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 ❤
Ad Infinitum.
Senegal
India
Sitting beneath ancient trees at Avebury, Womb of the Earth
Connecting with the riches of the past, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
Agii Apostoli, Kalamos
On a slum in Ho, Ghana
Bridge of Sighs… apparently not for me!
Mysore, India
Venice
Florence, Italy. 2016.
Bagbor dances.
J.F.P.Clayton.
Trekking through Digya Jungle, Ghana.
with the rangers… Digya National Park, Ghana
wli lower falls
Deep in the jungle, Maharashtra, India.
My Tuareg brother, Noureddine
San Lorenzo, Florence 2015.
Staring out into Rainforests, Western Ghats, India
Sahara Sky, Morocco, Africa
Ghana Africa
Tuscany 2015.
One skin…
with modern Bedouins, Israel
The Blue Pearl ~ Chefchaouen
Sorisole, Italy
Rescuing a baby squirrel in forests of Tafi Atome
barefoot at the base of a sacred banyan tree, Bangalore, India.
Rabat, Morocco 2018.
bathing baby elephant, mudumalai national park, India
Gambia
the Python and the Man, The Gambia,
W. Bagley.
Tuscany, Fiesole.
Me and my precious boy
Young Boy, Senegal
Italy.
on top of the Glastonbury Tor.
Reflecting at Avebury, Womb of the Earth Chakra point.
San Miniato, Florence
Aire de Sevilla
Pavel Colon, Seville.
The Gambia
pc – Pavel Colon. Seville, Spain.
In hilltown Coorg, with nuns from Catholic Convent, India.
Venice
Lago d’Iseo
Vatican
Brussels, Grand Place.
Venice
Missahoe Orphanage, Ghana
Croc, The Gambia
Hunsur, India
Plaza de Espana, Sevilla
With ‘Prophet George’ The Gambia
Morocco
India
Self-portrait, Agonda, India
London
Ghana
Bangalore, 2015.
Sacred Banyan Tree, Bangalore, India
smile…
Tagounite, Morocco
Florence, Italy, 2016, Rose Greenfield
‘le grand meaulnes’… Brussels, Belgium
Venice, Italy…
With Desmond, my Ghana Starchild.
Bangalore, India
Hindu Temple, Karnataka
Lady of Rufisque, Senegal
Athens, Orthodox Priest
eating my way through Rome…
Florence
Rome
Avalon
At Missahoe Children’s Home, Ghana
Sahara with Berber flag
Wild bat colony in flight, Ghana
Charcoal Tattoo, Ghana
Ancient temple, Mysore.
Ghana, with my boy.
Erg Chigaga, Sahara, Morocco
The Light, Indian Sky.
Grand Place Brussels
Burning sun, Agonda, Goa.
Me and my boy, Ghana
Remote village, name and location unknown, Ghana
Bobor tribe dance which I partook in.
My Italian city… 2015
Capitoline Hill, Roma
He Who Walk, Bangalore, India.
Ponte Vecchio
at the Grande Mosquée Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco
Followed her down to the river to collect water…
Feeling Freedom of the World’s Greatest Desert
Bangalore
self portrait, jungle, Maharashtra, India.
Crossing The Gambia river.
Greece, 2014
With my slum warriors in Ho, Ghana, where I lived in a house with a tin roof, and had to jump over open-air sewers to get to the streets, for a few weeks.
Feeling the winds of freedom on the Evian Gulf, Greece
At home, Florence, in my birthday suit.
Slef portrait in Agonda, India.
Charles, who led me up the mountain…
Morocco
Ghana
in the might of the Wli Waterfalls, Ghana Africa
People of Tafi Atome
India
Greece 2014.
Florence, Italy.
a Dieu
Deep in the jungle, Maharashtra, India.
Hunsur, India
Wild Vultures
Tagounite, Morocco
Before a Hindu wedding, Bangalore, India.
Abdou, my brother
Jungle, India
in the might of the Wli waterfalls, Ghana, during monsoon season.
Bracciano
Richmond Park
My friend from
On a slum in Ho, Ghana
pc – Frederick Peters, Greece.
Ghent
Digya National Park, Ghana.
Bedouins, Israel
Hindu Temple, Bangalore, India 2015.
Seville
Tuscany
Venice
Ho, Ghana
Casablanca, Morocco
The Gambia
Shaking hands.
