Roughly 3.500 km to the west, in the middle of the Arabic world, the Commercial aspects of christmas seem to overcome all religious sensibilities or regulations applicable outside of the touristic money machines.
Christmas, Take 2
Blog
Belated Christmas Post
I could have known that Dec. 24th would need a post prepared well in advance. So here is, for the given reason, the image of a mother with her son in the village of Koduvamadu, a place where our project has built rainwater harvesting tanks. I like the open and optimistic smile of the lady,…
Veddukkadduveli Boys
Christmas without doubt is the most child centered event in the western culture. This fact of course makes it an easy target for economic exploitation, something which evokes grimmer feelings the elder I grow. But this increasing distance in age and the experience with my own kids also grows genuine interest in kids’ lives and…
Target Group
When evaluating possible project sites for rainwater harvesting tanks, we were visiting several villages. For a very simple reason the women were most interested in these units: They are the ones who toil and sweat when the traditional well provides no water during the two annual dry seasons, and they suffer with their kids and…
Rhythm
As we are nearing Christmas (C-4 to quote Earl), I decided to switch subject.
Not IKEA
Found next to Beira Lake, in the center of Colombo.
Pioneer Properties
Colombo, Duplication Rd.
Oddaimavadi Garages
I found those two matching garage doors not far from each other in the small town of Oddaimavadi on the east coast of Sri Lanka.
Beach Soccer
Found in the southern town of Galle in Sri Lanka. As it was the very begin of the tourist season, the beach still belonged to the locals.
Playground Encounter
Galle, Sri Lanka. The shutter did actuate itself.
The Color Lilac
Note the excellent pelvis move of the gentleman in white. Only seconds before he had somewhat posed when descending from the bus, but then the driver got annoyed. You can listen to some seconds of the original sound here: [audio://markus-spring.info/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2010/12/00018_Galle_BusStation2-part1.mp3|autostart=no]If you don’t like this sound autoplay, please let me know for future reference.
Health+
Colombo mural, Duplication Rd.
Rising High
Found near Thurstan Rd. (if the GPS coordinates are correct) and on Galle Rd., Colombo.
Classical Colombo
Barefoot Staff
Lack of colonial knowledge makes me wonder about the connection between authorized vehicles and barefoot staff.
In The Heart of Colombo
R. A. de Mel Mawatha, Colombo. Those oversized billboards already at home create a feeling of them being somewhat out of place. In places like Colombo, this becomes overwhelming.
Wishful Thinking, Urban Style
Found in Jayawardane Mawatha, Colombo.
Larger Than Life
Just taking up the relationship between religion and money, started in the comment section of yesterday’s post: Despite of the strong influence of the Buddhist religion in Sri Lanka, the originally christian custom of giving wrapped presents for christmas has gained strong foothold here as well. Just think of the christmassy decorated tusks here. F.Y.I.…
Colombo Shrines
The Jesus sticker on the wall in yesterday’s image sparked a short conversation with Martina about the presence of private religious symbols in the streets of different countries. Carl Weese from time to time shows such shrines in the U.S., mostly in suburban gardens, if I remember correctly. Despite being a Buddhist country, where the…
Colombo Trees
Both trees I found in Duplication Road, Colombo 3. Strange enough, in my previous visits, Colombo seemed in a photographic sense very unattractive to me. Not that I am searching those blue sky touristic images, but the dust and noise (and grime) had always left me quite desolate and more or less unable to see.…
Sri Lanka Gem Exchange
Found during a morning stroll through the streets of Colombo.
December Wallpaper
Not really christmassy, this year’s december wallpaper shows monsoon clouds over the beach of the Bay of Bengal. But then, it is tightly connected with christmas, as the houses in the area were given to the victims to the tsunami of Dec. 26th, 2004. In this resettlement area of Thiraimadu, Batticaloa, funds of the City…
Multilac
On the way to the airport our car had to wait quite often in traffic jams, and freed of all duties and preparatory thoughts now, I used these opportunities to capture roadside sceneries. During framing those I had not much opportunities to deliberate about composition – it was more immediate reacting – but reviewing the…
Two Shops
Writing this, I am sitting already in the airport on my way to home. These were intense weeks, less so in the photographic sense, but full of discussions on how to tune the setup of the new water supply project in order to achieve best acceptance and sense of ownership of the beneficiaries. There are…
Crossing The Culvert
Without any double-butted alloy frames, rock-shoxx suspension forks or Rohloff gear-shifts, those men transport loads of more than 50kg of firewood on their (India-made) bicycles over paths that would make nice competition dirt tracks on the northern hemisphere. And if necessary they cross flooded parts of roads, where only the really sturdy vehicles will go.…