Orange City

Fall: Day 11 (Final)

 Walk in the Park

 Live Gold

Looking Up

Fall is ending, temperatures are dropping. Time to get ready for winter!

Fall: Day 10

 Translucent

Trapped in the Magical Forest

Fall: Day 9

 Fleeting Green

Diurnal Shade

Fall: Day 8

 Twisted Reflection

Fall: Day 7

Glory

Fall: Day 6

Magical Forest

Fall: Day 5

  Flaming Garments

Progressive

Fall:Day 4

Translucent Fire

Fall: Day 3

Vibrant

Ended Before Starting

One of the things I try to avoid in life, is having to ask the "what-if" questions.

Fall: Day 2

Life in Death

Faded Change

Fall: Day 1

Redhead

Decay and death are a mirage, for as the red leaf falls - it is all just a preparation for rebirth. Surprising, quick, budding rebirth. Not now, later. Quiet tranquility of changing seasons. Quiet, yet fundamental seasonal death, and a more violent, sudden spur to life. It's not a routine, it's a cycle. Life is stuck in routine. While cycles are natural.  

Not Yet Fallen

What is "now"? Now is just a moment of time. Located between past and future, it is infinitely small - almost untraceable. Oh, that's already a passed millisecond, look out here comes the future one! Yet the trees can feel the "now". Their difference between the naked future and the fully clothed past is longer, they live in a slower present. 

11 Days of Fall

11 Days of Fall is my project about falling leafs, fallen ordinariness, and rising beauty, as fall transforms my hometown like Cinderella - almost by magic. Aggressive colors and vibrant texture come as a wave, a fleeting one, but powerful enough to not only wash over the plants, but also affect the moods and the souls of the people. For 11 nonconsecutive days, I will be posting 2 pictures of fall, each time. Celebrating fall is more than celebrating beauty. It is also celebrating silent, but powerful change. I will attempt to capture this change and I will not write or comment - just speak through pictures.


Peace and serenity, cleansing the soul,
Life is in hideout, preparing to rest,
Quietly, suddenly, altered by fall,
As per mysterious, divine request,
Nature transformed.

- Unknown

New York

New York

Glass domes rise from the Earth, as per some science fiction novel of the 1800's. They represent the Climb, embodying the ascension of the individual and the nation's strive to the top. Ants, ants work in these glass catacombs, consumed by their bustle for shallow happiness that successful greed provides, being useless, dispensable as individuals - but forming a powerful organism together, the modern Corporation. It was interesting to walk on the streets of that dynamic world, inhabited by luck and greed and perfect timing, all three playing with people's fates within these towers of Babylon. 

Rest

Inspired by the lack of sleep.

Tonal Memories

 I'll Still Keep You In My Soul

Suppressed Dreams

Reaching to the Afterlife

A Walk Down the Trail

Just a picture of my hometown - Oakville. It can be described by many words and by many pictures. I could have taken photos of the lakes, or of the downtown. Of the villas in some regions, and of homeless shelters in others. But what I think describes it most are its trails - the serene atmosphere, and the fact that Oakville is one of the most ecological and green towns in North America.

I only uploaded one picture so far. During the fall, Oakville really turns beautiful - and that is when I will upload many more!

A New York Morning

A Real Barrier

Dark Blooming

Uprising

It's what's on the inside that matters, it's what's on the outside that counts. A pleasant exterior, your own polished brand, that is one of the quick keys to success. How could it be otherwise when success is not defined as a journey, but a destination - and as society designates, the journey to it should be at maximum short. So we seek quick fixes. That might be dictated by society, or it might be dictated by our mortality - yet we are still in the great competitive race. Except this is not the Olympics, so malicious determination is what is rewarded. But rewarded with what? Only with material gain (& usually just a prospect of such, a ghost), while all else is sacrificed in the great race, considered a ballast which keeps people from getting ahead. Success is a destination, but do people know where it is? Seemingly so, but once we get there - it always appears to be just a little bit further. And then in the end you get old and lose, just like all of the parties involved.

Fortunately, that isn't always the case. Some people realize that its not one point that they have to reach in life (the point of ultimate satisfaction is quite a mirage),  that its a direction that they have to set for themselves. And I want to make my parents proud to have raised me, my kids proud to have me as their father, and to avoid wasting the potential I remember thinking I have as a child. And for that there is only one direction - up. And it's all achievable - one just has to deny vanity entry into oneself, or else they risk building a personal Tower of Babylon, where man thinks he can reach God.

