Drawbacks of these times

D300 - 70 mm, 1/160 sec f/8, ISO 640

Don't ask me what's written here. I don't know. I simply liked the sheer beauty of calligraphy on this old stone piece.
What I do know though is that I did feel a certain reluctance in liking it. Surely Japanese writing wouldn't have stirred this uneasiness. It surfaced to my mind without my knowledge and floated there until I acknowledged it.
The origin of this feeling is fear. Fear of another culture, an unpopular one, charged with aggressiveness, impenetrable to our values, supremely darkened by hideous events.
This is a shadow in our mind, a stain in our soul. Let it be washed away by the same Love that created us all.

Far and near

May your poet inside
be now ready to fight
and if newcomers come
let them try, I don't bite!

Those who dwell on this sphere
let me summon you all
Let the game begin here,
and then let it not fall...

[deadline is on April 5th, 2009]

Aquamarine: spirit

D300 - 105 mm, 1/320 f/8, ISO 800

Shall the spirit be round?
It's a question so deep,
an idea so profound
I'll be fallen asleep
ere an answer is found...

Unlikely perspectives

D300 - 12 mm, 1/30 sec f/4.0, ISO 1600

Twisted and alien seems the world

seen by foreign eyes.

Aquamarine: body

D300 - 105 mm, 1/320 sec f/11, ISO 800

Amazing what one can do with some sugar crystals and a sheet of colored paper... (oh.. I forgot adding an expensive camera, an even more expensive lens, the aid of a better than average lighting, time, passion and - last but not least - a home made liquor whose sugar residues on the jar bottom can be seen in this picture).

Kitchen flowers

D300 - 50 mm, 1/40 sec f/2.8, ISO 800

The only things they'll need to bloom
are a friendly smile
and a bit of wine.

Sexual habits of the rich and the poor

D300 - 105 mm, 1/200 sec f/2.8, ISO 400

Bon appétit...

Smiling Merlot

D300 - 105 mm, 1/200 sec f/2.8, ISO 400

A friend of mine complained about the recent lack of color photography: "Too much B&W! It makes me sad" she said. I am therefore thinking of shooting a series of colors, trying to capture one of the many meanings conveyed by them. Well... at least this is the intent.
The first one is this picture, "smiling merlot". Why the yellow? Up to your keen minds, the task to find an answer.

Nameless

D300 - 24 mm, 1/160 sec f/18, ISO 200

In the sun I hide

in shadow I disappear,

no matter how much I try

loneliness finds me,

as if it were my only friend.

Interlude X

J.S. Bach - Cantatas : "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"

How can our spirit die, for it was created eternal?
By forgetting what it is.

Waiting for...

D300 - 300 mm, 1/340 sec f/11, ISO 200

In time I have found

the meaning of my impatience,

justification to my efforts,

the emptiness of illusions.

But what I'm waiting for still eludes me

and it isn't a matter of time.

Horizon

D300 - 100 mm, 1/400 sec f/25, ISO 500

We often live as if we had a whole life ahead of us.

This is utterly false. We have eternity.

Far and near: Eight

D70 - 80 mm, 1/2500 sec f/25, ISO 200

One by one they opened their eyes
And found they could see in the dark.

Catherine Vibert

Reflections of light on deep dark waters
symbols whose key has long been lost.

Anonymous

Fish of light,
Swaying with the wind.

Nathalie Boisard-Beudin

Remembrance of first light
never fades.

Piacere

Constantly and everywhere we are reminded
we are but thought.

A. Chincarini

Architecture

D300 - 12 mm, 1/40 sec f/4, ISO 1000

It is a game of forces

sustaining our realities,

agreement of minds dreaming of their being.

How great an ingenuity

for a meaningless building.

A former lover

D70 - 300 mm, 1/30 sec f/5.6, ISO 200

Feelings, resurfacing

only to quickly hide

behind the thick curtain of conventionality.