are the flocks of storks, egrets and other migratory birds coming from the north were the Autumn has begun. They are on their way to Africa and warmer environs and are flying along the coast here in increasing numbers every day. The birds are leaving their nesting places in the northern country but there plenty people here who are willing to risk everything to move north into much colder climates to escape the Health of conflicts that are raging in this region. The conflicts are not only war, but also the daily struggle to make a living, and of plain simple survival. It is the daily struggle with a political crisis an economic crisis an electricity crisis and whatever other crisis one can think. Crisis are produced every day on a small or a bigger scale. There is nothing much the common people can actually do in their everyday life to escape this, especially all the refugees from the neighbouring country that are currently seeking shelter here. Their struggle to survive every is tremendous to unimaginable for most of us. They can go home, they are mostly not welcome here and neither do they have the freedom to travel south or north or west, definitely not east, that is where they came from and can’t go back to now.

They can just look at the flocks of birds flying south in autumn and north in spring and wish to join them on their journeys. every day now one can see these flocks of birds flying south along the shores, some of them taking a rest along the shores. The storks are flying quite high, circling and looking for some updraft winds, whereas the egrets and Cormorants are flying close to the water's surface, often only a few meters in height. sometimes it is just a handful, sometimes a dozen or more birds. Here on the coast the autumn is arriving slowly, only a few trees have changed their leave colour so far and temperatures are still on the higher side. What has gone is the humidity during the day and especially at night which makes it quite pleasant. The sun is setting early and by five it is nearly dark, whereas by six in the morning the sun has still not risen over the eastern hills yet. There has been some  rain and some thunderstorms that have cleared the air from the heat and dust of the summer. Surely winter is approaching but the refugees in the country who often have to live in flimsy dwellings are for sure not looking forward to the cooler nights and refreshing days.

Since July the country is now trying to deal with a trash crisis since July. Since four months! and nothing has been achieved, nothing! The first heavy rains have washed some of the months old garbage into the soil and with it all the bacteria and filth with yet unknown results. For sure we are to find out soon. While seeing a doctor this week in Beirut one of the first things he asked if I eat in local restaurants. What an odd question I thought and when I confirmed that I do his response was that it would be better not to do so or at most be very selective and careful at the least. Like a confirmation of his warning, one of my friends who went for a dinner at Beirut’s expensive restaurants got sick after eating there and at this time is still not feeling much better. This must not necessarily be connected directly to the trash as even before such things happened, but for sure it makes one more aware of things.

This weekend the Beirut marathon will be held on Sunday as it has been the case in November since more than a decade. With all the happenings around I be keeping a low profile and ain’t visiting this time, just to be on the safe side if that is anyway possible at all. Looking up from the iPad I am writing this on from my balcony onto the sea, clouds have move in, getting bigger as I write. Maybe indeed some rain is moving up the coast from the south. In the background I am listing to one of my all time favourite music playing, “The Rising” from ‘the boss’. One of the most memorable events this week was when I looked out my office window during lunch break munching on a sandwich, noticing some tussle in the grass. Soon enough it became clear that it was a small brown snake trying to overcome and eat a small Gecko who put up a strong resistance of becoming a lunch meal for the snake. The gecko was the size not much bigger than my thumb and the snake maybe thirty centimeters (one foot) long and the size of my small finger. Looking or rather staring at them it became clear that the gecko or let it be a lizard was to big for that little snake. I can not remember for how many minutes at this epic struggle and the fight that little lizard put up for his life but eventually the snake let go and the lizard disappeared into the grass, happy hopefully to have escaped the little serpent and being her lunch. The snake slithered off into some undergrowth and stones nearby, hungry I believe. Interesting to know that there are some real snakes living in the camp and not only the two legged type.

