Welcome to 2019 one and all!
I am so happy to write those words.
What a privilege to be alive and well and still moving forward in my journey.
Each new day and each new step up the tall ladder of my dreams is a day well spent, and I regret not.
To celebrate the New Year, and also Diary of an Aesthete reaching its first 5000 subscribers, in over 150 countries, I have put together a little collage of pictures from my journey thus far, starting way back in 2014 with my first steps, all the way up to the present.
This really has been such an inspiring journey and I feel so blessed to have connected with such incredible individuals all round the globe, both on the road and through this blog.
Here’s to making dreams come true, to perfect imperfection, to life’s ecstasy, bliss, to chasing skies and taking the long way round…
“It is not the eyes that are blind, but the hearts.” – Qur’an.
Eternal love <3
Ad Infinitum.
J.F.P.Clayton.
Pavel Colon, Seville.
in the might of the Wli waterfalls, Ghana, during monsoon season.
Bagbor dancers, 2016.
Hunsur, India
On a slum in Ho, Ghana
India, Jungle Reatreat
La Almundena, Madrid
Senegal during Monsoon season.
India
Ghana
Sacred Banyan Tree, Bangalore, India
Missahoe Orphanage, Ghana
wild zebra
dancing with Bagbor Tribe around the fire
With Ethel and Mary
The Eye
This llama spat at everybody else but me… I never doubted him.
Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH
Vatican City
Bedouins, West Bank, 2017
Self-portrait. Ghana.
Holy Water
Me and my boy, Ghana 2015
Sunset, Verona
Tagounite, Morocco
Fez Medina.
White man of Erg Chigaga
Sahara Sky
Ghana
Mysore, India
Sahara with Berber flag, 2017
A wild horse in the New Forest national park.
Richmond Park
Venice
She was the lady who sold flowers at the temple, Bangalore, India.
Ghent
Venice
With my slum warriors in Ho, Ghana, 2015
Lompoul Desert, 2016
One skin…
in a Bedouin Tent in the Negev Desert, Israel
Richmond Park, London
Florence
Sorisole, Italy
River children, Adaklu.
life-modelling in Florence, Italy
Children of remote village in Ghana
Plaza de Espana Seville – a great moment of liberty for me.
Venice
Venice, 2014.
Feeling the winds of freedom on the Evian Gulf, Greece, 2014
Fez, Morocco, 2018.
Giant standing stone at Avebury.
Lago d’Iseo
Wild Cobra, India, 2015
Charles, who led me up the mountain…
Il Davide. Mon amico.
Young Boy, Senegal, 2016
Dome of the Rock, Temple Mount
Athena
Ghana
At a Hindu wedding, Bangalore, 2015.
L’erba magica.
bathing child with fevers from malaria in Africa
Ponte Vecchio
2017 Mount of Olives
Florence, 2015.
Florence, Italy.
Bathing in sacred crocodile pool, The Gambia.
Grand Place Brussels
Wild bat colony in flight, Ghana
Ghana Africa
Greece 2014.
People of Tafi Atome
Abdou, my brother
Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
Cape Sounion
Holy Red ‘Chalice’ Spring
Ho, Ghana
Venice
Vatican
on top of the Glastonbury Tor.
2016. Wli Forests.
Trekking through Digya Jungle, Ghana.
He Who Walks
Croc, The Gambia
The Gambia, 2016
Lompoul Desert, 2016
Connecting with the riches of the past, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
The Gambia, 2016
Hunsur, India
at the Missahoe Orphanage with my babies
Shaking hands.
Erg Chigaga
Remote village, name and location unknown, Ghana
Holy Light, India.
Jerusalem 2017
Jungle Prince… he outdid me.
Ghana.
Lion pawprint, 2016, Senegal
Fathala Wildlife Reserve
Venice, Italy… back in 2013.
Staring out into Rainforests, Western Ghats, India
Accra, Ghana
Chef, Morocco, June 2018.
Lady of Rufisque, Senegal
Florence, Italy. 2016.
