never forget :: david bowie

Letter to Ziggy

Earlier this week I was saddened with the news of your departure.
Myself and many thousands of others whom, like me, were enlightened with your genius.

Only two days earlier I was celebrating your birthday, as I do every year - the day the Universe decided to grant us with the its most amazing, most 'extraordinary, alien, otherworldly creature' - I have always been so proud you were a 'strange' Capri like me!
All in all, aside from the sadness of knowing that this world (and mine) has lost one of its Greatest, and consequently, it is now a more empty and shallow place... I am grateful.

Grateful to have 'known' you, recognised you, idolised you (even had a crush on you in my younger years). Grateful to respect you as a human being, for your intellectual depth, and the great innovator you were.
Grateful to have listened to all your albums and picked my favourites - some will be with me forever, as part of my very own personal soundtrack - to have listened to those very loudly, to have danced like nobody was watching, and to have sang your eclectic strangely arranged lyrics in my head days on end, whenever the time (and my sub-conscience) decided to remind me they were there, out of the blue.

I am grateful.
Grateful that I could honoured you rightly, as you deserve, still in life.
I gave you a place in me and my story.

Thank you Ziggy, you will always be a part of me.



ps.- As I'm writing this, your distinctive voice is sweetly invading my most favourite and most attended of all dance floors... my kitchen!

"I don't know where I'm going from here

but I promise

it won't be boring"

- David Bowie

:: image :: via pinterest
:: gif :: via sploid

overpopulation, the effects in images

Trash wave - Indonesian surfer Dede Surinaya catches a wave in a remote but garbage-covered bay on Java, Indonesia, the world’s most populated island 

'Overdevelopment, overpopulation, overshoot' is a project by a group of talented and enrivonmentally-oriented people who decided that the best way to show awareness of the great problem that is overpopulation and its consumption was through photography.

You know me, I am a bugger for great pictures. I also have got a few very strong feelings about a few causes, being them environmental or social. Although, for the sake of good and impartial blogging, and without any intention to take any sort of political view (much less cram into you a fully formed opinion), please take a look at these wonders as they are.

Feedlot - Industrial livestock production in Brazil

Oil wells - Depleting oil fields as seen at the Kern River Oil Field in California

Waves of humanity - Sprawling Mexico City rolls across the landscape 

Greenhouses grow greenhouses - As far as the eye can see, greenhouses cover the landscape in Almeria, Spain

Hill-side slum - Slum-dwelling residents of Port-au-Prince, Haiti 

British Columbia clear-cut - Sometimes called the Brazil of the North, clear-cut logging on Vancouver Island

  

To get more information about this project and to order the book just follow the link (here).

happy new year

The best is yet to come.
Happy new year!

portraits

Did you get to see the last post 'these old hands'? If you haven't then take a look (here).
If you have you will know that, I have recently been invited to photograph a residential and care home for the elderly, where a good old friend works.

It was a very moving experience, as you might imagine. More than a photographic session, being there as an observer and reporter of images, I got to feel the emotions, the care, the attention, the compassion and empathy between the elderly and the staff - and that between the elderly and their piers.

Old age is like that, make us, younger beings, dive deeply into introspection (at least, it does to me), into a complete state of empathy and love for what was and what is...and most specially, for what will be.

These portraits translate the memories and bonds of a day, a single day, where I was just a spectator. More than mere photographs of the people there, for me, they captured much more than that - the feelings that binds us all, in the end.

Thank you to all those that made that day so terribly special!

Pippa

these old hands

Today, the 1st of October is also known as the International day for older persons. Recently I have been invited to visit and photograph a residential care home for the elderly where my friend works as a member of the management staff.
These are a few of the photos I took, even though these were not part of the 'main' job spec, they were taken for my very own delight as I always been fascinated with hands - not only the older ones - and got carried away with this very specific kind of beauty, with no comparison.

So I take this day as the best to share with you these images. Check the next blog post (here), where I share some of the other photos, mainly portraits from that day, and the amazing people I have met.

How many babies held, children bathed, meals cooked, beds made.

How many other hands were held, all the thousand caresses, the fights fought, the fevers checked, gardens tended.

How much mending have they done, how much care have they shown, how many tears wiped, ribbons tied around little girl’s heads, and every now and then, at night time, they are folded in reverend prayer.

These old hands are beautiful; they carry marks of a story, a story that probably cared for you and brought you up. 

The hands are theirs, but these hands will also be yours too.

Pippa

30 best d.i.y. halloween costumes for kids

Halloween is upon us, but we still have plenty of time for an improvised 'made by mum' super cool costume - those are undoubtedly the most gorgeous and original ones!

Take a look at these fun and clever ideas from around the globe; from newborns to pre-teens...these have caught my eye all year long and it is now time to share them with you.

I hope you like them as much as I did, and hopefully even, get truly inspired (some gave me the giggles too, I must admit!)

popcorn seller :: via pinterest

baby sushi roll :: via pinterest

Finding a Halloween costume for a new little baby can be tricky. Something comfortable and cozy is top priority for an enjoyable evening out. This costume would be easy to incorporate with normal baby-wear—like onesies, kimono shirts, and swaddling blankets.

Bjork mini-swan dress :: via daytripfinder

baby octopus costume :: via nifty & crafty

80's baby aerobics instructor (with boom box!) :: via homemade by jill

cabbage patch doll :: via costume works

lobster :: via we know memes

popeye :: via apartment therapy

any harry potter fans out there? cute baby dobby :: via cukico

the real baby einstein :: via earnmydegree

baby frida :: via flickr

up! :: via the meta picture

clark kent costume :: via marigold (mom)

baby hipster :: via small + friendly 

babushka costume :: via pinterest 

mini 'moonrise kingdom' costumes :: via skirt as top

soldier 'green army man' :: via wild ink press

circus strongman :: via oh happy day  

rain cloud costume :: via andrea's notebook

airplanes and pilots :: via the frosted petticoat

clockwork orange :: via piccsy

edward scissorhands :: via babble

paper doll :: via spoonful 

charlie chaplin :: via osamu yokonami 

photobooth strip costume :: via oh happy day

snail costume :: via oh happy day

cactus :: via tumblr

flip flop costumes if you're reluctantly not accepting fall has started :: via pinterest

donut costume :: via studio d.i.y.

hawaii snow globe costume :: via flickr

Did you like them?
Have you picked a favourite? Mine as to be the baby sushi, for sure!

Have fun!
Pippa xoxo