Letting it all out

I‘m a firm believer that how your day goes depends on how you choose to start it. The days I’ve gotten up late and eaten a junky breakfast, my day is usually sluggish and a bit depressing.

However, when I wake up early and take the time to gently allow myself to come into the day, I know I have an awesome 24 hours ahead of me. No matter how narrow your scope is, there will always be stuff in the middle for you to trim away from your thought process.

Every human walks around with a certain kind of sadness. They may not wear it on their sleeves, but it’s there if you look deep.

Maybe you have to worry about politics or process. The idea is to understand the “why” that is up in the clouds, and then be obnoxiously proficient at the “how” that is down in the dirt. No matter how narrow your scope is, there will always be stuff in the middle for you to trim away from your thought process.

I’ve never been the outgoing type, so meeting new people was always hard for me. In the past, it took me months to meet new people and build new relationships.

Walk with me on this side

Sometimes the hikes would last as long as three hours. Lighting at the locations — which were not always planned out — meant the images themselves are also largely the result of nature’s whims.

The issue for me is that after this period the city falls back to sleep again. More specifically, during Christmas people seem to rack their brains just to figure out ways to make their city more attractive. In their efforts to do so they even seem to fix some issues the city faced for a long time.

Leather, silver, pottery, and textiles

Learning the art of the barter starts with having a sense of humor. You need to go in with a smile and speak of outrageous prices — even try to sell your (girl)friends in exchange for a negotiated number of handwoven rugs.

I could describe the labyrinthine soil paths winding back into the bowels of the Grand Medina. I could tell you about pungent spice stalls, glimmering jewelry, and silver light fixtures that cast their intricately patterned glow on colorful rugs woven by ancient Berber tribes.

The open-air Berber marketplace is a completely foreign and entirely authentic world.

For miles around, the dunes rolled like red-tinged waves in the sea. I had ridden a camelto the spot where I would gaze at a million stars that night, smiling at the fact I was finallysomewhere I had dreamed about under the same stars thousands of miles away.

Break fast or brunch later

Four fawns stood in the street over the creek in our subdivision as I was driving out for a beer yesterday evening. Four.

I’m told it’s unusual to see four fawns together, all skinny stilts and big ears and spots and not yet savvy about things like streets. Fawns and such have been a relief this week from the blaring dreariness of what humans have been up to.

SO IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY AND FOUND THAT IT WAS HOST TO A LITANY OF FERAL CRITTERS

If you have a pet, this should be a cautionary tale. Americans spent $14.2 billion on veterinary care for their pets in 2013—and that doesn’t include proprietary health diets and food supplements. Put another way, pet owners pay about $850 annually in veterinary expenses per dog, and about $575 per cat.

AND YET AGAIN I WAS ONLY LEFT WITH NATURE

Mysteries like these could be solved by more research, but how can we get vets to pay attention to the studies that have been done? It would help if professional bodies took a strong evidence-based stand.

I’ve started to think that my gut is an asshole for another reason. If he’s so smart, and always right, why the hell is he holding out on me? What does he know that he isn’t telling my brain? Why does he know things that my brain doesn’t?

It’s easy to forget our connection to nature, when so little of what we interact with in our daily lives reminds us of the natural world it’s all built upon — the products we use, the buildings we occupy, the streets we travel.

The first thing that comes to mind is their genuine presence. A child’s laugh, or a dog’s tail wagging, or a cat’s purr all feel like money in the bank to me. I receive palpable pleasure when seeing their joy, and it makes me want to create more of it by playing with them or petting them.

Long walks and beautiful souls

No more than three colors, when learning the color blocking collocation, you must stick to the no more than three colors in the whole look rules.

It mostly indicate the bright degree in the colors, various different colors fashion item, not including the black, grey and white colors collocation.There’s a certain aesthetic that we refer to when we think of 90s fashion. High ponytails, abrasive prints, colorblocking and bold jewelry choices. The 1990s were a truly unique and inspiring time to be alive and to be experimenting with fashion.

