Hard Sun

I had a stressful day at university today so I relaxed by editing pictures. I find the process of editing very calming. The pictures above have been edited in a way I hadn't tried out before. I have quite an obsession with signs and the ones you see here have appeared in other photographs before - refer to my blog post from October 2009. I love everything about those vintage American signs... the colours, the light bulbs, the lettering. The first picture was taken in downtown Kingman, Arizona. The second might have been taken in Needles, California, but I'm not sure.

There's a big

A big hard sun

Beating on the big people

In the big hard world

When she comes to greet me

She is mercy at my feet

I see her inner charm

She just throws it back at me

("Hard Sun", Eddie Vedder)

The lyrics above are excerpts from the song "Hard Sun" by Eddie Vedder; together with the song mentioned in the previous blog post and a number of other original songs plus Michael Brook's instrumental music it's featured on the soundtrack of the movie Into The Wild. This Sean Penn film is one of my all time favourite movies because it's very inspirational. It's one of the reasons why - for the first time - I went on a road trip alone, driving nearly 3200 miles in eleven days. Enjoying the landscape of the American West all on my own was an almost spiritual experience, because the desert can be unbelievably quiet - not only at the dead of night, but also during the day. By the way, the aforementioned Michael Brook invented the Infinite Guitar, which was played by U2's The Edge on their iconic album The Joshua Tree. So much about music for today.

Contrary to British TV, there's not only four channels (BBC, BBC Two, ITV, and Channel 4; we didn't even get Five - unless you pay, of course, then you get a wide selection of everything you might desire) over here in Germany. Basically, this means there's a lot of useless channels, but there's a few channels that show good documentaries almost every day of the week. Yesterday, I saw something on PHOENIX about the caves and caverns on the Yucatán Peninsula that form underground rivers which the ancient Maya got their drinking water from. As in almost any case, Wikipedia has got further information if you're interested. Both my fellow photographer / friend Brooke and myself got plans to go diving there someday. Gosh, there's so many activities and destinations on my to-do list already and I tell you, the task list keeps getting bigger every week!

I hope y'all have a great week!

- Dom

Rise

Title taken from the song by Eddie Vedder.

Such is the way of the world

You can never know

Just where to put all your faith

And how will it grow

Gonna rise up

Burning black holes in dark memories

Gonna rise up

Turning mistakes into gold

I had planned to get my presentation about the Viking settlement done, but I decided to procrastinate until tomorrow, for the weather was too gorgeous to stay inside the house. Instead I took a few photographs. Here are two of them.

Lüneburg, Germany. April 2010.

Last Friday, while on the way from university to another institute where we had a dendrochronology workshop (for those who don't know much about archaeology: tree-ring dating), me and a buddy from uni read this article about the Sar-El volunteer programme and we're really thinking about taking part, either this summer or the next. Sar-El aims to support Zahal, the Israel Defense Forces, and you can participate even if you're not an Israeli. On the weekends there'll be organized trips to Jerusalem and / or Tel Aviv. Just like my fellow student Alex, I've wanted to visit Israel for a long time and this seems to be the perfect opportunity to do so and support the only democracy in the Middle East in its fight against its terrorist neighbouring countries. The country has got a rich history, there's loads and loads of Bauhaus architecture in Tel Aviv, and the girls are beautiful. Awesome.

I hope you enjoy a nice weekend.

- Dom

The Last Carnival

Sundown, sundown

They're taking all the tents down

Where have you gone my handsome Billy?

Moonrise, moonrise

The light that was in your eyes

Has gone away

We'll be riding the train without you tonight

The train that keeps on movin'

Its black smoke scorching the evening sky

A million stars shining above us 

Like every soul livin' and dead

Has been gathered by a god 

To sing a hymn over your bones

(excerpts from "The Last Carnival", a wonderful song written by Bruce Springsteen for his friend and fellow E Street Band member Danny Federici who passed away a little over two years ago)

Picture taken in Lüneburg, Germany.

April 2010.

I hope you've had a great start into the new week.

- Dom

Stepping Down The Glory Road

Hello there!

