Monday, September 23, 2019
Saturday, January 26, 2019
I am back! I want to share my thoughts about travel, people and photography!
Wow! I cant believe four years have passed since I wrote my last blog! I missed writing and sharing my thoughts about things. I think I do this more for myself as a reflection, but hopefully you will enjoy the read, or at least get a view as to how I see the world. This maybe different from how you see things, so I challenge you to keep an open mind and heart. I am not a person that is "politically correct", I will not sugar coat my comments and I may offend many of you. And no topic is ever off the table, so with these words of caution, read at your own risk.
For my first post I will write about my re-visit to Japan, I first visited Japan in 2012 when I lived in Hong Kong. My experience then and now are somewhat different and in many ways the same. Of course I am seven years older, and maybe my perspective has changed a bit.
We traveled and revisited Tokyo and then proceeded to the Island of Hokkaido, the second largest Island of Japan. Hokkaido being the Northern most Island is cool during the summer and extremely cold and snowy in the winter, reaching over 35 feet of snow during the winter in certain areas.
Hokkaido population has over 5.5 million people, rural and mainly agriculture, much of the food, fish and flowers come from Hokkaido.
Let's talk about the people, I will compare to Americans and the U.S. many cases. The Japanese are quiet, well dressed and the young are obsessed with selfies! In a city like Tokyo with close to 10 million people you do not hear them! There is no horn honking and they are orderly beyond belief!
I also believe that many are repressed, one cannot be that polite, quiet and "civilized" all the time.
More than 2,000 sex dolls are sold every year in Japan, that is a lot of lonely and fucked up men. Many of them have married their dolls and have spent tens of thousands of dollars on a dress for the doll bride, cake and ceremony.
The one notable difference is the Japanese way of dress, or maybe I should say it became more apparent to me how lazy Americans have become by using "athletic wear" as everyday attire. The Japanese young and old have a sense of style. Many young women still wear pantyhose and heels.
(I no longer wear pantyhose, too hot in Florida to wear them and I certainly limit my time in heels.
A side note, growing up Cuban in Florida, we did not wear flip flops as they were not seen as footwear.
Tokyo is beige and brown, the city lacks color, it is said that the Japanese look to nature to fill the environment with color. Another thing worth noting, there are no garbage cans in public spaces! There is no litter like you see in the U.S., for the most part it is incredibly clean, (air quality is another story). I had to walk around for hours with an empty cup of coffee until I found a trash can. One can say that overall the Japanese take a certain pride in themselves and their homeland.
Now Hokkaido, the Northern most island is desolate and beautiful. Driving around the island and walking through the snow, looking for images to make was a challenge. The winds were gusting, rain and snow relentless, but we had an amazing guide that made everything effortless.
Japan is a very difficult country to get around in, English is limited, signage only in Japanese, this can be very challenging to travel outside of the big cities. Let me be clear even in the big cities it is difficult to get around.
In Hokkaido we covered a large part of the Island spending two days or so in each location, then moving on to the next stop. Most of the hotels do not have t.v. channels in English and the majority of them have onsen's , thermal baths, that are part of the daily ritual of the Japanese life. The waters are thought to have healing elements in them. A word of caution, if you have heart issues or low blood pressure do not go in!
A final comment, I love the Japanese just for the way they take care of the public bathrooms! Their toilets are amazing and the bathrooms smelled and looked clean. They had wipes to wipe down the toilets before use and of course Toto toilets with every type of spray, wash and blow dry your bottom!
Here are a few photos to see mainly Hokkaido and a few of Tokyo, enjoy!
I want to thank Martyn Lucas for organizing this trip, if you are a photographer and like traveling in small groups to interesting places, reach out to Martyn on FB or let me know and I will hook you guys up!
©all images are not for use by other people. All images are the sole property of the photographer.
For my first post I will write about my re-visit to Japan, I first visited Japan in 2012 when I lived in Hong Kong. My experience then and now are somewhat different and in many ways the same. Of course I am seven years older, and maybe my perspective has changed a bit.
We traveled and revisited Tokyo and then proceeded to the Island of Hokkaido, the second largest Island of Japan. Hokkaido being the Northern most Island is cool during the summer and extremely cold and snowy in the winter, reaching over 35 feet of snow during the winter in certain areas.
Hokkaido population has over 5.5 million people, rural and mainly agriculture, much of the food, fish and flowers come from Hokkaido.
Let's talk about the people, I will compare to Americans and the U.S. many cases. The Japanese are quiet, well dressed and the young are obsessed with selfies! In a city like Tokyo with close to 10 million people you do not hear them! There is no horn honking and they are orderly beyond belief!
I also believe that many are repressed, one cannot be that polite, quiet and "civilized" all the time.