Death_to_stock_photography_Vibrant (10 of 20)
Death_to_stock_photography_Vibrant (11 of 20)
Death_to_stock_photography_Vibrant (15 of 20)
Death_to_stock_photography_Vibrant (8 of 20)
Death_to_stock_photography_Vibrant (20 of 20)

Meeting places across New York

Sometimes the hikes would last as long as three hours. Lighting at the locations — which were not always planned out — meant the images themselves are also largely the result of nature’s whims.

The issue for me is that after this period the city falls back to sleep again. More specifically, during Christmas people seem to rack their brains just to figure out ways to make their city more attractive. In their efforts to do so they even seem to fix some issues the city faced for a long time.

I’ve never been the outgoing type, so meeting new people was always hard for me. In the past, it took me months to meet new people and build new relationships. I hope we’ll reverse the ‘need’ to be digitally present so we can once again connect with the real world around us. Disconnect to connect.

DeathtoStock_NYC6

Things are moving faster than you think

We’ll no longer need a physical piece of technology to connect with one another. Carrying around a device to help us function already feels vintage. I hope we’ll reverse the ‘need’ to be digitally present so we can once again connect with the real world around us. Disconnect to connect.

DeathtoStock_NYC4

You’ll always find good Limoncello in Soho

In example reflecting this is that there was a big street with Caffès, in the part of Athens where I live in, which did not have street lights installed. Although they were struggling for months to fix that, the issue was conviniently solved just a couple of days ago. Coincidence? I do not think so.

DeathtoStock_NYC2

Traffic lights are prettier at dawn

The largest part of my route involves riding through an avenue with heavy traffic and public buses. There’s a park in the center of the avenue that includes a bike lane. Which means, by law, I should ride through the park’s bike lane and not the street… but I don’t.

 

 

Short hair, don’t care

Of all the places I’ve ever done gongfu tea, my very favorite is my uncle’s living room. A true tea connoisseur, he took a personal interest in educating me and my American partner about tea during our last visit to my hometown of Fuzhou.

And then again, I am ruining the Tea Road by being a complete coffee addict. Coffee is the fuel to a hard long day followed by a harder, longer night. Coffee is the cheap addiction to jumpstart mornings, to quicken afternoons, and to prolong midnights. The character of coffee is attitude, a swagger in which priorities have been predetermined.

Moving to Glasgow, Scotland for studies, the first thing I learned from one of my Scottish flatmate who is an artistic hound of the city was that there is no way you will drink from Starbucks or Costa around here if you visited Frida’s.

Vibrant, zealous, relentless

That summer, since I have been postponing on seeing who’s Frida and how good is her coffee, I decided to grab a bus and see with my own eyes (and taste) this mystique coffee shop she’s been telling me about. And there I am, talking with Frida, just in front of the coffee store, not even entering the place, and things are just delightful from the beginning.

She opened up the tea box and my eyes must have lit up. She saw I liked her CHINA collection, and she very much liked this fact.

She took pride in telling me how her mother keeps sending her different types and she asked me to choose the one we wanted. The first time I went with her favorite. The woman has some taste.

Thereafter I would simply say “Surprise me.” She hated it when I said that. That made me want to say it even more. I think I was in her room all of 10 times if that. Yet it all mattered so much.

Coffee is the fuel to a hard long day followed by a harder, longer night. Coffee is the cheap addiction to jumpstart mornings, to quicken afternoons, and to prolong midnights. The character of coffee is attitude, a swagger in which priorities have been predetermined.

Fresh and salty mornings

Four fawns stood in the street over the creek in our subdivision as I was driving out for a beer yesterday evening. Four.

I’m told it’s unusual to see four fawns together, all skinny stilts and big ears and spots and not yet savvy about things like streets. Fawns and such have been a relief this week from the blaring dreariness of what humans have been up to.

