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…
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…
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…
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.…
Again a field visit today, meeting the people of a small village in the Valachenai area, north of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. When traveling back, this bus crossed our way. The assembly took place in the classroom of the local school, and especially the women – in the middle the chairwoman of the Woman Rural Development…
Yesterday I did a field trip with my colleagues from Sri Lanka, checking the rainwater harvesting tanks they have set up in the current project. Of the beneficiaries usually the husbands were working in the paddy fields, while the women and kids were at home. One lady was busily repairing her universal tool, used mainly…
It was not raining when I took these images in one of the fish markets of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. Unfortunately now it is – just natural, it’s monsoon time – and even more unfortunately is that my room has so many leakages in the ceiling that I barely know how to position my bed to…
Checking the image files, I found a matching scenery for yesterday´s timber trader, this time from Colombo.
Found in Oddamavadia, east coast of Sri Lanka. Same time, same moskitoes, fleeing.
Found these today during our travel from Colombo to the east coast of Sri Lanka, and was captivated by forms and colors. To post these I have to sit fully dressed on the balcony of our guesthouse, while the monsoon rains pattern on the roof and the moskitoes are agressively searching for fresh blood. Short…
Well, I dropped the idea to fill the next posts with pres. Rajapakse’s pictures – too depressing. Those street sceneries I found in the town of Galle, on the southern end of the island. People here really can have a sense for harmonic colors.
To take up the topic that I’ve started with a project contribution on Martin Storz’s Public Eye Blog: Yesterday was the inauguration ceremony for Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapakse. There are some doubts about the elections and their preliminaries, and whilst many of the people in Colombo welcome his presidency in the light of him…
To take up Martina’s last comment : Yes, Colombo takes up many European, or better Western, patterns. Though being an officially Buddhist country, without a separation of state and religion as we know it, especially the business parts of other relgions, like Christmas here, get incorporated and playfully put on stage. Of course this shopping…
Seen on Duplication Road, Colombo.
Walking the streets of Colombo – something the better-off people in Colombo would always try to avoid – led me into a bounty of sceneries, and even a shy guy like me, who doesn’t want to bother people with his camera out of respect for their privacy, found more than enough food for his lens.…
Dubai Airport is astonishing again and again – whenever I come there it seems to have grown, expanded, become more luxurious. But I can’t help feeling also some backward orientation: The whole thing seems to live in the firm belief that our utmost materialistic and oil-based economy will continue without end, pursuing the American belief…
Found in Munich Airport, posted from Dubai – there is free WiFi access all over the airport.
With the cold, dark and short days I am also leaving the country of the “Perchten” (and zombies as well) behind. I am on my way to Sri Lanka again, this time as volunteer expert for an acquainted NGO that works in the field of drinking water supply. The east coast of Sri Lanka, where…
Martina had correctly pointed out, that one of the shown masks looks like from a horror movie. This is really a dilemma. Transforming old rites into present times of course always incorporates contemporary elements. This is nothing special, as many of our Christian rites are based on pagan elements. But here, with the “Perchten” masks,…
Once upon a time, in pre-christian, pagan times, the people in the alpine valleys were living precarious lives. Winter was an especially hard time, threatening the families with cold, vast amounts of snow, a frozen soil and dark, very long nights. In that time they developed rites to fight their angst, and some of them…
The cold and already snowy October weather had only been an interlude, for now it’s pretty wam again. But in the city the colors have lost their power, their radiance, and this creates a certain feeling of alienation here.
Wordless Thursday. Too leached out for writing.
Found in the woods adjacent to the bog with the hunting stand. Sometimes high tech units like this gas pipeline just matters to integrate with the natural surroundings…
Those alpine wetlands always have been agricultural land. Of course harvest was low in form of sour grasses not suitable for the modern turbocharged cows, and so it was decided to drain the area. Started more than a decade ago, drainage is now in full effect and the land dry enough even for heavy machines…
This scenery, found in a villa quarter, could very well be perceived as staged, but I am not shure about this. It certainly was soothing for my eyes not to see monoblocs in the garden but very old fashioned chairs, and willow baskets instead of their chinese injection casted counterparts. In fact it looks so…
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