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.
L’erba magica.
With a greek farmer, Agii Apostoli.
at an oasis, Sahara, 2017
The Blue Pearl ~ Chefchaouen
Venice
Athens Central
Morocco
Burning sun, Agonda, Goa.
Florence, Italy, 2016, Rose Greenfield
Mediterranean Waters, Greece
Athens, Orthodox Priest
Tagounite, Morocco
Mysore, India
Wild bat colony in flight, Ghana
Sunset Ghana, Kpando
Holy Red ‘Chalice’ Spring
Monas
wli lower falls
Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
Plaza de Espana Seville – a great moment of liberty for me.
Wli Jungle
Dalai the Lama. Rest friend…
Running barefoot through the desert
wild zebra
On a slum in Ho, Ghana
Ghana 2017
W. Bagley.
Shaking hands.
Followed her down to the river to collect water…
Bagbor dancers, 2016.
2017 Mount of Olives
self portrait, jungle, Maharashtra, India.
Ghana Africa
Hindu Temple, Karnataka
Me and my boy, Ghana 2015
India
Bracciano
life-modelling in Florence, Italy
Ghana, with my boy. 2017
La Almundena, Madrid
Bedouins, West Bank, 2017
Ho, Ghana
With Desmond, my Ghana Starchild.
Plaza de Espana, Sevilla
a Dieu
Bridge of Sighs… apparently not for me!
in a Bedouin Tent in the Negev Desert, Israel
Gambia
Venice
June Morocco 2018.
Ghana 2017
Ponte Vecchio
Missahoe Orphanage, Ghana
Giant standing stone at Avebury.
In the desert, Senegal. 2016
San Miniato, Florence
The Light, Indian Sky.
Hindu Temple, Bangalore, India 2015.
Wild Cobra, India, 2015
Great Britain
In hilltown Coorg, with nuns from Catholic Convent, India.
Wild peacock
Tagounite, Morocco
Madrid, Jewish quarter
Remote village, name and location unknown, Ghana
Ghana
– after being submerged in the Holy Chalice Spring, Glastonbury.
San Lorenzo, Florence 2015.
Before a Hindu wedding, Bangalore, India.
Richmond Park
On Fathala Wildlife Reserve, 2016
Fathala Wildlife Reserve
Vatican
Croc, The Gambia
Casablanca, Morocco
Bangalore, 2015.
A wild horse in the New Forest national park.
This llama spat at everybody else but me… I never doubted him.
Seville
Venice, 2014.
dancing with Bagbor Tribe around the fire
India
Sahara 2017
Holy Water
She was the lady who sold flowers at the temple, Bangalore, India.
Gambia
Florence, Italy. 2016.
Seville
Erg Chigaga
Jerusalem 2017
Berber Boy, Sahara Desert, Morocco
Oxford University, England
bathing baby elephant, mudumalai national park, India, 2015
Pavel Colon, Seville.
Bracciano
Touching The Light, Madrid, Spain.
Self-portrait, Agonda, India
Lompoul Desert, 2016
J.F.P.Clayton
Tuscany
Ghana Nov 2017.
Monasterio, Fiesole
Capitoline Hill, Roma
Ancient temple, Mysore.
Chefchaouen, 2018
Sorisole, Italy
Wli, Ghana.
‘le grand meaulnes’… Brussels, Belgium
Florence 2018.
Accra, Ghana
Greece, 2014
Tafi Atome, Ghana
Venice, first time.
My good friend in Hunsur, India, after swimming in the lake together.
Mona monkey
Greece 2014
Ghent
Lady of Rufisque, Senegal
Hunsur, India
India
2016. Wli Forests.
The Eye
Feeling the winds of freedom on the Evian Gulf, Greece, 2014
Ghana.
eating my way through Rome…
Feeling Freedom of the World’s Greatest Desert
alone in Western Ghats Jungle, India
Venice, Bridge of Sighs
Trekking through Digya Jungle, Ghana.
Sacred Banyan Tree, Bangalore, India
with modern Bedouins, Israel
Florence
Tuscany 2015.
pc – Pavel Colon. Seville, Spain.
At home, Florence, in my birthday suit.
on top of the Glastonbury Tor.
Grand Place Brussels
Sitting beneath ancient trees at Avebury, Womb of the Earth
River children, Adaklu.