SO IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY AND FOUND THAT IT WAS HOST TO A LITANY OF FERAL CRITTERS

If you have a pet, this should be a cautionary tale. Americans spent $14.2 billion on veterinary care for their pets in 2013—and that doesn’t include proprietary health diets and food supplements. Put another way, pet owners pay about $850 annually in veterinary expenses per dog, and about $575 per cat.

AND YET AGAIN I WAS ONLY LEFT WITH NATURE

Mysteries like these could be solved by more research, but how can we get vets to pay attention to the studies that have been done? It would help if professional bodies took a strong evidence-based stand.

I’ve started to think that my gut is an asshole for another reason. If he’s so smart, and always right, why the hell is he holding out on me? What does he know that he isn’t telling my brain? Why does he know things that my brain doesn’t?

It’s easy to forget our connection to nature, when so little of what we interact with in our daily lives reminds us of the natural world it’s all built upon — the products we use, the buildings we occupy, the streets we travel.

The first thing that comes to mind is their genuine presence. A child’s laugh, or a dog’s tail wagging, or a cat’s purr all feel like money in the bank to me. I receive palpable pleasure when seeing their joy, and it makes me want to create more of it by playing with them or petting them.

Flowers are a girl’s best friend

These days, motorboats outnumber sailboats and the lake is battling the invasive zebra and quagga mussels and always wish you could visit one day. Twelve Apostles, Koalas, Kangaroos, surf towns, Bells Beach.

He had as much fun in the water as any person I have known. You didn't have to throw a stick in the water to get him to go in.
He had as much fun in the water as any person I have known. You didn’t have to throw a stick in the water to get him to go in.

Living so close to such a beautiful area, most weekends regadless of the season I usually am having a drive down the coast to grab a few shots, as there is much to explore and this place rarely takes a bad photo.

Beautiful area, most weekends regadless of the season I usually am having a drive down the coast to grab a few shots, as there is much to explore and this place rarely takes a bad photo. The idea behind this guide was to do what I love — grab my camera, some friends and to go explore.

I rented a VW Kombi for the weekend and the only thing on my itinerary was to enjoy the time, keep shooting and try to show off the laid back Australian summer lifestyle. Most weekends regadless of the season I usually am having a drive down the coast to grab a few shots, as there is much to explore and this place rarely takes a bad photo. The idea behind this guide was to do what I love — grab my camera.

Some friends and to go explore. I rented a VW kombi for the weekend and the only thing on my itinerary was to enjoy the time, keep shooting and try to show off the laid back Australian summer lifestyle.

Moving to Glasgow, Scotland for studies, the first thing I learned from one of my Scottish flatmate who is an artistic hound of the city was that there is no way you will drink from Starbucks or Costa around here if you visited Frida’s.

VIBRANT, ZEALOUS, RELENTLESS

That summer, since I have been postponing on seeing who’s Frida and how good is her coffee, I decided to grab a bus and see with my own eyes (and taste) this mystique coffee shop she’s been telling me about. And there I am, talking with Frida.

A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Most weekends regardless of the season I usually am having a drive down the coast to grab a few shots, as there is much to explore and this place rarely takes a bad photo.

The idea behind this guide was to do what I love — grab my camera, some friends and to go explore. I rented a VW kombi for the weekend and the only thing on my itinerary was to enjoy the time, keep shooting and try to show off the laid back Australian summer lifestyle.

New Friends and Old Cameras

Fill your bookshelf with endless possibilities I get ideas about what’s essential when packing my suitcase. Jeans represent democracy in fashion. You cannot be creative with people around you. In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.

They have to wear clothes that make you look better. Fashion should be fun. It shouldn’t be labelled intellectual. Age and size are only numbers.

This is also to allow time for retailers to arrange to purchase or incorporate the designers into their retail marketing.

I remember walking the dog one day, I saw a car full of teenage girls, and one of them rolled down the window and yelled, ‘Marc Jacobs!’ in a French accent. I would like to be a one-man multinational fashion phenomenon.

