Pearly...

Provided wood is treated the right way, it can weather many storms. This images was taken at the San Miguel mission near Paso Robles after a good early winter storm in December 2009. For the gizmo-heads, the picture was taken with an iPhone, pretty decent, right?

Not sure how I feel today, wishing stuff would pearl off like raindrops, maybe?

... and here comes the English version!

El Camino De Santiago

a modern day pilgrimage

By Thomas Hartmann

Book Preview

Inside this book you will find on 40 pages impressions from the Camino de Santiago, an ancient path, which attracts hundreds of thousands pilgrims every year. The author captures the spirit of the Camino in 99 images.

Hiking over 500 miles from the Pyrenées to Santiago de Compostela was not only a physically demanding, but also a spiritually rewarding experience. Everybody's journey on this trail will be different, but we also will bring back some similar memories of the endless meseta, the unselfish hospitaleros, and not the least our tired legs...

Enjoy.

Es ist soweit...

El Camino De Santiago

eine Reise in Bildern

By Thomas Hartmann

Book Preview

Nach einigen Wochen hinter dem Computer, einigen kreativen Denkpausen, und dem gelegentlichen Tritt in den Allerwertesten: Es ist vollbracht!

Mein erstes Bildbändchen ist erhältlich bei Blurb. Es ist eine Sammlung von 99 Bildern auf 40 Seiten, mit einigen begleitenden Texten über den Jakobsweg. Seit Kerkeling weiss ja mittlerweile jeder in Deutschland, was es mit dem Jakobsweg auf sich hat. Wenn's einem zu steil wird, fährt man halt ein Stück mit dem Taxi, es wimmelt nur so von Südamerikanerinnen auf Männersuche, und in den Herbergen wird geschnarcht was das Zeug hält.

Na ja, ganz so schlimm ist es nicht. Muss man eben selber erleben, oder ein paar Rubelchen locker machen und dieses Meisterwerk erwerben.

It's the Christmas season after all!

Blurb did a great job, it looks really good, if I may say so.

The English version will be available in a matter of days.

Viel Spass.

"Wald"

"Ich steh' im Wald" oder "Man sieht den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht."

Where do you wear your heart?

Found this little bugger in the backyard today. Who came up with this design? Isn't it hazardous to wear your heart this way? Must be a female... Anyway, I am sure he/she was glad the first rainstorm of the season was over. Tomorrow, we shall have sunshine again and balmy 80F. That's more like it.

Race faces

Got up at 4AM, to shoot some triathletes in their element at the Nautica Malibu Triathlon 2009. Terri Hatcher was the most photographed participant at this event, I assume, judging by the paparazzi cloud around her, but there were more notable faces.

Funny



Intense


Happy


Competitive

Solitude

While biking around the Four Corners area I brought some light and not so light reading material with me. One of the books was "Solitude - Seeking Wisdom in Extremes" by Robert Kull and I let you decide in which category of reading material this may fall. In any case, the author, no stranger to hardship in life, decided to go for a Ph.D. at age 40 and chose to spend a year on some remote island in the Patagonia wilderness, without human contact, besides a monthly email, to study the effects of solitude on his body and soul.

After a month of bicycle riding on and off the Continental divide and another month relaxing at home I am positive that solitude can be experienced even in presence of other humans, but I must admit, a year in Patagonia makes for better book sales.

Robert's thesis is available for download here.