Photography is slow as always, working little by little on my ‘rue Hamra’ project, one weekend at the time. I have been editing photos taken previously that I can possibly use in the project. Watching a program today in Al-Jazeera about ‘Habaneros’ (Banana Plantation workers) in Central America made me think about the ‘Saccardas’ (Sugarcane cutters) in South-East Asia, both the plight and hardship and abuse they share. I have some photos for a project about them and might pursue to document them more once I find the time. I be going to Dubai in the middle of the months for four days, work and pleasure. See if I can find something inspiring to photograph. It is also high time to go up into the Chouf Mountains again to soak in the green of it's nature and the scenery in general, highly recommended. In this sense until the next time, bye.

although it is already past beginning of October, the days are still hot and the nights are warm. Here in the ‘South’ we have not seen much rain, whereas in previous years we at least had already had some sharp showers that brought some fresh air, cleaned the dust of the summer away, and dropped the temperatures a bit. This year, the beginning of autumn, the calendarium autumn at least was marked by a five day dust storm that crept upon the country from the eastern deserts of Arabia. In engulfed the area with dust, choking heat and low visibility for five days, endangering lives of people, especially the elderly, including 12 deaths in total. Like so many things that creep up from the eastern deserts, nothing good. Is the weather a forebode of what is coming from that direction?

"Tyre Corniche at night"

The heat is still on in the country about the unresolved problems of trash, electricity, water, president, accountability - list ongoing and changing often and daily. Beirut has become a hub of demonstrations in the city centre, hampering the economic progress and prosperity of that area, at least that is what the shopkeepers and business people are claiming. But on the other hand, a movement seems to have taken roots that is bend on enforcing change to the political as well as social system and fabric in this country, with the momentum still going and one will have to see how good their stamina is going to be. Anyway it is up to the citizens of each country to determine the way they will be going and how they will do it. The potential however for much more than the simple demonstrations with the occasional violence is all to present.

"only the rats are left..."

Back home in Germany, no more heat but pleasant weather with sun and some rain. It was a short visit, birthday of my dad and then some R&R with him on the Baltic sea coast in the parts what was the former East Germany. A very nice place and from my side highly recommended for visiting. Photography wise, I only took the x100s with the 50mm extension, which, I think did not use once during the whole trip. The 35mm lens was just fine, for what I intended to photograph, sort of documentary photography, it served the purpose very well. I also found that for the real casual photo and documentary, the Samsung S6 phone is ok, although mostly in good light only. As long as the print size remains ‘normal’ or on a screen it is fine. In order to distinguish those photos from my others, I use the square format. Together with the Snapseed application, I found that it is possible to produce some interesting images.

"Let's go to the beach" Beirut-Rue Hamra

Being back now in the Levante and in the office, whatever R&R effect might have been there as evaporated as quickly as water on a salt pan. Like I said, still too hot and sultry for my taste, not helping me to gain inspiration for any projects lately. Another trip to Dubai might be on the horizon in November when we have a long weekend, but so far it is only in the planning stage.

"Born to ride" - Rue Hamra, Beirut

When thinking of the cameras I own and use most, I must say that probably the most versatile is the Canon G10 and previously the G5. It is sturdy, has a nice range of zoom from 28 to 140mm, 14 MP and overall for me the results are very pleasing. The size is great, the lens retracts into the body and one can slip it into a jacket pocket easily without feeling disturbed too much or really at all. It definitely is the camera to carry if you do not want to carry a camera. Of course by now it is nearly six years old, bought it in NYC in December 2008, but it is working like a charm. It is the camera I have taken my most photos with so far, I guess do to the fact that I carry it nearly everywhere and it delivers the results desired. Yes ok, the sensor is not MFT or even bigger, but honestly, so far I have not seen for the work I do a major disadvantage in this. As I said, considering the overall use, durability, portability and it is the camera that has served me best so far. I think for anyone looking for a new versatile all-round camera I would recommend the latest G series model from Canon, the G 16 which is a further improvement over the older models.