More than 2,000 sex dolls are sold every year in Japan, that is a lot of lonely and fucked up men. Many of them have married their dolls and have spent tens of thousands of dollars on a dress for the doll bride, cake and ceremony.
The one notable difference is the Japanese way of dress, or maybe I should say it became more apparent to me how lazy Americans have become by using "athletic wear" as everyday attire. The Japanese young and old have a sense of style. Many young women still wear pantyhose and heels.
(I no longer wear pantyhose, too hot in Florida to wear them and I certainly limit my time in heels.
A side note, growing up Cuban in Florida, we did not wear flip flops as they were not seen as footwear.
Tokyo is beige and brown, the city lacks color, it is said that the Japanese look to nature to fill the environment with color. Another thing worth noting, there are no garbage cans in public spaces! There is no litter like you see in the U.S., for the most part it is incredibly clean, (air quality is another story). I had to walk around for hours with an empty cup of coffee until I found a trash can. One can say that overall the Japanese take a certain pride in themselves and their homeland.
Now Hokkaido, the Northern most island is desolate and beautiful. Driving around the island and walking through the snow, looking for images to make was a challenge. The winds were gusting, rain and snow relentless, but we had an amazing guide that made everything effortless.
Japan is a very difficult country to get around in, English is limited, signage only in Japanese, this can be very challenging to travel outside of the big cities. Let me be clear even in the big cities it is difficult to get around.
In Hokkaido we covered a large part of the Island spending two days or so in each location, then moving on to the next stop. Most of the hotels do not have t.v. channels in English and the majority of them have onsen's , thermal baths, that are part of the daily ritual of the Japanese life. The waters are thought to have healing elements in them. A word of caution, if you have heart issues or low blood pressure do not go in!
A final comment, I love the Japanese just for the way they take care of the public bathrooms! Their toilets are amazing and the bathrooms smelled and looked clean. They had wipes to wipe down the toilets before use and of course Toto toilets with every type of spray, wash and blow dry your bottom!
Here are a few photos to see mainly Hokkaido and a few of Tokyo, enjoy!
I want to thank Martyn Lucas for organizing this trip, if you are a photographer and like traveling in small groups to interesting places, reach out to Martyn on FB or let me know and I will hook you guys up!
©all images are not for use by other people. All images are the sole property of the photographer.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Buenos Aires Argentina!
My impressions of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In a city of 3 million humans, there are over 500,000 dogs as pets, making dog watching in Buenos Aires just as prolific as people watching, and equally entertaining. The only issue with having these wonderful and loyal animals is the amount of poop left on the sidewalks! Pick up your poop. It is sad to see a city so grand that has large portions obviously neglected. The infrastructure is not here, the sidewalks in many neighborhoods are missing large portions of concrete. The city has been overtaken with graffiti, nothing has been left untagged. Even the wonderful art murals have been tagged a million times over.
Beautiful smelling Jasmines.
Platform 70's style shoes.
Amazing deco style, name Mala Cara.
Puente de Las Mujeres.
Landfill and old drainage pipes.
In a city of 3 million humans, there are over 500,000 dogs as pets, making dog watching in Buenos Aires just as prolific as people watching, and equally entertaining. The only issue with having these wonderful and loyal animals is the amount of poop left on the sidewalks! Pick up your poop. It is sad to see a city so grand that has large portions obviously neglected. The infrastructure is not here, the sidewalks in many neighborhoods are missing large portions of concrete. The city has been overtaken with graffiti, nothing has been left untagged. Even the wonderful art murals have been tagged a million times over.
The political posters is overwhelming! If I were Argentine I would never vote for Scioli, the city is been blighted with his posters, graffiti everywhere with his name and agenda, in every inch of space imaginable, such an eye soar. Even the underpasses, is he going to remove all of that when the election is over?
In the Recoleta area with its grand via's and beautiful Jacaranda trees the streets are lined with stark apartment buildings and you are able to see much of the "old Europe" influence from time past. I can imagine how beautiful it must be when the Jacaranda's are in full bloom. The cemetery is world famous, and I love my cemetery. This one is the most opulent one I have ever seen. I did not find that surprising since most of the last names are from Italy and Spain two countries with wonderful resting places. I was surprised to see the amount of Basque last names from the early 1800's resting there. There are many many wonderful parks for kids, dogs, and even skateboard parks, which I would love to see in Hollywood for our kids.
We walked and walked for me it is a great way to listen to the conversations on the streets, get the feel of the people. In the at least 65 miles walked, I was told over and over to watched my camera, that it's dangerous to walk with a camera (and this is my little Sony)! All of the establishments, restaurants, stores have the doors locked, security guards or both! The feeling of being "unsafe" walking through the city was unsettling. At the same time I felt fine, only once did I feel uncomfortable walking from La Boca to San Telmo.