On a slum in Ho, Ghana
Agonda, India
Reflecting at Avebury, Womb of the Earth Chakra point.
The power of sea. Agii Apostoli, Greece. pc – Frederick Peters.
He Who Walk, Bangalore, India.
Venice…
India
One skin…
Bangalore, India
Venice
Charcoal Tattoo, Ghana
Senegal
Ghana 2017
Venice, Italy… back in 2013.
at the Missahoe Orphanage with my babies
Il Davide. Mon amico.
Ghana
Jungle Prince… he outdid me.
Richmond Park, London
Casablanca, Morocco
Ghana 2017
Nov 2017 Ghana
Lompoul Desert, 2016
J.F.P.Clayton.
On the Farm, Hunsur
Temple monkeys, Mysore. 2015
Rescuing a baby squirrel in forests of Tafi Atome
My Tuareg brother, Noureddine
Connecting with the riches of the past, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
Morocco
in the Power of Wli Falls
Florence, Italy, 2014.
Me and my precious boy
Athena
Self-portrait. Ghana.
Santo Spirito, Florence. Rose Greenfield
Bangalore, India, 2015
Agii Apostoli, Kalamos
Greece 2014.
Digya National Park, Ghana.
Erg Chigaga, Sahara, Morocco
Seville
Avalon
Deep in the jungle, Maharashtra, India.
In the desert, 2017
Missahoe Orphanage, Ghana
Staring out into Rainforests, Western Ghats, India
Crossing The Gambia river.
Venice
Holy Light, Hunsur, India.
in the might of the Wli Waterfalls, Ghana Africa
Bangalore
With Ethel and Mary
Morocco
Slef portrait in Agonda, India.
Lago d’Iseo
My Italian city… 2015
Holy Light, India.
Avalon
Bergamo, Italy.
My very own turban being fitted by Tuareg, Erg Chigaga, Morocco.
Rabat, Morocco 2018.
Vatican City
Ghana
Bergamo.
the Python and the Man, The Gambia,
Lompoul Desert, Senegal
people of the village who asked me to take their photo
Charles, who led me up the mountain…
bathing child with fevers from malaria in Africa
The Gambia, 2016
barefoot at the base of a sacred banyan tree, Bangalore, India.
Tuscany, Fiesole.
San Pellegrino
People of Tafi Atome
life-modelling in Florence, Italy
At a Hindu wedding, Bangalore, 2015.
Dome of the Rock, Temple Mount
Florence
India, Jungle Reatreat
He Who Walks
Jungle, India
Venice
on a nomadic Berber camp, Morocco
Rome
Children of remote village in Ghana
Self portrait.
Pavel Colon, Seville.
Florence, Italy.
Cape Sounion
Lompoul Desert, Senegal 2016
London
Ghana 2015
With my slum warriors in Ho, Ghana, 2015
Wild elephant, Maharashtra
India
Sahara with Berber flag, 2017
Sahara Camp
Sahara Sky
At Missahoe Children’s Home, Ghana, 2015
With Muslim family, The Gambia.
Abdou, my brother
Fez, Morocco, 2018.
Senegal during Monsoon season.
Deep in the jungle, Maharashtra, India.
with the rangers… Digya National Park, Ghana, 2016.
Tuscany
Hunsur, India
Bathing in sacred crocodile pool, The Gambia.
Sunset, Verona
India
Masai the Lioness
Ghana
Florence
Autosave-File vom d-lab2/3 der AgfaPhoto GmbH
White man of Erg Chigaga
Ghana, Africa
Aire de Sevilla
in the might of the Wli waterfalls, Ghana, during monsoon season.
Lion pawprint, 2016, Senegal
Ghana, 2017
Florence, 2015.
With my God Child, Ghana.
at the Grande Mosquée Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco
Fez Medina.
With ‘Prophet George’ The Gambia
Chef, Morocco, June 2018.
Dragonfly, India
Italy.
My friend from
Como
The Gambia, 2016
Jungle Retreat, Masinagudi
Brussels, Grand Place.
smile…
Bobor tribe dance which I partook in.
England
Wild Vultures
Young Boy, Senegal, 2016
Venice
Read my latest full story Palace of Earth here.
***
all enquiries: diary.aesthete@yahoo.co.uk
***
Join 9,677 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