The barber

Yes this is another picture of a cuban person and it has also been taken in the streets of Trinidad.

If you love taking photos you should definitely go to Cuba and see Trinidad and Havana. Those were the two cities if found most interesting and picturesque.

At the beginning of my Cuba trip I was tired and not used to the heat so I did not take many pictures. I was also afraid that people will get angry if I take photos of them without asking. But once I got to Trinidad I forgot about all that and I started taking tons of pictures and could not stop anymore. There was so much to see, so many interesting people and things behind every corner.

While I was walking around I saw this barbershop with open doors, almost on the street. I took a picture, the barber recognized it and he did not get angry at all, instead we started talking to each other.

Actually no one ever got really angry at me (so far) by taking pictures of them. Some people start posing and enjoy the attention, some smile and some just look at me a little confused. No one ever shouted at me or forced me to delete the picture, which is a constant fear of mine while doing street photography.

That is the same when you are traveling. You might be scared to get robbed or hurt by someone. Of course that can happen. But most of the time you will see how kind people are even if you are foreigner and sometimes just because you are a foreigner.

So never let yourself be held back by your fear. If you just start traveling (or taking pictures) you will experience help and kindness by strangers much more often that you could have imagined.

 

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Barbershop in Trinidad, Cuba in September 2016.

Black & white?

In the last weeks I did not take very many pictures. One reason is because I was not traveling to other countries and I do not get too excited to take pictures in Germany, because I live there and so it does not seem as interesting as a foreign place.

Another reason is because it is cold and dark most of time right now, so I do not really want to go out.

Today I forced myself to go out and I actually took some pictures. Of trees without leaves in the fog. They looked really depressing and almost colorless. At home I turned the pictures in complete black & white and did not like it either way. It seemed really boring and sad to me.

Well there are some really great black & white photographers and their pictures do not look boring at all, but to me they always transfer kind of a sad feeling.

I just rarely take pictures in black & white, because I think it is such a pity to take away all the color. It seems like there is an infinite number of colors in our world. Why would I want to get rid of it? For me color is what makes a picture interesting and lively.

So I had to find something else to take a picture of with some more color. Finally I took one of my orchid at home. I really love orchids and I love macros.

On this close up you can see what amazing things our nature can build and what great colors. The closer you get the more details you will see and in this case also a lot of wonderful colors.

Orchid in my appartment in Stuttgart, December 2016

You are free!

Do you think you are free? Do you think you can do whatever you want to?

Your answer is probably “Hm no, not really. I have to go to work, I have to take care of my children, I have to take care of my parents, I have to pay for my house, I have to clean, I have to…”

Yes everyone thinks he has to do something. Because we need to earn money, because we have responsibilites, because we are used to do something and do not think about it anymore or because society expects us to do it.

Well, I am going to tell you something: THIS IS NOT TRUE! You do not have to do anything you do not want to!

You are free – you just do not know it or you forgot about it.

You do not believe me? Okay I will explain it to you.

You think you need to work and earn money? But it is possible to live without money, if you want to know how that could work read the book “Happy without money” by Raphael Fellmer or ask a homeless person. Yes it might be hard, but it is possible if you just really want to. At the point in your life when you got your first job you decided to do that because you wanted to, not because someone forced you, right? You decided to live with money, because you chose to live that way and you decided on having your job because you wanted it.

You think you have to take care of your children? Okay that might be what other people expect you to do. But you were the one that decided to have children and you also decided to keep them. Yes could have decided not to have children, you could have had an abortion, you could have given away your children. That sounds cruel? Maybe, but this is the truth.

Most of the time you decide based on what consequences your decision might have. You ask yourself if you can live with these consequences and then you make a decision. There is a saying that even if you do not make decision you made one.

You decide everyday on your children, you decide everyday to go to work. You have a choice to do that or not do that everyday and every minute of your life – because you are free!

Freedom is not something you can touch or really proof – it is all in your mind, you just need to be aware of it.

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Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany in October 2016.

The beauty of our world

Cuba has a great nature. There are a lot of plants and animals that only exit on this island and some parts are biospheric parks that are protected by the government.

The cubans have a very little ecological footprint. Not because they know much about sustainability or environmental protection. They use very little resources, because they only have very little resources. While a citizens of the European Union needs three to four times as much resources as they should, cubans are doing pretty well.

If something is broken we just buy it new. Cubans try to repair everything they have to use it as long as possible. I am sure that can be quite hard, but they do not really have a choice.

For us it so much easier to buy a new TV, a new car or a new phone when it is broken. Why would you bother repair something if you have enough money to buy it new?

Even if Cuba is not environmental friendly because they want to – we can still learn from them. Sweden for example just past a law to reduce tax on repairing services so that people are more willing to get things repaired instead of throwing them away.

But you do not have to wait for your government to make things easier. You can do a lot of things on you own to reduce your ecological footprint. I sold my car some months ago, because in Stuttgart it possible to got everywhere you want by train, bus or by renting a electric car. So it would not make sense to keep my car and produce a lot of CO2 all the time. I am sure if you just think about it you will also find a lot of things in your life that you could change to use less resources – without having any real disadvantages by doing that.

Our world is a beautiful place with stunning nature. What are you willing to do to keep the beauty of our world?

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This picture has been taken in a botanical garden in Viñales, Cuba in September 2016.