Along with a few friends from university I visited Hedeby (German: Haithabu), the famous Viking Age settlement, yesterday morning. It's located a few miles south of Schleswig in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany's northernmost state, and a relaxed two-hour-drive from Hamburg. The Danish border isn't that far away.

I'd recommend visiting the museum to everyone who's interested in history and living in, or visiting, northern Germany. There's a few reconstructed houses and actors dressed in what they claim to be authentic clothes, too. The Vikings are such an interesting people because they've travelled so far; they made it all the way to L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. They reached America several hundred years before Columbus and Vespucci, yet the latter two are still credited with the discovery of the new world.

The first picture shows part of a rebuilt house, the second one is a photograph of a handsome Viking for the ladies who follow this blog.

 

Hedeby, Germany. April 2010.

I might upload a few more new photographs soon, so stay tuned, and have a great week y'all!

- Dom

You Poured Sugar On Me

Title taken from a song co-written by Bob Marley and Johnny Nash (yes, Nash, not Cash!). Thanks to a Polish friend, I am now in the possession of a great recipe for a drink that's just about perfect for summer evenings - take three tablespoons of cane sugar, a tiny bit of imported vodka from Poland, and loads of Sprite. Delicious.

Anyways, there's this little monastery in Lüneburg, and today is such a gorgeous day, so I decided I'd go there and take a couple pictures.

I'm gonna visit the Viking Age settlement of Hedeby in Northern Germany tomorrow. Maybe I'm gonna be back with more pictures soon.

Lüneburg, Germany. April 2010.

There's a land beyond the river

That we call the sweet forever

(taken out of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee)

Have a nice weekend!


- Dom

I Can See Clearly Now

"I Can See Clearly Now", a feel good song by Johnny Nash.

The semester has just begun less than one week ago and I already got two presentations, two essays, as well as one exam on my schedule; more to come. The essay and presentation I'm actually looking forward to are both gonna be about the Viking Age settlement Hedeby (German: Haithabu). It's just such an interesting topic.

Since our group has to give that presentation on Hedeby on the 5th of May already, I'm gonna treat myself with a ticket for the Berlin show of one of my favourite bands, She & Him. The singer of the duo is Zooey Deschanel, who also starred in movies such as (500) Days Of Summer, which is a really good one, and Winter Passing alongside Ed Harris.

I'm gonna visit Hedeby next weekend, but until then I won't have the chance to take any new pictures. Therefore I'm just gonna upload a photograph from my archives.

The Salton Sea. 
Southern California, USA. June 2009.

It's so close to the US-Mexican border that my car was stopped and searched by a police patrol. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week! 

- Dom

Dark Cloud Rising

There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor

I'm heading straight into the storm

Gonna be a twister to blow everything down

That ain't got the faith to stand it's ground

(Bruce Springsteen, "The Promised Land")

No dark clouds in these pictures - somewhere along the highway in Arizona, and the Hill Top Motel in what I believe must've been Kingman, Arizona. Not sure though, it's been more than nine months since my road trip. I'd love to go on another, but I ain't got enough time this summer. Got too much on my schedule already.

The weather has been gorgeous all day long so I went out running after I woke up. Now my muscles ache because it's the first time I worked out since some day before the winter came, and it lasted for more than three months around this part of Northern Germany. I'm probably gonna go out and do some long exposures if it won't rain again tonight. 

Yesterday, I found a few postcards I bought from a lovey artist whom I met at Union Square in New York City in July 2009. If you enjoy drawings and paintings, you might wanna check her out.

Enjoy the holidays!

- Dom

April Come She Will

Lauenburg, Germany. March 2010.

"April Come She Will" by Simon & Garfunkel... 
I love this song.

I'm not gonna start a discussion about climate change and avalanches, droughts, earth quakes, thunderstorms and tsunamis or, as in this case, floods - I just don't believe it's all our fault.

If there hadn't been a climate change some 10,000 ybp (years before present, that's the term archaeologists use), the last glacial period would've continued to this day. Of course everybody's entitled to their own opinion, so if you do wanna discuss it, use the comment box.

I hope y'all have a great April!

- Dom