Wednesday, 19 June 2013

coming-together on the banks of the Kamo-river













looking at these two photos above, i remembered i had similar photos from my first trip to Kyoto, six years ago. i searched for them, and here they are! 
(the following four)

actually, i am tempted to think it is perhaps the same spot, the same restaurant in the center of old Kyoto, almost suspended above the Kamo-river. only that this time it was still too cold to sit outside, but that tables had already been laid out for the guests to come... 

looking at these old photos now, the same place, different people, makes me tremble - how much has happened, in my life, in their life, of which i had been a small part, for one moment, one summer evening, just through my looking at them, at their life, like this... i couldn't get dizzier even bent over the mirror of the water, hypnotized by the glowing silence within.

































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19 comments:

  1. in the last two photos you can see the restaurant from the outside, from the river, how they are suspended on wooded pillars.

    maybe this is a good idea, that i show some old photos too, from time to time, just for remembering - and comparing! :-) (back then i was only shooting on film)

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  2. am avut ganduri destul de similare,cred,zilele acestea band mate-mate-ul,asa mi se pare,cel putin,are ori cafeina mai putina,ori e alt fel-desi nu stiu daca se poate nici asta:)-,insa pot sa beau chiar multicel fara sa ma simt rau;nu stiu de ce,nu stiu de unde,doar ca asa am ajuns sa ma gandesc iarasi la cum se inlantuiesc lucrurile unele cu altele,fara ca ceva sa fie practic inlocuit,nimic,pentru mine,nu ar putea inlocui vreodata ceaiul verde,dar am ajuns sa il simpatizez pe acesta,care mi se pare la fel de demn,cel putin,la fel de expresiv si reprezentativ pentru o traditie.

    asa cum este raul tau,si mesele restaurantului asteptator,si poate sunt aceiasi oameni,acolo,intre bambusi,si poate ca lumina se filtreaza la fel,dar cumva mai imbogatita si mai cunoscatoare,iar ochiul nostru inchide in el mai multe.si se intoarce apoi la marginea unei ape,reiterand cercul,facand sa dispara cercul.as vrea sa stau intre vocile vesele ale unei seri de vara langa Kamo:)

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    1. da, si eu gandesc la fel despre mate :-) e altfel de cafeina, cred... dar nu as putea sa beau numai mate, sau in fiecare zi, pe cand de ceaiul verde nu m-as putea satura niciodata :-)
      "iar ochiul nostru inchide in el mai multe"

      asa este, ce clar vad asta acum, privind la mine in urma cu sase ani...

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  3. It is the same view, isn't it? Or everything is spookily the same there. These pictures shudder me, too; so enigmatic.

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    1. i think it is the same...
      shared shudder, then :-)

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  4. "there is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered." - Nelson Mandela . . . closing a cycle in your own journey, perhaps. literally. (i smile.)

    thank you for sharing this moment!

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    1. you are right, Tanja, "closing a cycle in your own journey" - it was exactly like this, if only you knew...

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  5. Oh, i love stilts (ça me rappelle de ma jeunesse, les belles journées au cirque)!

    It's maddening to find that a place, any place, is still there after so many years: a ghostly susurrus reminds us that the place has survived essentially unscathed and that we, per contra, are noticeably more frail.

    But consider the nightmare of showing up at a place and finding out that the wavy, ruby-red tent is gone, has been folded up and nothing, except for a few scratches on the dry earth, remains. We have still aged, and something physical has been lost too. Doubly depressing--and how i loved that circus tent!

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    1. this is something i hadn't imagined, your love for stilts! :-)

      i still think that the first version is more terrifying, because it confronts us more acutely with the sense of our ephemerality...

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  6. hi beautiful Roxana aaaaaaaaah this is so beautiful like a pale rose coloured rose representing all that is friendship and love and tender desire and the rose with the passing of time has the red blood drawn from her so that she is pale and trembling like life lived and your beautiful powerful words enrich this idea in my heart.
    sending you pale rose coloured kisses.

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    1. thank you, Madeleine - i love your metaphor of the pale rose...
      bises d'ete, pleines de chaleur! :-)

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  7. I meant to sign with raphaellae.I was just in another email.
    kisses.

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  8. Very good idea. And you are right about the cost of "digital" photography being far less than it used to be with film, given all the darkroom equipment and such. Polaroids still fascinate but only because I image the actual photon to be captured, directly.

    "On the Kamo-river
    Each place looks as the others
    Lanterns light the lovers"

    If you know the author let me know

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    1. yes, digital photography has made a lot easier for me, in terms of cost, mainly, but also availability of materials etc. (i couldn't buy good films here, i had to order on ebay etc.)

      it is a lovely verse, where did you find it? did you write it? :-)

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    2. I happened upon it in a dusty tome I once read, and it stuck in my memory, so perhaps it is partly mine. ( ;

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  9. the first reminds me of a scene from Hiroshima. this is going to sound really corny ..but...do i know you?

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