London
‘le grand meaulnes’… Brussels, Belgium
Hindu Temple, Karnataka
Florence
June Morocco 2018.
Capitoline Hill, Roma
In hilltown Coorg, with nuns from Catholic Convent, India.
Monas
The Light, Indian Sky.
Ancient temple, Mysore.
Deep in the jungle, Maharashtra, India.
people of the village who asked me to take their photo
barefoot at the base of a sacred banyan tree, Bangalore, India.
Followed her down to the river to collect water…
Rabat, Morocco 2018.
Monasterio, Fiesole
Gambia
India
Nov 2017 Ghana
He Who Walk, Bangalore, India.
Wild elephant, Maharashtra
With ‘Prophet George’ The Gambia
Ghana 2017
Slef portrait in Agonda, India.
Bobor tribe dance which I partook in.
England
Athens Central
Bangalore, India, 2015
With Muslim family, The Gambia.
Casablanca, Morocco
Ghana, with my boy. 2017
Sahara Camp
Tuscany
In the desert, Senegal. 2016
San Lorenzo, Florence 2015.
My good friend in Hunsur, India, after swimming in the lake together.
Pavel Colon, Seville.
Greece 2014
On the Farm, Hunsur
The power of sea. Agii Apostoli, Greece. pc – Frederick Peters.
With Desmond, my Ghana Starchild.
Masai the Lioness
Ghana, 2017
At Missahoe Children’s Home, Ghana, 2015
Florence 2018.
Brussels, Grand Place.
Italy.
Dragonfly, India
Agii Apostoli, Kalamos
Greece, 2014
With my God Child, Ghana.
W. Bagley.
Mona monkey
at the Grande Mosquée Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco
Touching The Light, Madrid, Spain.
Temple monkeys, Mysore. 2015
Ghana 2015
At home, Florence, in my birthday suit.
Casablanca, Morocco
Venice, Bridge of Sighs
Bangalore, 2015.
Holy Light, Hunsur, India.
Wild Vultures
Dalai the Lama. Rest friend…
Venice, first time.
My Italian city… 2015
On a slum in Ho, Ghana
with the rangers… Digya National Park, Ghana, 2016.
Senegal
India
Bangalore, India
Crossing The Gambia river.
Mediterranean Waters, Greece
In the desert, 2017
Ghana
a Dieu
Plaza de Espana, Sevilla
Florence, Italy, 2014.
Tagounite, Morocco
in the Power of Wli Falls
Erg Chigaga, Sahara, Morocco
the Python and the Man, The Gambia,
Venice
Missahoe Orphanage, Ghana
Reflecting at Avebury, Womb of the Earth Chakra point.
Tuscany 2015.
smile…
Charcoal Tattoo, Ghana
Tuscany
Como
Morocco
Great Britain
Morocco
Bergamo, Italy.
Aire de Sevilla
Rome
self portrait, jungle, Maharashtra, India.
Lompoul Desert, Senegal 2016
Gambia
Chefchaouen, 2018
Ghana 2017
On Fathala Wildlife Reserve, 2016
Oxford University, England
Jungle, India
Lompoul Desert, Senegal
J.F.P.Clayton
Florence, Italy, 2016, Rose Greenfield
The Blue Pearl ~ Chefchaouen
Sahara 2017
Agonda, India
Tuscany, Fiesole.
Madrid, Jewish quarter
Bridge of Sighs… apparently not for me!
Avalon
Avalon
Ghana 2017
Self-portrait, Agonda, India
Wli, Ghana.
Rescuing a baby squirrel in forests of Tafi Atome
wli lower falls
My friend from
Burning sun, Agonda, Goa.
Ghana 2017
on a nomadic Berber camp, Morocco
Ghana Nov 2017.
bathing baby elephant, mudumalai national park, India, 2015
My Tuareg brother, Noureddine
India
Bergamo.
Ghana, Africa
Athens, Orthodox Priest
with modern Bedouins, Israel
Sunset Ghana, Kpando
Berber Boy, Sahara Desert, Morocco
Seville
San Miniato, Florence
Seville
Digya National Park, Ghana.
