No matter where I turn the skies are as endless as the rivers of concrete.  It is a realization of where I live.  I have the bay over my shoulder, and the sky over my head, but the urban landscape fill my field of vision.  This is no reason to let the urban weight hold us down.

It is only a matter of changing how we perceive our world.  If we choose to only see the stacks of gray and the endless kilometers of wire than that is how you see it.  If you only see the open skies and the blooming flowers that is how your heart will develop.

In many ways I have chosen to do both.  I need to embrace my neighborhood as it is.  I also need to search out the beauty amongst that overbearing gray.

I will always be on the edge of foreverness with my soul in the clouds.

There is a saying out in old California that when the Santa Ana winds blow, all bets are off.  It appears to have happened here in Tokyo.  Those unpredictable winds seem have swept their way clear across the Pacific Ocean pulsate over Tokyo.

The skies in the morning were spotless.  It was nothing but an endless skyscape of blue.  By the afternoon the winds had pushed a collection of fast moving clouds as they raced over the land.

I stepped off the bus and just stared out at the sky.  There was one tiny wisp of cloud over my neighborhood.  I knew it was only a moment.  I knew that it would vanish before I finished my walk home.

It was time to be in the moment.  The time to push the shutter, and capture that slice of moment in way that only photography can.

It was my Windy Blown Answer.

The day couldn’t have been a lovelier autumn day.  A day, on the sabbath, was a perfect spending out in the fresh air, strong sunshine, and blasting breeze.  I am fortunate to live right on the edge of Tokyo bay and within walking and biking distance of Kasai Rinkai Park (葛西臨海公園).  A lovely park run by the Tokyo city  government.  It is a great hidden secret and smack in my backyard.

Today the air was so clear I could sit on the edge of the bay and to my right see the snow capped Mt. Fuji, Straight ahead I could imagine seeing all the way to California and to my left to the very tip of the Chiba Peninsula.  I quickly shed my layers of clothing as the sun continued to warm my entire being.

The sunshine penetrated down to my soul.  I could refresh and be one with the Creator’s wonderland.  The park where the sea, greenery and people meet was the perfect to be able to meditate on just being myself.  A reconnecting with the natural world on the edge of the ever growing concrete jungles to my back.

The park was filled with its citizens doing a park cleanup.  Young old families walked the park with metal tongs in one hand and a garbage bag in the other.  It was a beautiful day no mater what you were doing to be out in the park.

They say, it is always they, isn’t it?  That tomorrow and Monday will be damp, cold and rainy, I feel as if I’ve been able to soak up the rays as much as I could before the weather hits.

Sit in the sun, let the sunshine warm the soul, look out to the horizon and wonder.

This is a test, a surreal test of your attention.  It was a hot and humid last day of September when, Urayasu city held its annual Emergency Preparedness Drill.  The city in conjunction with Chiba Prefecture, and the National government  organized an event to inform its citizens of the facilities in what to expect in a disaster situation.

This of course takes on even deeper meanings since the March 11, 2011 earthquake that devastated Tohoku region of Japan.  Outside of the Tohoku region, Urayasu suffered the worst damage mainly due to liquefaction.

The police, military, and emergency services all had set up displays, and interactive events to help the people of Urayasu.  I am not sure if i found it comforting or disturbing.  They say (whoever they might actually be) that Japan is does more preparation than any other country in the case of disaster strikes. There are always drills, and mock events to test the readiness of the people, and its emergency services.  This is good; however, one can never fully prepare.  There is always, and most likely the chance that something will go wrong.  I do commend the patience of the Japanese people in response to the March 11th triple disasters.  I think they did a fabulous job of coming together in the hardest hit areas.

That brings me back to this surreal event unfolding before my eyes.  Seeing the water tanks that would be used, and in the case of recent events, were used.  Witnessing Disney-cutesy characters of a soldier, a police officer and an emergency worker, was truthfully made my stomach turn.

In the end I am glad I went.  It was surreal, a surreal test indeed.