" Got any breakfast?" (Canon G-10)

Also, my experience with the OMD 5 from Olympus and the x100s is great and I am very happy using them, the G10 is indeed the camera I carry if I actually don’t have any special project in mind and just want to walk around or are not planning to take any photos. Great stuff. Still working on the ‘Rue Hamra’ project, although lately I have been a bit lax with all the ongoing protests in Beirut and the garbage issue, especially if one never knows when and if the road to the south is or will be blocked. And in this country that's it, the coastal Highway or road is blocked, every movement becomes very difficult as the these roads are the main arteries in the country. Any detour, if possible, will take a long time and effort, taking into consideration if even possible for security reasons. Today we received the first rain after some three months of sunshine, humid and hot weather. The morning started with a thunderstorm, one of the those distant ones, slow rolling thunder and lightnings in the distant, accompanied with some rain that was heavy at parts but did not last for long. It was heavy enough so that water puddles accumulated on the roads, making then slippery leading to what else, road accidents, the same as every year. The grit of the summer on the road, mixed with the rain makes them slippery like ice. The temperature did not really drop much, it just became humid after the rain. Hopefully this will ring in the autumn now, enough of the heat. So much for now, until the next time. Bye.

"Northern Light - fading blue hours" Baltic Sea coast (Fuji X100s)

The Swifts are gone,

this morning, just suddenly they disappeared. I did not notice as first, not even yesterday but today when sitting outside on the balcony early in the morning sipping my coffee in a bit of cooler air, they were gone. Just as suddenly as they came they left, overnight so to say. It has been a hot summer these last two months, always over 30 degrees, humid and with little wind. But maybe they already can feel the approaching autumn, also it would be a bit early, hardly August passed half way. Usually the animals are much more sensitive to the weather changes that are coming, and they must have decided it is time to depart back to the warmer parts of Africa while it is still time to do so. Just looked outside, yes, they are gone, with the wind sort to say.

Since last week not only the weather is hot, the political situation is also heating up. The garbage crisis is taking it’s toll, developing into a political crisis. Since last weekend, the garbage crisis demonstrations have given the basis for political turmoil, with tens of thousands of citizens demonstrating on the weekends and even weekdays against the political establishment. Demonstrations have turned violent, not by the majority of the people who are just fed up with the garbage crisis, the electrical crisis, the water crisis, no president and other uncertainties. The situation is volatile to say at best. A small minority is resorting to violence, persistently a small group of people of a few hundreds at most. Are they paid to do so, and if, by whom? Maybe the swifts knew of the political turmoil to come and decided to leave. Isn’t it that animals are much more sensitive to changes, and for instance can feel an earthquake before it hits. So maybe the swifts are sensing that a political earthquake is going to hit and decided to take off sooner than later. Might have been a wise move, who knows.

Besides all of this life goes on, at least pretending to be normal. Maybe one of the best traits of the Lebanese is to carry on as is, pretending that all be good, keeping calm on the surface but are being very worried under the surface. In all of these happenings, going to the north of the country to visit small wineries seems like the best thing to do. Since a few years, to be precise since 2000 small boutique wineries have taken on the big few producers. These small, often family owned and operated venues produce between 5000 to 15000 bottles of wine a year. Often these entrepreneurs developed their hobby into a small but viable undertaking, selling their produce locally and surprisingly to Europe where people appreciate these fine wines. All of these products are not available in supermarkets, only directly from the producers or through their distributors in Beirut. Not surprisingly, two of the three wineries visited are owned or connected to the church. The nectar of the Gods all-right. Some also have some other local by-products like jams, pickled vegetables, honey etc. All are very proud to deliver organic products and are raising attention to that.

