le bleu

care for some more summer on a monday morning?

that incredible blue of the mediterrean, the salty air, the glaring sun, the sound of the engine, and the "oh look, les cabanons!" when i first saw the little beach huts perched precariously on the rocks. like a bird's nest.

have a good week, all of you!

a summer's day

it was in august, we made an early start, driving down to the coast on bendy little roads and a fair bit of motorway. after searching around the old port for the boat shed, finally ringing the bell of a house in town, the only address we had - the private quarters of the captain, it turned out -, we were directed by a dignified lady in rollers to the end of the dock, where the boat was waiting. it was the summer, where, for the first time in my life, i rode in a convertible, and, for the first time in my life, i went to sea on a motor boat. a riva. it was one of the best days. in the evening, we sat by the pool, in the sun. then had an apéro. and later dinner.

the winter's crop

the first ten days of the new year have already proven to be a whirlwind. hope you got off to a good start?

i often think how lucky i am to love my work, yet lately there never seem to be enough hours in the day, or days in the week. and so there also never seems to be enough time to think about food much in advance.

could you help me out here - i'm looking for ideas for healthy winter eating: favourite dishes, ideas for winter vegetables and fruit, or links to websites are all more than welcome! i'm thinking vitamins and freshness, and perhaps a little less cream...

dear santa

dear santa, could i have a medium format camera please. if asking for a hasselblad is too presumptuous, perhaps a zenza bronica; in any case, a single lens reflex would be ace. i have a feeling though you might send me a letter saying 'why don't you get one yourself, girl'. i will consider it. overall it seems that i have been a so-so girl this year, and while i understand this might result in some sanctions, i would appreciate if those affected the material side of things only. i'm planning on having good times with friends, involving an impressive tree and plenty of cooking. which, come to think of it, i'd rather have than a medium format camera.

kx

p.s.: a little time travel back to france. but i digress. what's on your wishlist?
p.p.s.: perhaps the irony of my above statement wasn't blatant enough. i most definitely don't expect a medium format camera from santa, we are not in the habit of passing around big presents, it's more about small gestures. but i'm saving up so i can buy one, next year perhaps. ;)

slow

please bear with me while i'm taking it a bit slow, the first cold of the season has floored me. unfortunately one of the lie-down-in-bed varieties. till soon.

unrelated

two favourites from france - unrelated. one taken in avignon, the other one on the terrace in st. rémy.

yesterday i had a funny day, where nothing worked out as planned. as if the wiring of that day was somehow wrong. today, i'm feeling a little under the weather: a stiff neck, pressure on my ears, light-headed. hope it's passing.

p.s.: feeling much better today, thanks for your kind words!

tapas with marion

i would never have found that small spanish restaurant without marion. safely tucked away in a side street, the front looked unassuming, and there were no customers in the first room. it was the tiny courtyard where everybody sat. it was hot, music was blaring from the kitchen, the dishes were marked on a board as long as my arm and my leg together. and my, were they good. (see those wine glasses. i want some.)

so here's to the lady, whose birthday it is today - happy, happy, marion!

there

there was a house off the main road, off the next one after, and down a dirt track, where we stayed. it was hot and i can still hear the cigales singing.

a very good day

one sunny day i drove to avignon to see the cy twombly show at the collection lambert and to meet mary. what a perfect day it was. i so enjoyed the exhibition, i think we needed something like three or four hours to see it, because we stopped everywhere, getting lost in some conversation. i remember we wondered how very different sol lewitt's work and his personal space at home were - would you have guessed a master of conceptual, highly cerebral art would have a study full of memorabilia and an amazing moodboard, and would take serial pictures of his crockery? and we did have such a good time looking at lartigue's stereoscopic photographs. what a cheek he was.

cy twombly's photographs were quite wonderful. i loved the early black and white images he took of the shared studio space with rauschenberg in new york, but his later polaroids were quietly poetic, altogether of a different kind.

very kindly, mary gave me a roll of kodak elite chrome, on which these frames were taken. and she introduced me to fondant au chocolat, which we had in the courtyard, after having successfully missed lunch service due to our chatting away. it was a revelation. thanks mary!

(the graphics on the wall are by douglas gordon. marion went as well, on another day.)

the pool

let's go to the pool, shall we? (back in berlin, outside my window people are walking past in woolly hats, which is worrying. in my mind, though, i can go back to the pool side whenever i want.)

p.s.: first two frames colour negative film, all others taken on slide.

morning

waking up at the hotel corbusier on a summer's day.

corbusier

well, i had to go. and of course, marion took me. to the unité d'habitation in marseille, one of le corbusier's most seminal buildings.

it's hard to put into words how connected i felt to this place. maybe you can guess from the photos i took.

p.s.: a new post here, with some news.

thinking

since last november life was moving so fast it felt suffocating. the scales were just tipping far too much. not in the way of having to work the odd extra hour, but in the sense of an all-encompassing state of working, where there was no time to even leave the house when the sun was - so rarely - shining, or to see a friend for a chat. occasionally there were precious hour-long breaks to meet someone, or chances to cycle to the garden, but even that was mostly impossible by the time june and july came around.

being away from it all for two weeks, staying in the south of france, two long weeks of hot summer days, days that were finally entirely unplanned and truly free, gave me time to think.

i don't want a life that feels like a race i can't win. time is a precious gift, not a string of numbered days. i will make space for shared hours, shared thoughts and ideas. because as much as i love my work, living and creating, and caring and be cared about, are infinitely closer to my heart. first things first.

going for a stroll

going for a stroll in marseille. what a fascinating city. and i've only seen a tiny fraction of it in 1 1/2 short days.

what you can't see is how hot it was. we simply had to go inside the shops because they were air-conditioned, you see. no other reason, of course.