We may all have those days where your emotions turn yourself on your head.  One minute everything is just cooling, and the next you’ve got a brain cloud.  This happens to everyone.  It is part of adapting to our life through the experiences that we have incorporated as part of who we are.

It may feel like we have run head on smack into a wall.  Blam! You may have hit that wall so hard that it knocks you down to the ground and the lights grow dim.  Eventually we all come to again.  As we lay there flat on the earth our eyelids will slowly flicker back to life.  Our perspective has changed.  We are looking off into the infinite sky.  There is no longer any wall to be seen.  There is just the cobalt blue sky filled with dreamy puffs.

We might shake the dust from our clothes as we stand back up again, to be confronted with that wall that lies directly in our sightline.  What happened to that endless sky of a moment ago?  Where did it go?  Why is this wall still in my way?  There is nothing to worry about.  We have all the knowledge we need to overcome this obstacle.  These wall are never as in our way as we think they are.  The walls are there for us to climb.  We need to be able to hit that wall and scramble our way to the top and jump down to the other side.

We never quite know what is waiting for us on the other side.  We could be confronted immediately with another wall, we may land ourselves in our own garden of eden.  Or in my case, there may just be a palm tree on the other side.  It’s not gold.  It is just a tree, in a plastic pot, cared by someone who loves that plant with all their heart.

I walked those Ichikawa streets for the last time for a few months today.  The sun’s rays were growing long, and the light was just perfect.  Sometimes, I just see, and observe how quickly the light changes around this time of day.

It is around that time of day, that a few minutes, even a few seconds can make the difference between the most amazing light and just in the shadows.  I love watching those changes.  Light, and seeing light has become integral part of what makes up life.

I wonder to myself, how can people just walk by with out seeing how amazing the light is.  I know other photographers know what I am talking about.  Golden, yellow, orange, white, they are all there.  All one has to do is pause and just open your heart, and see what is happening all around you.

So, for now, I bid a sweet farewell to Ichikawa.  Goodbye!  Take care!  I will walk your streets again come April.

I was thinking about what to write in today’s post, when I realized I was not going to write what I had planed to do.  I was going to go through my images and post up the 10 most important images for me over the past year.  I kind of visual journey thought the ups and downs of 2011.

We, especially in Japan, have been though so much.  Every disaster imaginable has happened to this country and we are still dealing with the after effects of the March 11 triple disasters.  We are still dealing with the daily stress of not knowing what the future holds for our communities.

I thought deeply on this matter.  I even had begun to map out which images I would use in the post.  I have decided to change my focus from the past to the future.  It is important to revaluate one’s life in order to create a better future.  Those that are in tune with their spirit take the time to review their actions, and take steps to redirect our lives to be on the path that we want to travel.  In some cases, the path that we need to travel on.

I have chosen on the end of the Gregorian calendar to look forward.  To put the past behind us, and to forward to the year to come.  To look upwards into the endless skies and see the possibilities for what the future can bring.  To forge ahead down the roads that we need to travel.  To find ourselves in the bluest blues of the universe.

As many revel in the end of the year, I choose to look froward to the next.  Where will my artistic explorations take me?  I do not know, but I am excited about the freedom that lies ahead.

2011 into 2012

The morning was the coldest that it has been thus far.  And to top it off I was running behind due to the cold and the persistent rain.  I do enjoy the journey out to Chiba in the morning before I make my preparations for the shabbat, but nothing seemed to go right this morning.  I got out of bed late, and had to hurriedly eat my cereal and banana. Then, I made it outside to realize that I had forgotten my iPod on its charger in the house.  I look to my right to see the Number 24 bus, my bus, coming, so I had to kick up my heals to be able to catch the bus on time.  Usually I catch the 7:25 direct train to Tsudanuma station, but I caught the 7:27 one to Tsudanuma.  It doesn’t seem like much, right?  We are only talking about a 2 minute time difference, but it was enough for me to miss the 7:57 bus, and I had to wait 15 minutes in the cold for the next one.

