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