ghost of nature.

in the woods near rauenthal. as soon as the leaves of the trees develop their first buds for their summer dress, as soon as the sun stays a little longer in the evenings & as soon as i get the sense that spring is finally peaking around the corner, you can find me on exploring paths again. you will find me back in the woods, in nature, where every plant & every animal or insect is starting to crawl out of their winter hibernations. you will find me in places that bloom & turn to green oases again, after being devoid of colour for a few months. the grey skies of winter slowly wave goodbye and make way for friendlier blue skies. that time of the year ( complementary to autumn ) is a special one to me and one that i can't ever get enough of. it's a birthing month, a rising, an uplift. while in autumn i feel wrapped into warm colours of yellows, reds & browns that make me feel at home and like i'm in a safe space, spring is different with its greens &...

this post will be about a friend, a friend that asked me to take photos of her, despite knowing that i basically never take photos of anyone. 'i can be your guinea pig', she said, 'but i have the feeling you're going to do a great job.' me, as the usual skeptic in such situations, tried to push through my self-criticism and overcome my fear of not giving the photographed person the shining light they deserve. it is hard to capture the essence of people, especially when they are friends and you want them to be happy with the outcome. you don't want them to look unnatural or uncomfortable, you simply want to show their best side.  the reason why i never showed too much interest in taking photos of people is explained quickly: i always had the feeling i couldn't do them justice, that i don't have what it takes to make people look great on photos, natural & comfortable in their skin. another reason: photographing humans needs a lot of creativity...

felling marks. i stayed at my parent's for one more day after easter before i headed back to wiesbaden. we did a little walk in a forest area near erfurt - the steigerwald.  it was only a short walk, but it was a very interesting one, because we explored a place that was once military ground when my father was in the army. nowadays the terrain is not used by the military anymore and the old barracks are mostly renovated and are likely living quarters now. you can still find the military sports field and vehicle halls in close vicinity and it was interesting to listen to some of my dad's memories that are still tied to that area.  sometimes i really would like to go back in time and see for myself how my parents lives were and what they did and felt and went through. also especially because they lived within the narrow borders of the german democratic republic - a state that probably created lots of interesting family histories, good and bad, horrific and jubilan...