me in the ones I love,
In the thunder, rumbling high above,
In a goodnight kiss, or a friendly hug,
In butterflies and lightning bugs.

I am more than meets the eye—
From the smiles I give, to the tears I cry;
Between the laughter and the sighs,
I’m a compliment to a passerby.

(…)

– Jimmy Osborne

“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.”

– Francis Bacon

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

– John Muir

“You are part of the universe after all – at times, you are in control; other times, you are bound to let go and flow by witnessing the magic of this world, that’s part of being alive.”
― Alyaa Sadek, Equilibrium

can we just sit
on the floor
in silence
while i hold
what´s left
of my heart?

– Marina Aimée

“Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.”
― L.R. Knost

“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.”
― L.R. Knost

Don’t make yourself small.
Not for anyone.
If someone tells you
you’re too much…
too loud, too sensitive,
too fierce, too caring,
too intellectual, too optimistic,
too realistic, too logical, too emotional…
just smile and move on, my friend.
Clearly, they aren’t enough for you.”

― L.R. Knost

“There are people who are never completely happy. No matter what you do, they are always a little sad.”

–  Sara Stridsberg

“
I have one foot
stuck in sadness,
while the other foot
is in the doorway to happiness.
parts of me dance in the sunshine,
while the other parts
drown in the rain.
I am the one in the room
who laughs the loudest
while the grief stings
and pulls me backward.
I exist simultaneously
happy and sad,
and at any given moment
either one can the over.
don´t try to pull me
one way or the other,
because one can´t
exist without the other.
“
– Jessica Jocelyn

to heal a wildflower,
you must first go to her roots.
to get to her roots,
you have to go back to the beginning.
(…)

– Jessica Jocelyn

“Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting some on yourself.”

– Ralph Waldo Emmerson

“I do not want a life
that is wild and
filled with chaos.

I want a life that is soft
and gentle and filled with
warmth.

As thought I am the sun,
finding my way back after
days of rain.

I don´t want a life filled
with insecurities or unanswered
questions.

I want to be a home that you feel
safe in – I hope so much for this.”

– Courtney Peppernell

“Walking, I can almost hear the redwoods beating. And the oceans are above me here, rolling clouds, heavy and dark, considering snow. On the dry, red road, I pass the place of the sunflower, that dark and secret location where creation took place. I wonder if it will return this summer, if it will multiply and move up to the other stand of flowers in a territorial struggle.”
– Linda Hogan

“even
in the loneliest moments

i have been there
for myself.”
— Sanober Khan

“What’s your name?” he asked above the roar of the music.

She leaned close. “My name is Wind,” she whispered. “And Rain. And Bone and Dust. My name is a snippet of a half-remembered song.”

He chuckled a low, delightful sound. She was drunk and silly, and so full of the glory of being young and alive and in the capital of the world that she could hardly contain herself.

“I have no name,” she purred. “I am whoever the keepers of my fate tell me to be.”

He grasped her by her wrist, running a thumb along the sensitive sknin underneath. “Then let me call you Mine for a dance or two.”

― Sarah J. Maas

“Why are you crying?”
“Because,” she whispered, her voice shaking, “you remind me of what the world ought to be. What the world can be.”
― Sarah J. Maas

Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

“You owe me.”

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.”
― Hafiz

“Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?”
― Shel Silverstein

“What’s your name?” he asked above the roar of the music.

She leaned close. “My name is Wind,” she whispered. “And Rain. And Bone and Dust. My name is a snippet of a half-remembered song.”

He chuckled a low, delightful sound. She was drunk and silly, and so full of the glory of being young and alive and in the capital of the world that she could hardly contain herself.

“I have no name,” she purred. “I am whoever the keepers of my fate tell me to be.”

He grasped her by her wrist, running a thumb along the sensitive sknin underneath. “Then let me call you Mine for a dance or two.”

― Sarah J. Maas, The Assassin and the Underworld

‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.’ – Mark Twain

“You don’t need to play every ball but every ball needs your judgement.”
― Amit Ray

If I had to answer the question of what is photography, I would answer that the creation of an image, the basis of which is independent thinking. If someone were to ask me what life is all about, I would answer similarly – that life is about thinking for yourself every minute of its duration.

– Michal Konrad

“I was not a pet, not a doll, not an animal.
I was a survivor, and I was strong.
I would not be weak, or helpless again
I would not, could not be broken. Tamed.”
― Sarah J. Maas

“I am broken and healing, but every piece of my heart belong to you.”
― Sarah J. Maas

“To the stars who listen—and the dreams that are answered.”
― Sarah J. Maas

MEDITATIONS
by
YVETTE VIETS FLATEN

A long walk alone in the rain.
Puddles grow, drips shower,
sidewalks glisten. No voices,
no cars passing, gentle drumming
of drops on the umbrella.

The lap of lake water against
a hull, subtle curl and kiss,
a gentle lift and sink against
the bosom of waves, silent swell
rising like easy breath.

The warmth of welcome rest
after the world’s work. Heady
and solemn, a dampening of care,
to drift away into the sure embrace
of the boundless peace of sleep.