Good morning everybody!

Well really, the veracity of my statement depends on where you are in the world, truth be told - it isn't even morning here in Oakville, Canada. I just feel that the day has only begun and that lots is ahead. Hope that's true for most of you all!

Here is a photo of some morning berries I took, just one photo this time. Tomorrow I am planning to do a cumulative post of looking back at July's photos, a monthly tradition I want to start. But on August 1st, there will be new content once again!

Until later,
Me

Beach Night

 Another set of pictures of the same Mexican beach as in the "Beach day" post.

 Our hotel was close and so I decided to take a walk in the night, kind of realizing that if I don't take enough pictures - I'll regret it later on. I took enough pictures.

 Got all my work done today - the big project that I announced in the post earlier and said I'll finish on the 30th - I finished today.

That means that I will post again now! No promises about daily posts, but once every 3 days at least - that I will do. I hope you all have a great evening and a good start to the next week! :)

Until later,
Me

Birthday!

It's my birthday today! Alright. That's no excuse, I know I haven't been posting the last couple of days! Sorry guys. Im just doing an important job right now which takes up all of my time. A big project at work is due on July 30th, and I just don't have the time to commit to a full-blown photography effort. After that day, I'll be back - I promise! Hope you all have a wonderful next week and two days :)

Beach Day

Mexico! Took me a while to realize where I took these. Then I remembered! Great trip with family. Lots of time on the beach.

Trinity Church, New York

At the very heart of New York, this den of modern values and symbol of the current era, is located - or more correctly, squeezed, a lone piece of land existing outside of time. Not money, faith rules here - but what is faith in the financial capital of the world and a city of worldly opportunities? It is something long forgotten, often hidden, even buried. Yet here, among the shining mirror towers, stands one in the style of the Gothic Revival architecture. It's not just a contrast with its surroundings, it is a daring challenge. A challenge to the city, a challenge to each individual to pause and realize the meaninglessness of the surrounding fuss. Believers will remember God, nonbelievers will remember that in the end, the king and the jester are both buried in one and the same land. 

At one point, the Church was the tallest building in New York. But as religious values grow pale in modern people, this Church has also lost its supremacy in 1890 to the New York World Building. However, the inexorable hand of progress could not reach to wipe out this tacit reminder amidst a great city. 

The Church has history. The land for its construction was purchased in the year 1696. I will not recount all of its long story, for those interested - read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Church_(Manhattan). 

But lastly, I will stress that if you are ever in New York - do not forget to visit this corner outside of time, you will not regret it. 

Injection of Color (Aggressive Chromaticism)

Yesterday's post has been drained of color. This one aggressively injects it back into the surrounding world. Nature is in large about color, its palette best represented by flowers. These are my photos from the Royal Botanical Gardens.

It is interesting that flowers are all very different, just like humans - except humans are way more colorful inside. Yet we wear masks to make us monochrome, as conformity is considered a social virtue and self-exposure leads to vulnerability.   

Death has a lot of artistic value, perhaps because of the sensitivity of the issue, perhaps because of the mystery. 

Seems like nothing is happening in the picture but that's not true. Life is always about activity, death is still. But death can be thought of as a separate perpetual state, or it can be thought of just as a term for conclusion of life, and thus inseparable and momentary. And if death is just the end of life then it is not the opposite of life, no - then the opposite of activity is non-activity: sloth. Thus sloth  is not only immoral, it is anti-life. And that death is not just the end of life but both a perpetual state and a momentary conclusion at the same time, does not change the premise of that statement. 

Are flowers happy? They might not have feelings but happiness doesn't have to be an emotion, it can be a satisfactory state of existence. Then the lack of ambition exhibited by flowers is the key to happiness. Fortunately, humans are more complicated. Without human ambition I wouldn't have a computer to blog on.

 

Why is nature beautiful? Why does beauty exist? We can survive physically without experiencing beauty. Then beauty is completely pointless - but it is not, otherwise why do we all  gravitate to it through creating or appreciating art. Then beauty exists for something else, and through its presence testifies for the existence of the soul. 

Funny how this post ended up being not that much about the flowers. I wish for all of you to have a bright day you'll remember in the warmest colors. Until tomorrow!

Apathy Drain