Waltzing with the butterflies

Afternoon in the meadow in the Apuseni

A lazy afternoon, for me that is, as the farm owners are probably hard at work, making cheese, baking bread, feeding the hens. The cows are still to be fetched from the high pasture but for me, it is time to feel the meadows. what feels miraculous, looks flat through the camera’s lens. and to add insult to injury, my favorite manual lens does not cooperate with the camera anymore and I can’t really focus it. That’s when I just lay in the tall grasses, bees, and sun and all, stop trying to focus, and just hope some of the magic will register. No unicorns or fairies appeared but the two puppies nicknamed Barbar 1 and Barbar2 soon found me and started chewing on my pants. Who needs more?

Barbar1 and the white tips of Barbar2 front feet

When living is your whole life

Two hours on a hiking trail from Boita through the forest and we are almost at the top of the hill. We pass a home distillery, climb some more, take a right through the trees and arrive at our destination. Johanna and Nikolai’s farm. He is 85, she is 72. The friendliest of welcomes. Nikolai shows us the vegetable garden and pulls out a handful of green onions. Meanwhile, Johanna cannot stop saying how happy she is to see me. Talks about how faith sustains her through all the tough periods in life. Why don’t they move to the village? “we always stayed here, this is our place”. They have a few sheep, hens, and a donkey that helps take things to and from the village. Yes, on exactly the same path we came on. After a few minutes, they set a chunk of (handmade) cheese, some bread, and the green onion on the table. “Eat”, they ask us, “is it good?”. Yes, it is. Very. splitting with us the little they have makes the simple meal even tastier. We leave with them some cookies and some fruit ( the donkey already got an apple and the banana peel :). they would like to cook for us some ‘clatite’, but this really is too much. we tell them we have a 2 hours hike back to the village and we part with hugs and hope we’ll be back.

I posted a picture of this amazing couple on Facebook and a friend commented that poverty photographs well everywhere. True, but I would argue this is not about poverty. It is about choosing to live a hard but honest and as strange as it may seem to us pretty fulfilling life.

Johanna and Nikolai in their summer kitchen

“Let me get some cheese for you”, Johanna

Nikolai at 85

Home made cheese

Lighting fire in the oven

In memory of Engineer Grinberg

Almost 50 years after my dad quit his job at the Romanian Rail Road company, and 20 years since he passed away, I stand near the old locomotives in Sibiu thinking of him. Did he ever travel in one of these trains? How I wish he was here, telling stories from his old days traveling throughout Romania, perhaps remembering some funny stories from his days as a young engineer in the C.F.R.

I miss you, dad, I wish you could see me taking pictures of these old but not forgotten beauties. You were always my lighthouse, you still are and will always be.

Paris part 3 - Wrapped

Why? The first question everyone I tell about the wrapped Arc de Triomphe in Paris asks. Why would anyone do it. I confess I asked myself the same question when I heard the ‘unveiling’ or perhaps the veiling of the Parisian landmark will take place 2 days before we return from out trip to Paris.

“Bring joy and beauty to the people” is all Cristo would agree to say in all interviews I could watch on YouTube. “All other meanings are propaganda”. Joy and beauty to the people. OK. I am one of the people, aren’t I? On September 19th, the day no cars allowed in center Paris, I decided to experience the joy and beauty. And?

It was certainly enlightening, surreal and ….funny. The silvery cloth shimmering in the light emphasized the size of the monument, like a huge elephant in the midst of a constant river of people. Beautiful? Not sure about that but definitely impressive. And the people, their reaction to the wrapped monument were between hilarious ( adults looking behind the cloth to see what’s there ?? ) and bizarre ( climbing on the monument, an elderly woman??). More than one person covering itself in cloth, standing there to be photographed. By strangers in the crowd, by people with professional looking cameras.

What do you think of when looking at the photo of the covered person. once we can not see whether it is a man or a woman. Black or white. Once it is just a human shape. What differs looking at this person covered compared to looking at the same person without the cover? Is it the same for the monument? And if it is, and the act of wrapping it makes us stop and look at it with different eyes, make us ask different questions, is this art? Art worth 14M Euro?

