After the storm....
...is before the storm, is after the storm and so on. In the first two months of the year 2015 there were three storms, “Zina”, “Yohana” and “Windy’, dumping lots of rain (very much needed) and snow on the country. And then, of course, there was the political storm that nearly turned into a hurricane or tornado on January 28, when action on the ‘blue line’ killed three soldiers, including a Spanish Peacekeeper. This send us all to the bunkers for a couple of hours and as I was told later on, it was on a hairs whim that nothing more happened. This time it worked.
During the first storm, ‘Zina’ I nearly tanked the car when driving through one of the flooded parts of the road, which turned out to be deeper and the water was moving faster than anticipated. Just made it out and the car was saved with only very minor injury. The morning I departed to south-east Asia, all the hills above Beirut down to a quite low elevation were covered in snow, the temperature at the airport being only plus 3 degrees Celsius, which, considering the location of the eastern Levant, is very cold.
South-East Asia was great, warm and wonderful, albeit not too hot. This time I spend travelling close by to the house, looking into the rainforests that cover ‘Mt. Kanlaon’ and enjoying the Japanese hot spring with the thousands of bats overhead. Two weeks, including travel time is not enough. There are many places more to explore on the island like the hills surrounding ‘Kanlaon’ volcano and the islands own ‘Chocolate Hills’. For this trip I took two cameras, the OMD and the x100s and again, I am happy to say that they both performed very well and I am, at least technically, happy with the results. I continued to work and make images for the series on sugar cane workers, a project I have been following long term now, even in the film days. Maybe soon I am ready to think about including some of these images into a book. With so many great dive sites in close proximity to the island I have to think about taking up underwater photography, at least when snorkelling. I seems like a crime to not record the beauty of the marine world as it is so abundant and rich. Another Project that I have started is old cars and trucks that I find anywhere parked. In Beirut in many of the Alleys there are old hidden gems parked, slowly dying of decay but who make them that more charming. In South East Asia, remnants of US Army trucks from the 50s and even late 40s. Many of them have their engines replaced but they are running nevertheless.
Back in Lebanon I am of course still cruising the streets of the ‘Hamra’ district for photo opportunities and keeping collecting Graffiti as well. I must say that new Graffiti has become a bit rare these days. Finally I also went up to the Mountains to visit the Ski resort of Farayya. In all the years in Lebanon I had never felt the necessity to go and visit. The snow was good, a bit wet already as the temperatures had increased in the last week, but there was lots of it and tracks were in good shape. It was full to say the least and after indulging in some ‘Apes Ski’ made an early exit to escape the mayhem in the afternoon when everyone is leaving at the same time. Driving at best is dodgy anyway, so the early exit was a good decision. Slowly the spring seems to be making its way north, end of February and the first Storks appeared flying northward, but were hampered by strong winds and rain. This was even at least a week earlier than last year, very early in general. I have not seen any swifts yet, because if they come, then spring has arrived. Nothing else for this time now, until the next time. Bye.