Once one leaves the coastal plains and urban areas and drives up into the mountains, one very soon realizes that the landscape changes very quickly. The hustle and bustle and madness of the urban coastal areas gives way to a much calmer atmosphere, a green scenery and depending where ones location is, a cleaner environment appears. Generally still very green hillsides that are much less populated has higher as one drives. Still urban development is happening also here, the ‘predatory’ developers also finding inroads into the hills and mountains. Still in general as further away one drives into valleys and hills, a sort of calm is restored, beautiful vistas open up the greenery of the shrubs and trees calming the sore eyes from the smog and fumes of the coastal lowlands. The villages are plenty at first, getting smaller and thinner as higher as one travels. The valleys are steep and plentiful, opening up into smaller side branches all the time. This is the reason while all traffic is virtually restricted to north-south or vise versa, along the coastal plains. To reach the other side of a valley can take more than half an hour, if at all possible. Sometimes one would have to go back to the coast to give it a new try as no other way is possible. This in return then also explains the ‘infarct’ that is experienced on the coastal roads, as there is no real viable alternative for the major traffic arteries. Anyway, the villages are quaint, clean and calm, and as further away they are from Beirut, many people come back to them only as their second residences on weekends or holidays, leaving them during the week to the people that have carved out an existence for themselves in them or the elderly. Many houses are still in the old style of levantine houses with rough stones and red-tiled roofs. In some places modern designed villas of people that can afford a home in the mountains are to be found also. Some of this modern architecture and house design fit surprisingly well into the landscape and just from the looks of the outside, they must be beautiful places.

The way back to the south was a bit long and cumbersome due to the snarling traffic around Beirut as another #Youstink protest was taking place in downtown, this time reportedly with even more participants. Back to the ‘grind’ tomorrow and then off on Friday to Germany for a week +, this time including a trip to the baltic coast for four days. I love it up there, maybe that is the place to retire too [973 days left]. Bye.

Wow, I think this is the longest time ever that since starting this I have not posted anything. Reason? Not sure, I was out taking photos, travelled a bit but never really found the time to attend to this due to other commitments and work. Just recently returned from Germany were I had been for a week only.

On the morning I was leaving, while already awake before dawn, with the Windows wide open, I could hear some very distant thunder, which I thought was welcome to relive the recent heat a bit. Then, as it was requested, a few drops of rain started falling, first very slowly and then more intense, just enough to make a steady background sound. With the rain came this nice smell of a summer morning through the window, the distant thunder, and it would have so nice to continue lying there and listen and fall asleep again, but I had to get up to catch the train and eventually the plane to fly back to the Middle East. By the time the Taxi came to take me to the train station the sweet rain had changed into a downpour and the time from the door to the car with the luggage was enough to get me wet.

The Train Station on a Sunday morning at 5 is always an experience, many different creatures of the night lingering, waiting to be taken away by the commuter trains to whatever places they dwell.

                                                             Good Morning Duesseldorf @ 6:10 - Waiting for breakfast.....

Frankfurt Airport was so congested due to the European 'Holiday Season" that the plane had to wait for 40 minutes to take off, although it was ready to depart as scheduled. The Middle East greeted with intense heat and humidity, a messed up luggage delivery system and chocked airport, blocked roads and the usual mayhem. As of todays writing the "Garbage Crisis" has added a new dimension to the whole scenario. Beirut is overflowing with trash and the flow on the highway to the south has been stopped since yesterday due to plans to open a new landfill. The Garbage crisis of course adds to the political crisis, the electricity crisis, and any other crisis that can be found. It has a potential to bring down the government according to various news sources, and that, in the situation where the country is also without president, could have a big impact to put it slightly. As of this afternoon it seems to be solved for now, at least the highway south seems to have been unblocked. 

The Chouf Mountains are still an area that is relatively save to travel to and it not as hot and especially humid these days. Now the trouble is starting again with forest fires, by accident or in order to further 'development'. Ramadan came and went, the beaches were empty in Tyre during the day, mostly but evenings were long with lot's of activity until far after midnight.

Tyre Beach at 8 with 'Chai"

Otherwise there was nothing significant in the country or Beirut. Still using to my fullest satisfaction the X100s and OMD from Olympus. 

First sniffing and then peeing? Well not in this case, lucky one :)

Rue Hamra Street Market

The Fish stinks from the head, everywhere.

 ...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.

Philippines 2015, Negros and Manila

Philippines 2015, Negros and Manila

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.

Philippines 2015, Negros and Manila

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!!