Bracciano
Morocco
Me and my precious boy
alone in Western Ghats Jungle, India
Tafi Atome, Ghana
India
at an oasis, Sahara, 2017
Hindu Temple, Bangalore, India 2015.
Santo Spirito, Florence. Rose Greenfield
Deep in the jungle, Maharashtra, India.
Seville
Bangalore
Running barefoot through the desert
Self portrait.
Sitting beneath ancient trees at Avebury, Womb of the Earth
Bracciano
Feeling Freedom of the World’s Greatest Desert
Venice…
Florence
life-modelling in Florence, Italy
Wild peacock
San Pellegrino
Before a Hindu wedding, Bangalore, India.
– after being submerged in the Holy Chalice Spring, Glastonbury.
Venice
My very own turban being fitted by Tuareg, Erg Chigaga, Morocco.
Wli Jungle
pc – Pavel Colon. Seville, Spain.
With a greek farmer, Agii Apostoli.
India
eating my way through Rome…
in the might of the Wli Waterfalls, Ghana Africa
Jungle Retreat, Masinagudi
Read my latest full story Palace of Earth here.
***
all enquiries: diary.aesthete@yahoo.co.uk
***
Join 9,676 other subscribers
My brother recommended I might like this blog. He was entirely right. This post truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
Thank you much!!
A pocket full of life!
It’s been quite a ride…
What glorious photos. You are such a beautiful man in all ways. And what a journey you’ve had friend. I’m so glad your health has allowed you to continue this amazing path of yours and to support you in sharing it with all you meet and all of us! I look forward to crossing paths someday and perhaps sharing the road for a bit 🙂
Many blessings for a joy filled 2019. May this be the year, and soon, that the shift into the light is finally and fully ushered onto this planet forever more.
Thank you!!
I have been very blessed indeed, and you bless me more-so. My health has held up and I’m so thankful for that fact. My soul has a fire that, if fuelled, cannot be overcome. I’ve felt this so many times. I just have to manage my fire; sometimes it burns a little too low. Creating things and connecting with people and places brings me to life, quite literally.
Life meanders much this year, already bringing me a host of unexpected treasures to look forward to… it’s so lovely to have already done so much ~ now I have nothing to prove, can sit back and wait for the stars to speak to me their truth and plans… I’m always ready for the call.
I have every confidence that we will cross paths, my friend. When the stars speak it so.
Love Jx
A beautiful kaleidoscope of photos. If we were to sit somewhere in the sky watching mother earth turn around slowly I guess we would have this view. It’s got everything, man, woman, the five elements, flora, fauna, edifices, everything brimming with a mystic quality, as it shall be if we see them with our five senses and our heart, putting aside our judgement. Beautiful inspiring work.
Thank you 🙂
That’s such a lovely image you have created in my mind. Thank you for understanding my vision so well.
Jx
You must be, in some not normal way, blessed. Your way has been amazing, to see all those places, to feel them…
Do you ever feel fear?
The photo collection is breathtaking. It has been very interesting to travel with you, in my armchair.
Have a great year 2019!
Perhaps, you’re right… I don’t profess to know. I know only that when I travel alone something very special happens in the air around me… I feel different, everything feels different. I even move differently… speak differently sometimes.
But, yes, I feel Fear all the time. It’s like every emotion ~ it passes. I don’t nurture that feeling. I discard it at the first chance… like I do with all useless things.
I think that is the only key really, I feel fear, I don’t pretend not to, and, yet, it doesn’t stop me. Once I am ‘there’, the other side of dreaming, the ‘reality’ part, then the magic takes over… and I enjoy the ride.
Wishing you all the best with the new year.
<3
You had wonderful journey. It had been pleasant to follow you throughout the year. I’m looking forward to your next stories..
It really has been!
Thank you for following this tale.
Jx
Thank you for your beautiful collection of visuals from your life’s adventure,
Deirdre
________________________________
My absolute pleasure.
Thanks for commenting.
Jx