Finding shelter in Nebraska

Anyone who’s spent a fair amount of time in the world’s hostel dormitories will have met the culprit. He sits there on the bottom bunk, emaciated tanned limbs protruding from a Bintang vest and a pair of baggy pyjama trousers printed with a flailing dragon, and then he starts to witter.

Go to Chinatown, alone, preferably in the late afternoon. Walk around. Go into one of the shops that sells mysterious (to me) herbs and dried things. Buy some condiments or beef jerky or sweet buns for, what, $2. Listen to the grandmas hollering at their children and grandchildren, and the vegetable sellers.

Those events that are always at, like, 11pm on a Wednesday, in the east 30s or something? Go to one. Just go. Go alone if nobody else wants to go. Maybe it will suck, maybe everyone you meet will be obnoxious, but the point is that it is happening, someone is trying something, and even though we all know New York is a terrible place for creative types, it is also a wonderful place for creative types, because sometimes people show up at 11pm on a Wednesday to watch grown adults roll around on a floor in the east 30s.

DeathtoStock_NYC15

He sits there on the bottom bunk, emaciated tanned limbs protruding from a Bintang vest and a pair of baggy pyjama trousers printed with a flailing dragon, and then he starts to witter. Try to remember a place that used to make you feel like you loved New York. If it’s still there, go there. If it’s been turned into a condo or an artisanal mustard store or whatever, try to identify what it was about that place that made you love New York.

Believers in patience

I‘m a firm believer that how your day goes depends on how you choose to start it. The days I’ve gotten up late and eaten a junky breakfast, my day is usually sluggish and a bit depressing.

However, when I wake up early and take the time to gently allow myself to come into the day, I know I have an awesome 24 hours ahead of me. No matter how narrow your scope is, there will always be stuff in the middle for you to trim away from your thought process.

Every human walks around with a certain kind of sadness. They may not wear it on their sleeves, but it’s there if you look deep.

Maybe you have to worry about politics or process. The idea is to understand the “why” that is up in the clouds, and then be obnoxiously proficient at the “how” that is down in the dirt. No matter how narrow your scope is, there will always be stuff in the middle for you to trim away from your thought process.

I’ve never been the outgoing type, so meeting new people was always hard for me. In the past, it took me months to meet new people and build new relationships.

Meeting places across New York

Sometimes the hikes would last as long as three hours. Lighting at the locations — which were not always planned out — meant the images themselves are also largely the result of nature’s whims.

The issue for me is that after this period the city falls back to sleep again. More specifically, during Christmas people seem to rack their brains just to figure out ways to make their city more attractive. In their efforts to do so they even seem to fix some issues the city faced for a long time.

I’ve never been the outgoing type, so meeting new people was always hard for me. In the past, it took me months to meet new people and build new relationships. I hope we’ll reverse the ‘need’ to be digitally present so we can once again connect with the real world around us. Disconnect to connect.

DeathtoStock_NYC6

Things are moving faster than you think

We’ll no longer need a physical piece of technology to connect with one another. Carrying around a device to help us function already feels vintage. I hope we’ll reverse the ‘need’ to be digitally present so we can once again connect with the real world around us. Disconnect to connect.

DeathtoStock_NYC4

You’ll always find good Limoncello in Soho

In example reflecting this is that there was a big street with Caffès, in the part of Athens where I live in, which did not have street lights installed. Although they were struggling for months to fix that, the issue was conviniently solved just a couple of days ago. Coincidence? I do not think so.

DeathtoStock_NYC2

Traffic lights are prettier at dawn

The largest part of my route involves riding through an avenue with heavy traffic and public buses. There’s a park in the center of the avenue that includes a bike lane. Which means, by law, I should ride through the park’s bike lane and not the street… but I don’t.

As the songs go by

Four fawns stood in the street over the creek in our subdivision as I was driving out for a beer yesterday evening. Four.

