and a warm welcome to 2015 from the shores of the Mediterranean. I am watching the last sunset over the sea for this year; it is a clear blue sky with no clouds, so the view is perfect. As a reflection on last year, it passed or at least it appeared to past faster than other years. Of course time is the same, but somehow I feel it went by quickly. One reason might be that I was able to travel, especially to Afghanistan and on top of it enjoyed my travel and stay there. I managed to see some places of the country I had not seen previously, like Herat and Bamiyan. In a retrospective, despite all the trouble associated with the country, I would like to spend more time there. Maybe I have a chance to return in 2015. With regard to work I will not elaborate, as there is nothing to write about (says it all).

During the year I have made a few new friends and reconnected with some old friends that I had not seen in a while which was nice. Still I wish I had more time and especially here in the south had some friends I could share my passion for photography with. Lebanon is a nice and interesting country, small but with some treasures in architecture and landscape as well as people that would be interesting to discover more. So little by little I will do and add to my photo collection. All photos are also a document of time and history and this is what makes it worth the while, at least for me. What is lacking is a good place to print and enlarge photos for display, maybe it is there but I have not found it yet.

Another significant sad event was the passing away of Whiskey, the friend and companion since October 1999. Even a dog becomes very much part of the family and the only consolation is that he reached a high age for a canine and in the end his passing without too much of a suffering was good for him. Since the saying goes that “All dogs go to Heaven” I hope he is there and happy.

With regard to Photography, the only new equipment I acquired in 2014 was the Fuji x100s and that was in April. Since then I have not bought any new piece of photo equipment, not that there is nothing I would like but a level has been reached where there is a need to concentrate more on using the equipment I have and actually produce images that are worthwhile. This is not always easy with a full time job (sigh) but I have to try to do the best. I am really happy with the x100s and that it is a rangefinder and the way I can photograph with it. The OMD is also a great camera and both of them are the ones I mostly use now. My Pentax and even the trusty travel camera Canon G10 have taken a rest for a while, although I admit, the G Series is still the camera to take if you don’t want to take a camera.

I still have some projects in my head that I am working on, like the one of the daily paid farm workers in South East Asia. “Rue Hamra” is also in progress, adding images little by little. Maybe in 2015 I manage to print a copy of a draft book on Rue Hamra, but I will need to spend more time on site to get a some photographs that are in my head but not yet in my camera. The long term vision project remains the journey up the Indus River, following the spring from the delta to the high Himalayas. The “Residences of the Raj’ is also still on my bucket list. Here in the Middle East another project I would like to photograph is the Ottoman Railways and what is left of it. Not to much in Lebanon for sure.

Anyway, I hope that 2015 will be a good one. Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year 2015 to each and every one wherever they are.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!!