Wrapped

Paris part 2 - Les Nounours des Gobelins

The new Parisians

What is more Parisian than having a cup of coffee or a drink watching the passers by? At any other time I came to Paris, cafés were full, barely a spare seat. But this is 2021. The cafes are half empty even on a late Sunday morning, and the customers seem to have changed ….Despite the negative aspects of the situation it is hard not to smile looking at these huge teddy bears, therefore on the last day of the trip, I could not resist a ‘bear hunt’ in the Gobelin area.

Paris of 2021, with its Notre Dame covered by scaffolding, its Arc de Triomphe wrapped ( more about that in the next post) and the huge Teddy Bears is so symbolic of the changes we experience all around us. Makes you wonder if it will ever go back to being the city it used to be a mere 2 years ago.

Crepes et Gaufres

Coffee with my friend

Paris part 1 - Paris nights

Locks near the Seine, Paros 2021

Paris. Paris at night. Still beautiful, yet different. The crane beside the Notre Dame, the masks, bears sitting alongside people at the cafe. Yet the alleys remained the same, the restaurants in the Quartier Latin still have their own charm and serve the fondue that I love. And Saint Chapelle ….renders me speechless every time.

Great fondue and great company :)

Frida, masked

Back to normal life …almost

Notre Dame - backside with crane

Ahhhhhhhh…..

A good day

Adorned by light

This past Wednesday was a very good day to lose the mind and find if not the soul, at least some peace and quiet. For the last two years the political climate in Israel resembles a bad TV drama, and the last few weeks, everything got louder. The hate, the noise, the missiles, the guesses, some more intelligent than others, and deep inside the tangled mess a tiny glimmer of hope. Not a full blooming confident hope, but whispers of it. Coming and going. On Wednesday night, 35 minutes before the deadline, the light got stronger. Still hesitant, unstable, trying to learn how to breathe without extinguishing itself, but definitely there. Wednesday was definitely a good day.

In Search of Wilderness

Exploring what it feels like to be wild, neither woman nor man, a creature of your own imagination. Being both hunter and prey. Wild and dark turning luminous then dark again. Not just being in the woods but of the nature. Acknowledging the wilderness within us and allowing it to be.

Muse/dancer/inspiration : Michal

“To be strong does not mean to sprout muscles and flex. It means meeting one’s own numinosity without fleeing, actively living with the wild nature in one’s own way. It means to be able to learn, to be able to stand what we know. It means to stand and live.”

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

“(Young girls) are taught to not see, and instead to “make pretty” all manner of grotesqueries whether they are lovely or not. This training is why the youngest sister can say, “Hmmm, his beard isn’t really that blue.” This early training to “be nice” causes women to override their intuitions. In that sense, they are actually purposefully taught to submit to the predator. Imagine a wolf mother teaching her young to “be nice” in the face of an angry ferret or a wily diamondback rattler.”

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

Fairy dust and broken molds

“Luck is what happens when preparations meets opportunity”. This quote, attributed to Roman philosopher Seneca is as true today as it ever was. A chance encounter with one of Israel’s preeminent sculptors Zvi Lachman brings me to a bronze foundry, half an hour driving distance from home. A world of dust, creativity, broken molds, smoke and fire. Amy with a camera in Wonderland ….

Homesick

Homesick for walking through forests, for the sound of water, for snow.

For the quiet filled with sounds of birds and branches swaying in the wind.

For filling the lungs with chilly, fragrant air.

Homesick for a time without masks, when we were free to travel and immerse ourselves in beauty rather than watching it on the screen. Yes, it came to that, I am sitting in front of the screen photographing nature documentaries on Yellowstone. If I can not go to the forests, at least I can bring the forest to me. Hopefully not for much longer.