Yesterday we walked to el Puente de las Mujeres and then walked through a ecological reserve which at first I thought was a good idea, but was built on a landfill that has not been remediated. No Bueno, the amount of trash and plastics around the river was sad to see. The signs stating not to near the water because of toxicity and the color of the water was heartbreaking, I can't imagine the toxicity of the saline in these waters.
All in all my five day were nice, the weather was great, the sites were good, the museums were fair, all of them had at least one floor closed due to change of exhibition or remodeling and yet they charge the same price to admittance. The people were nice, willing to speak as to the political and economic situation. The best was our last cab driver from Peru that has lived here for 15 years, he said from the inquires that he has made about other countries that Argentina is the best country in the world. Free health care, free education and that the Argentines "care" about the people. He said if he was in his country and lying on the side of the road sick, they would let him die. He said Chile, a middle class level in Chile is a low class lever here. He said if you are begging and on the streets in Argentina it is because you enjoy it, because this country has all of its resources to offer. Unlike many of the natives speaking about politics, even going back to Menem's time to find blame. The problem is the same as the U.S. it is the people that do not do their homework, that do no go out and vote, that sit on the sidelines and watch life go by.
Che!
Elizabeth
Friday, October 30, 2015
"Get over yourself" An update on "Self Revealed" the Naked photography project.
If I can lighten someone's load just a bit by reading this, then it is worth me putting my pain out there!
As of today I have photographed over 117 women. I am in the final stages of shooting, editing and creative design for the exhibit to be held at Gallery 2014 on January 9, 2016!
Throughout this process I have learned a lot about women, our psyche and more importantly myself.
My wish for women on this journey and truly all women, is that we stop as a society that is quick to judge, quick to hate and quick to not tolerate another persons journey. The saying that "everyone has a story" could not be more true.
People are always quick to judge me, "oh she has the perfect life" they say...
"She has a fabulous husband, perfect daughter, lives in a big house, drives a fancy car, travels the world." When in fact people really know nothing about me! Who am I?
I will tell you, I was a little girl sexually abused, sexually violated/abused day in and day out for years! I was a young woman that was always judged by my "good looks" and not my spirit, I was a piece of meat in which
most men could not get past my breasts and look me in the eye. Did they care that I had a brain, could carry a conversation and was probably more worldly than them? NO!
Fast forward, I got married to an abusive husband, quickly realized I could not raise my daughter in that environment. My ex husband stole all of my money and did not pay child support. Temporarily moved back home with the person that abused me with my infant daughter. I threatened him every day, you touch my daughter and I will kill you!!!!!
Ten years single raising my amazing daughter....
Fast forward, I meet a wonderful man, that I can trust and feel safe with, that came with his own baggage and set of issues.
By this time I had been diagnosed with a disease that for the last 13 years has me go to the doctors every six months, get blood work and adjust my medicines. and I can gain record weight in no time! In addition to that I have spots in my left lung, that I check once a year, have a tumor, between my eye and nose. Any my list goes on and on.
I do not tell you all of this because I want you to feel sorry for me, because there is nothing to feel sorry about. I tell you this, because I know many of you have judged me and formed your prejudice towards me and that is okay. At the end of the day, I do not need anyone on MY journey, because only I can live it, no one can live it for me, not my fabulous husband or amazing daughter or my handful of true friends, only I can do that for me.
I am thankful for my life and everything that has come along the way, it has made me stronger,
compassionate, resilient and finally able to love and accept the person I have become. Life is a work in progress, do not beat yourself up, there are plenty of people that will do it for you!
My you all find the light on your journey!
Love & light,
Elizabeth
p.s. here is my 10 pounds in a month!!! Are you going to make a quick judgement, like me any less?
As of today I have photographed over 117 women. I am in the final stages of shooting, editing and creative design for the exhibit to be held at Gallery 2014 on January 9, 2016!
Throughout this process I have learned a lot about women, our psyche and more importantly myself.
My wish for women on this journey and truly all women, is that we stop as a society that is quick to judge, quick to hate and quick to not tolerate another persons journey. The saying that "everyone has a story" could not be more true.
People are always quick to judge me, "oh she has the perfect life" they say...
"She has a fabulous husband, perfect daughter, lives in a big house, drives a fancy car, travels the world." When in fact people really know nothing about me! Who am I?
I will tell you, I was a little girl sexually abused, sexually violated/abused day in and day out for years! I was a young woman that was always judged by my "good looks" and not my spirit, I was a piece of meat in which
most men could not get past my breasts and look me in the eye. Did they care that I had a brain, could carry a conversation and was probably more worldly than them? NO!