Wli, Ghana.
Venice
India
He Who Walks
in the Power of Wli Falls
Venice, first time.
This llama spat at everybody else but me… I never doubted him.
Mona monkey
My very own turban being fitted by Tuareg, Erg Chigaga, Morocco.
Senegal during Monsoon season.
On Fathala Wildlife Reserve.
Florence
Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
J.F.P.Clayton
Tuscany
Dragonfly, India
A wild horse in the New Forest national park.
Monas
San Pellegrino
Bathing in sacred crocodile pool, The Gambia.
Mediterranean Waters, Greece
Oxford University, England
dancing with Bagbor Tribe around the fire
Athena
at the Missahoe Orphanage with my babies
Touching The Light, Madrid, Spain.
Fez Medina.
With my God Child, Ghana.
Pavel Colon, Seville.
Masai the Lioness
Children of remote village in Ghana
India
Wild peacock
Missahoe Orphanage, Ghana
Venice…
Giant standing stone at Avebury.
Venice
Dome of the Rock, Temple Mount
Seville
life-modelling in Florence, Italy
White man of Erg Chigaga
Lompoul Desert, Senegal
Ghana
With Ethel and Mary
Florence
L’erba magica.
River children, Adaklu.
In the desert, Senegal.
Gambia
Wild Cobra, India
Holy Light, Hunsur, India.
On the Farm, Hunsur
Lompoul Desert, Senegal
Temple monkeys, Mysore.
bathing child with fevers from malaria in Africa
Holy Light, India.
Sahara Camp
Hunsur, India
Bergamo.
The Eye
Wli Jungle
Self portrait.
Casablanca, Morocco
Holy Water
wild zebra
Cape Sounion
Berber Boy, Sahara Desert, Morocco
Great Britain
Avalon
June Morocco 2018.
Fathala Wildlife Reserve
With Muslim family, The Gambia.
Venice, Bridge of Sighs
at an oasis, Sahara, Morocco
Plaza de Espana Seville – a great moment of liberty for me.
Holy Red ‘Chalice’ Spring
Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH
– after being submerged in the Holy Chalice Spring, Glastonbury.
Ghana, Africa
Lion pawprint
in a Bedouin Tent in the Negev Desert, Israel
Jungle Prince… he outdid me.
Bracciano
Chef, Morocco, June 2018.
Madrid, Jewish quarter
La Almundena, Madrid
Jungle Retreat, Masinagudi
Bergamo, Italy.
Running barefoot through the desert
Como
Monasterio, Fiesole
Seville
At a Hindu wedding, Bangalore, India.
Sunset, Verona
Venice, 2014.
Lompoul Desert, Northern Senegal
Self-portrait. Ghana.
India, Jungle Reatreat
on a nomadic Berber camp, Morocco
With a greek farmer, Agii Apostoli.
Wild elephant, Maharashtra
Accra, Ghana
Agonda, India
Sunset Ghana, Kpando
Florence, Italy, 2014.
Florence 2018.
Erg Chigaga
The power of sea. Agii Apostoli, Greece. pc – Frederick Peters.
Richmond Park, London
Florence, 2015.
Tafi Atome, Ghana
Ghana.
She was the lady who sold flowers at the temple, Bangalore, India.
My good friend in Hunsur, India, after swimming in the lake together.
Il Davide. Mon amico.
Lompoul Desert, Senegal
Bangalore, India, 2015
alone in Western Ghats Jungle, India
Fez, Morocco, 2018.
Vatican City
people of the village who asked me to take their photo
Santo Spirito, Florence. Rose Greenfield
Athens Central
life-modelling in Florence, Italy
Read my latest full story Palace of Earth here.
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all enquiries: diary.aesthete@yahoo.co.uk
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A pocket full of life!
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It’s been quite a ride…
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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.
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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
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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.
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Thank you 🙂
That’s such a lovely image you have created in my mind. Thank you for understanding my vision so well.
Jx
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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!
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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.
❤
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You had wonderful journey. It had been pleasant to follow you throughout the year. I’m looking forward to your next stories..
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It really has been!
Thank you for following this tale.
Jx
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Thank you for your beautiful collection of visuals from your life’s adventure,
Deirdre
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My absolute pleasure.
Thanks for commenting.
Jx
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