Woven light

Cascades

One of my favorite weaving moments - when fiber, light and potential fill the loom. The moment before things come into being, when darkness and light are still intertwined. The moment plans are pushed to the background and instinct is allowed to take center stage, Yesterday, before starting to play with a woven transparency, the instinct had me reaching for the camera. Yarn & light. So simple, so beautiful.

A different world

A different world #1, Lumen print digitally enhanced

These past few weeks, living in the shadows of Covid-19 were easier on me than most. Spending time in the studio, gardening, reading and most importantly having all family members well and healthy - I really can’t complain. Most of the time I am at the loom, weaving. “Morning sounds”. Weaving while talking to the birds perching on the tree just outside the studio window. Weaving (or spinning for that matter) are just the thing for letting the mind wander. And wonder. How will our world change? Will this pandemic make us realize how connected are we to each other and to the other parts of nature? How a bat on one side of the world can change lives of millions of people on the other side. Will we find a different equilibrium between the physical and virtual world?

While “Morning Sounds” is off the loom, resting for a couple of days in the studio, I’m back to playing with Lumen prints. Combining physical and virtual reality in my own way. A different world.

“Morning Song” off the loom, resting on the table in my studio

Talking to the birds

All around us

A sunny winter day. A perfect time for a long overdue date with my camera. Not because I have an idea for a project, or because I “should make meaningful images”. Just to have fun, play hide and seek with the light ( the light does the hiding, I gladly do the seeking part). The arboretum it filled with families soaking in the sun, dogs enjoying their walk. A million birds, heard but not seen take care of the music. The wind and light paint fleeting art on the surface of the water. Everyday magic.

“Sometimes since I’ve been in the garden I’ve looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all the places.”

— Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Born in Paris

Nnam Yllas #1

“For more than a year, I have been waiting to see this exhibition, and here I am. So close to the art, I can almost touch it. Instead, I raise the camera and allow the artwork to touch me. The unimportant details take center stage while the actual art pieces recede into the background. After a while, the absurdity of the situation hits me. Why do I tune out the real objects in front of me actively searching for what I want to see?”

Nnam Yllas, a new body of work, born in Paris. A good place to be born in. At a fantastic exhibition at Jeux de Paume. Moments of wonder, awe and I confess, a few tears as well - I expected the experience to be overwhelming. What I did not expect was the urge to photograph. The instinct saying this is important even if I do not understand why. I wonder what the people around me thought of the crying woman with the camera who seemed to photograph the images in the worst possible way: too close, at a weird angle, without enough light, moving around the image with the camera glued to her face. If they only knew ….

To see the resulting body of work, go here.

In the city of lights, beauty and...rats

There is only one Paris

Charming and irresistible,

Filled with history, art, food

…. and a very french sense of humor ( Memoirs of a rat???)

Walking its street, is like stepping into a Dumas books, suddenly touching the house named after Henry the 3rd. Rendered speechless by Sally Mann’s exhibition at Jeux de Paume - which is the reason for being here.

There are many beautiful cities in the world, but only one Paris.

Moon over Paris

J‘aime la vie …. look carefully, notice anything unusual among the guests of this cafe?

Horses :)

Like stepping into a book

Deported. 1943

The one and only - Sally Mann - from her retrospective exhibition at Jeux de Paume

The guillotine, the rat version …

French humor???

I will be back

Revisiting childhood fairy tales

The dwarfs are working in the forest, as the only sound to be heard is that of the flowing river

Back to the greenest green. The green that never knew thirst. The green of fairy tales. The dwarfs’ little wooden house waiting for Snow White. The towers where the princess spins the endless fleece. The storks in their nest - have they already brought the babies to the waiting families?

I went to Romania, curious to see whether there are any strings left connecting my adult and child self. I expected to feel a sense of belonging; the food, the language. And I did. Eating mom’s food at a hotel’s breakfast, or at dinner, speaking the language I used to speak with grandma. But nothing prepared me for the sheer enchantment of the countryside, its pure and simple beauty. A place that ignores the modern show off and just lives its life. Where man lives within nature rather than fighting it. Where carts filled with hay or logs replace the horrible traffic jams we became so familiar with. The longing for a simpler life. Lacking in modern comforts but rich in space, fresh water and sweet smelling air. It stole my heart.