I’m told it’s unusual to see four fawns together, all skinny stilts and big ears and spots and not yet savvy about things like streets. Fawns and such have been a relief this week from the blaring dreariness of what humans have been up to.

SO IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY AND FOUND THAT IT WAS HOST TO A LITANY OF FERAL CRITTERS

If you have a pet, this should be a cautionary tale. Americans spent $14.2 billion on veterinary care for their pets in 2013—and that doesn’t include proprietary health diets and food supplements. Put another way, pet owners pay about $850 annually in veterinary expenses per dog, and about $575 per cat.

Death_to_stock_photography_farm_5

AND YET AGAIN I WAS ONLY LEFT WITH NATURE

Mysteries like these could be solved by more research, but how can we get vets to pay attention to the studies that have been done? It would help if professional bodies took a strong evidence-based stand.

I’ve started to think that my gut is an asshole for another reason. If he’s so smart, and always right, why the hell is he holding out on me? What does he know that he isn’t telling my brain? Why does he know things that my brain doesn’t?

It’s easy to forget our connection to nature, when so little of what we interact with in our daily lives reminds us of the natural world it’s all built upon — the products we use, the buildings we occupy, the streets we travel.

The first thing that comes to mind is their genuine presence. A child’s laugh, or a dog’s tail wagging, or a cat’s purr all feel like money in the bank to me. I receive palpable pleasure when seeing their joy, and it makes me want to create more of it by playing with them or petting them.

Death_to_stock_photography_farm_3

Home barista for a lovely bundle

Learning the art of the barter starts with having a sense of humor. You need to go in with a smile and speak of outrageous prices — even try to sell your (girl)friends in exchange for a negotiated number of handwoven rugs.

I could describe the labyrinthine soil paths winding back into the bowels of the Grand Medina. I could tell you about pungent spice stalls, glimmering jewelry, and silver light fixtures that cast their intricately patterned glow on colorful rugs woven by ancient Berber tribes.

The open-air Berber marketplace is a completely foreign and entirely authentic world.

For miles around, the dunes rolled like red-tinged waves in the sea. I had ridden a camelto the spot where I would gaze at a million stars that night, smiling at the fact I was finallysomewhere I had dreamed about under the same stars thousands of miles away.

Wanda’s flower parlour

It’s rare that I forge a friendship with someone from the second camp. And, if they get me on a bad day, their reaction can feel like a gentle kick in the stomach.

I thought about this. Then I thought about my childhood. It turns out that I rode the bus to school nearly 200 days a year for more than 10 years. That’s 2,000 days. I don’t remember most of those days. They blur together.

Because of exactly the same reason, a flat saddle is better than one that has a pre-formed shape.The motor Guzzi California that you see in this picture has a perfect saddle: broad and long and flat, so you can move around to sit in different postures.

IN FACT, LIFE IS MANY JOURNEYS. THE MORE OF THEM YOU TAKE, THE LONGER IT WILL SEEM.

My hotel was in Yountville and I’d done no pre-planning. I asked the concierge for a running or hiking trail nearby, with underwhelming results. So in typical California fashion,

I decided to drive to my exercise. A quick Google search turned up Jack London State Park. If it was named after the author of White Fang and Call of the Wild, it had to kick ass, right?

Chalk one up for the analog experience. I love maps. I buy them just before I leave on any significant trip and they end up cluttering my apartment, living under the bed in plastic bins and shoved in the corners of bookcases. Once in a while I try to organize them, and instead get lost in the various topographies, hieroglyphic legends and squigglinglines.

Because the truth is, I don’t expect everyone to be like me. Not at all. In fact, you should be focusing on what works for you. I think people ask successful entrepreneurs questions like “What does a day look like for you?” because they think they might hold some secret to success. Some overarching wisdom that will change everything

Turkish pattern delight

Sometimes the hikes would last as long as three hours. Lighting at the locations — which were not always planned out — meant the images themselves are also largely the result of nature’s whims.

