Fotoeins Fotografie

Bodensee, Lake Constance, Konstanz, Germany, fotoeins.com

World Water Day: an RTW selection

Above: Early start by fishermen on the Bodensee on a misty autumn morning (HL).

An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day.

Cape Town’s dwindling fresh water supply has once again raised attention and a call to examine usage, recycling, and waste of available drinking water.

I list the following examples of fresh water bodies to question our interaction with and impact on water sources, and to ask whether water is truly free and whether some people are more “free” to receive water than others.

Aachener Weiher: Cologne, Germany
Akaka Falls: Hawaii, USA
Aussenalster: Hamburg, Germany
Bodensee: Unteruhldingen, Germany
Capilano Lake: Vancouver, Canada
Eibsee: Grainau, Germany
Embalse Puclaro: Región de Coquimbo, Chile
Foz do Iguaçu: Brazil
Lake Burley Griffin: Canberra, Australia
Lake Matheson: New Zealand’s South Island
Lake Ontario: Toronto, Canada
Lake Washington: Seattle, USA

( Click here for more )

Marienplatz, MVG München, U-Bahn, München, Munich, Germany, fotoeins.com

From the World Outside & Into Munich’s Metro

Above/featured: U-Bahnhof Marienplatz.

After dozens of visits since 2002 to Germany’s Munich, I’ve become familiar with the city’s transport network. For the city’s residents, the day-to-day work commute from the upside and into below can merge into a monotonous grind. The following images within five U-Bahn or metro sitations might challenge that notion with ghost-like and otherworldly appearances.

Georg-Brauchle-Ring

7am morning commute (IG)

Hauptbahnhof

Bahnland Bayern (IG)

Lehel

One foot in front of the other … (IG)

Marienplatz

U6, nach/to Klinikum Grosshadern (IG1, IG2)

Westfriedhof

Comings and goings (IG)

I made all pictures above between 22 and 24 February 2017 inclusive. Alle Fotoaufnahmen sind mit Wasserzeichen versehen worden. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-buj.

Phnom Penh Noodle House, International District, Seattle, WA, USA, fotoeins.com

My Seattle: good tasty eats

Above/featured: Cambodian-Chinese cuisine, with seafood special on jasmine rice, and crispy shrimp rolls at upper-right. Phnom Penh Noodle House (CID) – 7 Feb 2017.

How far would I go for food?

The distance between Vancouver BC and Seattle WA is 232 kilometres (144 miles) which is a 2.5- to 3-hour drive or a slightly longer trip with the bus or train. Seattle is older than Vancouver by 27 years as incorporated cities (1869 vs. 1886), but despite relative proximity, I’m fascinated by the different paths by which both cities have evolved.

Seattle is famous for its coffee and for her people’s love of a good brew in a cup. With good coffee people want good food. And what’s even better is that these examples won’t bust your wallet.

CAUTION: The following photos from Seattle (2020) you are about to see may cause sudden pangs of hunger. If you get a terrible case of the drools, I claim total responsibility.

( Click here for images and more )

Black Strathcona, Strathcona, Black History Month, East Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, fotoeins.com

Vancouver: Jimi Hendrix’s grandma and Black Strathcona

Above/featured: Hogan’s Alley: Main Streeet at Union Street.

When a wae lad was I, I viewed Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood through the various lenses of my parents, the people on our block, and the surrounding community. That is, I viewed the area as primarily Chinese, in school and on the streets.

As an important teacher, history can often be painful. But an important and unspoken responsibility as city resident and national citizen is recognition and acknowledgement of these past lessons. I learned years later about the destruction of the African-Canadian community with the construction of the Viaduct, which not coincidentally almost eliminated Chinatown. The Viaduct is a remnant of the planned 1960s highway project in the city of Vancouver, but final removal of the viaduct is coming in the next few years.

February as Black History Month has been officially recognized in Canada since 1995. To honour the rich history by African Canadians in the province, British Columbia has also officially recognized Black History Month.

( Click here for images and more )

Fasching, Maschkera, Oimrausch: pre-Lent shenanigans in Mittenwald

This ain’t no Hallowe’en¹.

In southern Germany, this is Fasching, known also as Werdenfelser Fosanacht, to go along with the masks for Maschkera. It’s also about about distinctions and differences by comparison with Karneval on the Rhein.

Festivities take place before Catholic Lent, and the key idea behind the wild colourful costumes and wooden masks is the very pagan origin and ritual of driving out or driving away evil spirits of winter lurking inside people and their homes and welcoming the friendly spirits of spring for a productive growing season.

( Click here for images and more )