That’s who brings babies into the world, right? Complete with church’s blessings ;)

The hay is drying, almost ready for winter storage

Traffic. 2019 or 1919?

So simple - so beautiful hours and hours of driving through green fields dotted with hay stacks.

Waiting for the prince to climb up the wall and save the princess ….

Suddenly, the names of my two dolls came back : Ruth and Aviva ….

Written in stone (and plaster)

Alhambra. Thousands of words were written about it. Words that fail to express its power, its beauty. The spiritual experience of being enveloped in endless patterns. The feeling of awe when standing in the midst of one of the greatest human creations. A lesson in humility. A glimpse at what can be achieved when tolerance, cooperation, art and science come together as they did in Spain before 1482.

On the week when another architectural marvel, the Notre Dame in Paris was almost lost, I feel the need to look at these images again, share them as if sharing would safeguard them from harm. Keep them safe for generations to come. Allow it to radiate harmony, beauty and hope on our world.

Because we need it.

The colors of Black and White

After a few months of moving between the darkroom and the ‘wet studio’ - “Meeting Frida”, a new body of work is ready!

I wrote about the beginning of this work in a previous blog post http://www.amykankaphotography.com/blog/2018/11/7/frida-and-me

And here is a peek at the process of creating the images in this series. After the initial exposure and developer step in the darkroom, the wet image moves to a light filled studio where I paint chemicals on the light sensitive black and white paper, watching colors emerge. Despite the fact that I know the science behind it, still feeling I am witnessing magic. Painting with light …. there is nothing like it!!

You can see the full portfolio here: http://www.amykankaphotography.com/meeting-frida

Painting on Silver Gelatin paper - shades of gold, pink, amber and red slowly emerging

Is it done, shall I leave it longer? ….many prints are messed up before a good one emerges …

Looking great when wet, this one did not make it to the final images when dry :(

End of a working day, many failures, one success!!

When the world is ready

For the last year and a half, we drove by an open field peppered with what looked like sculptures, saying sometime we should go see what it there. Last Saturday, the first sunny winter day in a while, the three of us ( the dog was more than happy to join us) finally did it. I did not expect much, and maybe because of this the combination of the huge sculptures made of natural materials combined with the mid-day light filtered by the clouds took me by surprise. The world seemed ready for me to just click the shutter. And I did.

Something borrowed

“why would you like to photograph me???”

I have a problem photographing strangers. I feel uncomfortable asking permission (I would not like strangers to photograph me …), and “stealing” an image without permission is a no-no. Treating others as ‘strange beings’ photographed like animals for a National Geographic features - also makes me cringe. So usually, when photographing on a trip, I stick to places and things. And yet, sometimes ….

September 2018, Greece. The mountainous part, small to tiny villages, some of them untouched by tourists yet. We are a small group travelling together for 10 days, sampling the tastes of rural Greece. It’s afternoon, we are on our way to the hotel, stopping for a short break at Kastoria, a village on the lake shore. We spend some time in an old house turned museum. Just next to the entrance, an older lady is knitting. She is just beautiful. Timeless. Untouched by the 5G antennas that no one knows how will they impact us, from the Supreme Court nominees. From the everyday noises that fill our lives. Every hour does seem to have 60 full minutes here, and she seems to make the best of each one of them. I want to take a picture of her, but there are 20 people with cameras around me, I am not going to turn her into a zoo animal. So I give up, and go into the house. When we come out of the museum, the knitting lady is not by herself, two other people joined her. They make such a beautiful picture. Temptation mounts. Our group starts walking down the alley. I stay behind. In a wordless pantomime, I ask them if I can take their picture. The woman nods, seems surprised by my question. I click the shutter then smile bowing my head, thanking them. “You don’t take a photograph. You ask quietly to borrow it.” So true.