The issue for me is that after this period the city falls back to sleep again. More specifically, during Christmas people seem to rack their brains just to figure out ways to make their city more attractive. In their efforts to do so they even seem to fix some issues the city faced for a long time.

I’ve never been the outgoing type, so meeting new people was always hard for me. In the past, it took me months to meet new people and build new relationships. I hope we’ll reverse the ‘need’ to be digitally present so we can once again connect with the real world around us. Disconnect to connect.

DeathtoStock_NYC6

THINGS ARE MOVING FASTER THAN YOU THINK

We’ll no longer need a physical piece of technology to connect with one another. Carrying around a device to help us function already feels vintage. I hope we’ll reverse the ‘need’ to be digitally present so we can once again connect with the real world around us. Disconnect to connect.

YOU’LL ALWAYS FIND GOOD LIMONCELLO IN SOHO

In example reflecting this is that there was a big street with Caffès, in the part of Athens where I live in, which did not have street lights installed. Although they were struggling for months to fix that, the issue was conviniently solved just a couple of days ago. Coincidence? I do not think so.

TRAFFIC LIGHTS ARE PRETTIER AT DAWN

The largest part of my route involves riding through an avenue with heavy traffic and public buses. There’s a park in the center of the avenue that includes a bike lane. Which means, by law, I should ride through the park’s bike lane and not the street… but I don’t.

Stop focusing on the forest

Nothing excites me more than the split of second when I visualise something in mind which I have never ever possibly imagine before. I am so afraid to miss that fragment of vision, I will have to sketch it down immediately in my book. And this above, is that vision I have been keeping for a good timing.

I’m a firm believer that how your day goes depends on how you choose to start it. The days I’ve gotten up late and eaten a junky breakfast, my day is usually sluggish and a bit depressing. However, when I wake up early and take the time to gently allow myself to come into the day, I know I have an awesome 24 hours ahead of me.

Certainly, if you work well in one style, but are not as confident working in another, then it makes sense to leave that less confident work out of your portfolio.

I will have to sketch it down immediately in my book. And this above, is that vision I have been keeping for a good timing. No matter how narrow your scope is, there will always be stuff in the middle for you to trim away from your thought process.

I know my scope is a big one, so maybe it’s hard to apply it to your life. Maybe you have to worry about politics or process. The idea is to understand the “why” that is up in the clouds, and then be obnoxiously proficient at the “how” that is down in the dirt. No matter how narrow your scope is, there will always be stuff in the middle for you to trim away from your thought process.

Strawberries fields dreams

I‘m a firm believer that how your day goes depends on how you choose to start it. The days I’ve gotten up late and eaten a junky breakfast, my day is usually sluggish and a bit depressing. However, when I wake up early and take the time to gently allow myself to come into the day, I know I have an awesome 24 hours ahead of me.

My hotel was in Yountville and I’d done no pre-planning. I asked the concierge for a running or hiking trail nearby, with underwhelming results. So in typical California fashion,
I decided to drive to my exercise. A quick Google search turned up Jack London State Park. If it was named after the author of White Fang and Call of the Wild, it had to kick ass, right?

DeathtoStock_NYC19
Two Margaritas hanging out

Chalk one up for the analog experience. I love maps. I buy them just before I leave on any significant trip and they end up cluttering my apartment, living under the bed in plastic bins and shoved in the corners of bookcases.

My hotel was in Yountville and I’d done no pre-planning. I asked the concierge for a running or hiking trail nearby, with underwhelming results. So in typical California fashion,
I decided to drive to my exercise. A quick Google search turned up Jack London State Park.

DeathtoStock_NYC18

That summer, since I have been postponing on seeing who’s Frida and how good is her coffee, I decided to grab a bus and see with my own eyes (and taste) this mystique coffee shop she’s been telling me about. And there I am, talking with Frida, just in front of the coffee store, not even entering the place, and things are just delightful from the beginning.