Fast forward, I got married to an abusive husband, quickly realized I could not raise my daughter in that environment. My ex husband stole all of my money and did not pay child support. Temporarily moved back home with the person that abused me with my infant daughter. I threatened him every day, you touch my daughter and I will kill you!!!!!
Ten years single raising my amazing daughter....
Fast forward, I meet a wonderful man, that I can trust and feel safe with, that came with his own baggage and set of issues.
By this time I had been diagnosed with a disease that for the last 13 years has me go to the doctors every six months, get blood work and adjust my medicines. and I can gain record weight in no time! In addition to that I have spots in my left lung, that I check once a year, have a tumor, between my eye and nose. Any my list goes on and on.
I do not tell you all of this because I want you to feel sorry for me, because there is nothing to feel sorry about. I tell you this, because I know many of you have judged me and formed your prejudice towards me and that is okay. At the end of the day, I do not need anyone on MY journey, because only I can live it, no one can live it for me, not my fabulous husband or amazing daughter or my handful of true friends, only I can do that for me.
I am thankful for my life and everything that has come along the way, it has made me stronger,
compassionate, resilient and finally able to love and accept the person I have become. Life is a work in progress, do not beat yourself up, there are plenty of people that will do it for you!
My you all find the light on your journey!
Love & light,
Elizabeth
p.s. here is my 10 pounds in a month!!! Are you going to make a quick judgement, like me any less?
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
What Self Revealed the "Naked" photography project has revealed to me.
Yesterday I reached a milestone, I photographed 50 women for my Self Revealed photography project. I still do not have the diversity I want but I am thrilled with the outcome so far.
The most significant thing about this project is the profound affect it has had on me and I am not sure I will ever find the words to express the enormous amount of emotions or the hours on end of reflection i have after a photo shoot.
I also did not realize the impact I would have on the majority of these women where my photographing them has been a "life changing" experience for them. I have said it at least 100 times, I know that getting naked in front of a stranger is not an easy thing, but the women that come with an open mind and heart are open to an experience the allows them to see what I see, that they are beautiful beings of light!
All my life I have been surrounded by women that are all too quick to pass judgment on other women because they "don't fit in" and I will admit that I on a few occasions have been guilty of such pettiness.
I always hear Maya Angelou's voice in the back of my mind stating that she does not allow other women in her presence speak ill of other women and if they ever did she would ask them to leave.
What a concept, if we all could live up to this standard how wonderful would the world be.
It seems that my project was a few months ahead of its time with all the body conscious campaigns such as "I am no angel". Why do we solely focus on our exterior and not our soul/spirit?
Why is it that we are the ones that are most critical of ourselves and then expect someone to love us when all we do is point out or flaws.
I will tell you that skinny or full figured, I have witnessed and felt women's pain along this journey and if there is one thing I wish for all of the women that have so bravely taken this journey with me is love!
Love yourself first and always! Never surrender your power, never give anyone the power to make you feel less than you are and never allow anyone make you feel not worthy.
I love you and have faith that you will continue your journey of self love and discovery!.
Elizabeth
p.s. if you are one of those women and have been moved by this experience please share your experience. It is with the hopes that we can change lives one woman at a time. ;-)
The most significant thing about this project is the profound affect it has had on me and I am not sure I will ever find the words to express the enormous amount of emotions or the hours on end of reflection i have after a photo shoot.
I also did not realize the impact I would have on the majority of these women where my photographing them has been a "life changing" experience for them. I have said it at least 100 times, I know that getting naked in front of a stranger is not an easy thing, but the women that come with an open mind and heart are open to an experience the allows them to see what I see, that they are beautiful beings of light!
All my life I have been surrounded by women that are all too quick to pass judgment on other women because they "don't fit in" and I will admit that I on a few occasions have been guilty of such pettiness.
I always hear Maya Angelou's voice in the back of my mind stating that she does not allow other women in her presence speak ill of other women and if they ever did she would ask them to leave.
What a concept, if we all could live up to this standard how wonderful would the world be.
It seems that my project was a few months ahead of its time with all the body conscious campaigns such as "I am no angel". Why do we solely focus on our exterior and not our soul/spirit?
Why is it that we are the ones that are most critical of ourselves and then expect someone to love us when all we do is point out or flaws.
I will tell you that skinny or full figured, I have witnessed and felt women's pain along this journey and if there is one thing I wish for all of the women that have so bravely taken this journey with me is love!
Love yourself first and always! Never surrender your power, never give anyone the power to make you feel less than you are and never allow anyone make you feel not worthy.
I love you and have faith that you will continue your journey of self love and discovery!.
Elizabeth
p.s. if you are one of those women and have been moved by this experience please share your experience. It is with the hopes that we can change lives one woman at a time. ;-)
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