Guess the place...

A little quiz...where was the picture taken? What do you think?

PS...

I just realized that I posted the same Lake Geneva pic twice :-) I had meant to post the picture above, taken on the same day. It looks just as unworldly as the other one.

While I'm at it...the black-and-white photo above is another picture I had taken at Lake Geneva - the year before. My (Irish) ex-colleague Dan pointed this scenery out to me, exclaiming "You should really take a picture of this!" I obliged...so, grand! 'Tanks' very much, Dan!

In the Mood...

Lake Geneva seen from Evian/France.
(Yes, Evian as in Evian Mineral Water)
I like the somewhat morbid mood of
the photo. It was taken during the
winter of 2005.

Lake Geneva at dusk. This looks almost unworldly, but that's just how it looked
that day...a genuine fairy-tale place...

Lake Annecy/France - I like the calm
in this foto, I took it on the same day
as the one above.
The colors were absolutely amazing - a genuine feast for the eyes.

Carpe Diem...

"Et si la vie n'est qu'une cause perdue - and if life is nothing but a lost cause
Mon âme est libre d'y avoir au moins cru - my soul is free because at least I believed in it "

The excerpt from Walden (below) mirrors the motto of the two lines that are taken from the song A corps perdu. They both bear the same message - seize the day.
Thoreau's words are sort of my motto.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. [...] I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, [...]."
[Henry David Thoreau, Walden ]

---------------------------------------

I wrote the following a while ago:

We're Fiddlers on a roof...the abyss right next to our feet...the question isn't 'if' we fall, but 'when.' We naturally assume that we have many years in front of us...an eternity, while we may have less than a minute. The abyss is right there...only we refuse to face it, as it is terrifying to acknowledge that we are only leaves whirled around by the tempest, with no control over our fate. Whenever the wind will ripp us off the tree...no matter how hard we'll try, we won't hold on to the branch.
If we looked into this abyss more often - or if we at least fully acknowledged its existance, maybe we would be more content with what we have, more at peace with ourselves and with others. If the people of this world truly realized how fast this cruel-crazy-beautiful trip called life can be over...as fast as a shooting star fizzling out...they wouldn't waste their lives hating, killing, envying, hurting one another.They'd be happy to just - be ...

To life...

Just try...

Underneath are the lyrics of a song written by Grégory Lemarchal.
Grégory was a 23 year-old aspiring French singer who had won a talent show in France. What makes his victory unique is the fact that - apart from having had a wonderful voice - Grégory suffered from cystic fibrosis (mucoviscidosis). A condition that has you struggle for each and every breath. Grégory did the impossible, he sang his heart out and he eventually won the competition - hands down.

He wrote the song the year before he died - and the lyrics say it all...they are the quintessence and the motto of his short life.

Just do it...

Reach for the stars, fulfill your dreams - even if your dreams seem ridiculous and the stars seem out of reach. You may perhaps not become the Pulitzer Price winning author, the photorapher working for GEO-Magazine or an Academy Award nominee, but these aspirations and dreams may push you to make the most of what you have - to at least try...

Don't give up on yourself, don't give up on life...as long as you're here, nothing is lost...

A corps perdu

Puisque des filets nous retiennent
Puisque nos raisons nous enchaînent
Que rien ne brille sous nos remparts
Et puisqu'on n'atteint pas le ciel
A moins de s'y brûler les ailes
Et suivre les routes où l'on s'égare
Comme on dresse un étendard

A corps perdu,
ivre et sans fard
Pour n'être plus le pantin d'un espoir
Et si la vie n'est qu'une cause perdue
Mon âme est libre d'y avoir enfin cru
A corps perdu

Puisque les destins sont les mêmes
Que tous les chemins nous ramènent
A l'aube d'un nouveau départ
On n'apprend rien de nos erreurs
A moins de s'y brûler le coeur
Je suivrai les routes où l'on s'égare
Comme on dresse un étendard

A corps perdu,
ivre et sans fard
Pour n'être plus le pantin d'un espoir
Et si la vie n'est qu'une cause perdue
Mon âme est libre d'y avoir enfin cru
A corps perdu
A corps perdu

A corps perdu j'écrirai mon histoire
Je ne serai plus le pantin du hasard
Si toutes les vies sont des causes perdues
Les hommes meurent de n'avoir jamais cru
De n'avoir pas vécu ivres et sans fard
Soldats vaincus pour une guerre sans victoire
Et si ma vie n'est qu'une cause perdue
Je partirai libre d'y avoir au moins cru

A corps perdu
A corps perdu...

[Grégory Lemarchal]

Friends...

The latest entry was added by *Caro*, a friend of mine.
It's her poetry - she has her own blog.
I have invited her and other friends to post on my blog whenever they feel like it.
For me, this blog is not so much a means of self-promotion, I would rather like this blog to be something somewhat 'communicative'. That's why I have asked friends of mine to join me and add their own works, thoughts, ideas, photos, ... .

Hopefully, this will be interesting for everyone involved.

Being French-Belgian, Caro usually writes in French. This poem was however translated into Spanish by a friend of hers.
Caro is a long-time friend of mine and we both live in the same town in Germany. I met her almost a decade ago, shortly after she had ended her carreer as a ballet dancer. She had attended ballet school in Antwerp, she later attended the 'Conservatoire de Bruxelles' and she finally moved to "my town" when she was engaged by the dance company of our theater. I met her, because she wanted to take German lessons and so I became her teacher. I think we did 4 or 5 sessions...in the end, we winded up talking about personal stuff and very soon, our somewhat professional relationship turned into a deep friendship.
I attended her wedding a couple of years ago and her daughter's baptism last year.
It's funny how something as banal as language lessons can ultimately turn into something profound and long-lasting.

I lay cards with her once in a while...I normally don't believe in astrology and such; I'm some kind of science buff I guess. But with her, it always works out, although we use the shittiest cards. This is our special thing...I never lay cards on my own or with anybody else and neither does she. This is probably THE THING that makes our friendship unique - apart from a mutual interest in photography, dance and writing.


Friendships are funny, they have a life of their own...they are born, they need to be fed, nourished, taken care of, and sometimes they die; friendships change...they grow, fade, alter...all the time.
I believe that each friend reflects one or several facets of ourselves.
Friends make us complete to some degree, as they often represent something that we would like to be or to have. I admire Caro's dancing...there are only few faculties that I admire as much as the ability to dance - the ability to translate emotions and stories into movements.
At the same time, a friend is something of ourselves that we seek in somebody else; someone to share our thoughts, ideals and interests.
Someone like us and unlike us at the same time...
Each friendship is unique, with unique common interests, unique rituals, unique stories. Friends represent an enormous immaterial wealth, as they complete us, inspire us, critizise us, support us.
A true friend is something without a price tag on...it's the kind of person that you can call at 4 a.m. because you're lost and confused, and it's the kind of person that is unconditionally happy for you when you succeed, and it's someone with whom you share your laughter.

To friendship...