I am not really complaining, because that I know in a few short hours I will be able to put aside all my worldly worries and focus on the shabbat.  When I had finished up my business in Chiba, and the sun had finally come out to greet the sabbath bride.  It was the creator smiling down, showing me the way that things are suppose to be, and where I need to focus my energies.  I need not to fret and worry over such trifle matters as missing my bus.  I need to remember to be thankful and look for that sunshine.

Im a bit under the weather with all the yo-yo like temperatures we have been having in Tokyo. I guess my body fought the germs off for as long as it could.

Therefore, I will keep this posting short. Walking back to the station took a lot longer than usual, and seemed like a dream. I noticed this Bird of Paradise communicating with its soba shop noren (a Japanese entryway curtain).

I feel like a haiku.

flower talking blue
lucidly communicating
awakening dream

As I was walking through a buddhist temple on my way back to the train, my eyes drifted to the roof of the temple.  My eyes kept on wandering over the roof until I encountered a sky so blue that I thought that I might be dreaming.  The sky was an amazing shade of blue.  Like those caribbean seas I swam in down in Jamaica.  The sky was painted this hue.  And across that sea of blue were rows of white clouds.  They had been pulled by the wind and stretched into long rows like that of planted garden.  It was an amazing to just be still and look up into the sky.

It was a surreal moment.  Was I really there?  Was it just a fragment of dream that surfaced in my waking hours?  Does it matter if it was?

I do not have the answers.  All I know is that there was truth in that shade of blue.  A truth that touched my soul.

A fresh bush full of blooming gardenias.  A bit of fragrance from my childhood, as our house in Miami had a huge bush in the backyard.  Also some electric blue buds from a small communal flower garden in Chiba.

Yesterday was the first day of July, and the weather and the skies reflected it.  The skies that greeted my morning commute in Chiba, Japan, was wide blue and full of wispy clouds.  It just warmed my heart at the same time that the sun was heating up my physical body.  The sky was so blue, and seemed clean.  Even though at the same time I know that Fukushima is releasing radioactive particles into the air.  I still have hope that nature will trump this man made disaster.

Love is out there.  Love needs to spread wider and farther than all the radioactive particles that we are now experiencing here in Japan.  Love needs to be written upon our hearts as the same some wrote in upon the wall in Chiba.

More love

Let the love spread over all the masses of the Earth.

The wind was howling when this one was snapped.  It did come out a bit on the blurred side, but I’m surprised that it wasn’t completely blurred.  There is a beauty in it’s soft edges, and how the blue melts into the greens.

Why am I exploring the world of flowers?  It is possible that it is a reaction to the fact that there is so much our shared lived that is out of our hands, and I find comfort in the colored petals.  I am definitely walking down an unexplored path with regards to making images of flowers and fauna.  And without trying to over intellectualizing the fact, I need to be in the moment and explore the flowers as a way of making peace with the natural world.

It doesn’t matter to me where I find the pieces of the natural world.  They can be in a potted plant sitting outside a little izakaya (pub)  in Ichikawa, or when I get the chance to really venture into nature.  The goal is to start a communication with the nature I encounter.  I feel like the conversation has only just begun.  We have a lot to learn from each other, and the only way we can go further down the road together is to continue this conversation.  This lucid communication with nature.

Long after the building all crumble into dust, the flowers, and trees will still be here.  Their roots will find their way between the cracks in the pavement and slowly tear down this civilization.

The jasmine will continue to bloom.  The trees will bud, and then shed their cherry blossoms.

I must in the meantime continue the discussion with the natural world.  I must add to the natural world around me.  I must breathe in deeply to smell those first droplets of rain.

I admit it.  I am completely utterly flower obsessed this spring. I have always had an appreciation for the spring but this year it has taken on life changing proportions.  The situation in Japan, in a larger picture the state of the world, has forced me to look at my situation and see what needs changing.  What are the things that need to change?

Change is a life long process.  I can not be happy with my past accomplishments but I must strive to seek out new accomplishments.  I must challenge my lens to seek out other worlds.  I do not know where my lens will lead me next, but I am sure wherever I end up it is where I am suppose to be.

Come, step into the violet, with me.