That was the rain

"When the quickly growing rushing sound wandered over your head it was the wind in the tall forest-trees, - and not the rain. When it ran along the ground it was the wind in the shrubs and the long grass, - and not the rain. When it rustled and rattled just above the ground it was the wind in the maize-fields, - where it sounded so much like rain that you were taken in, time after time, and even got a certain content from it, as if you were at least shown the thing you longed for acted on a stage, - and not the rain. But when the earth answered like a sounding-board in a deep fertile roar, and the world sang round you in all dimensions, all above and below, - that was the rain. It was like coming back to the Sea, when you have been a long time away from it, like a lover’s embrace."

 From “Out of Africa” by Karen Blixen.

 Picture - “Storm on the Niger” by Fabrice Mabillot (http://www.fabricemabillot.com/).

Last summer in Lusoland

Bamiyan valley

My favourite place in the world.

Je m'ennuie

Lovely spring in Montreal, where the hell are you?

Holga in the land of dust and buzkashi (5)

Bamiyan.

Holga in the land of dust and buzkashi (4)

Kabul.

Holga in the land of dust and buzkashi (3)

Maimana.

Holga in the land of dust and buzkashi (2)

Somewhere between Maimana and Mazar-e-Sharif.

Holga in the land of dust and buzkashi (1)

Kabul.

Reddish ruse

Deeply missed life moments (3)

Band-e-Amir, 2009. Picture by a friend.

Deeply missed life moments (2)

Band-e-Amir, 2009. Picture by a friend.

Deeply missed life moments (1)

Bamiyan, 2009.

Love for the smart ones

“Love is being stupid together.”

- Paul Valéry -

Blue flowers

Polaroid SX-70.

Last night

Dream places... Sintra

I miss you

On the velvet chair (2)

Polaroid SX-70.

Anatole

"Religion has done love a great service by making it a sin."

"Devout believers are safeguarded in a high degree against the risk of certain neurotic illnesses; their acceptance of the universal neurosis spares them the task of constructing a personal one."

- Anatole France -

First wet plate collodion

At the Center For Alternative Photography, New York.

Sleepness

On the velvet chair (1)

Polaroid SX-70.

Restless

Vulnerability

"I postpone death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing."

Anaïs Nin

Remembering Afghanistan

Picture taken with a vintage polaroid SX-70.

Somewhere

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

― Neale Donald Walsch ―

Photo by Ryan Mcginley

Stillness

Love is a fire that burns unseen

Love is a fire that burns unseen,
a wound that aches yet isn’t felt,
an always discontent contentment,
a pain that rages without hurting,

a longing for nothing but to long,
a loneliness in the midst of people,
a never feeling pleased when pleased,
a passion that gains when lost in thought.

It’s being enslaved of your own free will;
it’s counting your defeat a victory;
it’s staying loyal to your killer.

But if it’s so self-contradictory,
how can Love, when Love chooses,
bring human hearts into sympathy?

Luís Vaz de Camões
(Portugal, 1524/5–1580)

Fondness

The awakening

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

- Anaïs Nin -

Hazara girl in Diffusion Magazine

My picture (Polaroid SX-70) of the little Hazara girl in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, is looking good in the Diffusion Magazine, Volume III.

Wet plate collodion photography: self-portrait in cyanide

Tintype (Wet plate collodion - photographic process from 1850s) at The Center for Alternative Photography, NYC, July 2011.

Placebo by Marco Vernaschi

Placebo is "the attempt to see through my being, a therapeutic but still illusory process. It's about the experience, about the willingness to dig deeply into those dark places that reveal another side of myself. Placebo is me, naked."
One of my favourite photo projects.

Before I fall too fast kiss me quick, but make it last.

Published story... Afghanistan

The story about my trip in Afghanistan (with 14 pages and 34 photos) has been published in the Portuguese magazine Visão Vida & Viagens this month.

"What could motivate a woman to want to explore Afghanistan? The answer lies somewhere between one of the most extensive landscapes of the world and the hospitality of the people, at the crossroads of cultures and a fascinating history. In the "chaos and love" ..."

My first solo exhibition

My Polaroid pictures of Afghanistan are in exhibition in the gallery Gabinete in the North of Portugal. Pictures of the space soon, and more exhibitions to come.

Pieter Ten Hoopen

I am completely fascinated by Pieter's panoramic images and post-processing technique. It is the best work I have seen in a long time. It has inspired me to try to play with Photoshop a bit more, and get a very wide lens.

Gallery hunting

I am desperately trying to find a gallery in Europe, USA or Canada, which could be interested in exhibiting my Polaroids taken in Afghanistan (see them here), and other photos. If anybody has contacts, please send them to my email address: tnabais@hotmail.com

Published in Diffusion Magazine

One of my polaroid pictures of Afghanistan will be in the Volume III of Diffusion magazine. Theme: Ortus (Latin) — rise, become visible, appear, birth, origin.

Check the polaroids on www.teresanabais.com, project: When time stood still.

New website under construction

I am slowly adding pictures to my new website.

I shed my clothes in the lush air

"I shed my clothes in the lush air
to bathe naked in the spring water,
but the quiet night seduced me
into telling it my gloomy story.

The water's cool shimmering waves
moaned and lustily surrounded me,
urged with soft crystal hands
my body and spirit into themselves.

A far breeze hurried in,
poured a lapful of flowers in my hair,
breathed into my mouth Eurasian mint's
pungent, heart-clinging scent.

Silent and soaring, I closed my eyes,
pressed my body against the soft young rushes,
and like a woman folded into her lover's arms
gave myself to the flowing waters.

Aroused, parched, and fevered, the water's lips
rippled trembling kisses on my thighs,
and we suddenly collapsed, intoxicated, gratified,
both sinners, my body and the spring's soul."

In the woods

Drift Wood (Cheng-Chang Wu)

漂流木影片 Drift Wood Film
Originally uploaded by wuphoto

Video of the capturing of the winner image of Artists Wanted's "The Power of Self" competition. Very interesting!

Memories

Memories of utter happiness are the deceivers of our souls
They leave us naked with no artifices or masks
They make us wish to forget the unforgettable and forgive the unforgivable
Long for the undeserving and for the dream not meant to be
But more than anything else, they make us miss that perfect physical desire

Sometimes we break and follow dreams and passions

Waiting for you

Forgotten how long I've been waiting
And as always I'm stuck on the same thing
You, and the perfect unfailing
Love that you may bring me

Know you won't come for me
But faith knows no reality
So I'll wait an eternity
Here for you

- Gotye -

In this girls' world

Between June and July 2009, I had the opportunity to travel to Afghanistan. I had desired to visit this country for more than 3 years. Everyday we are overwhelmed by terrifying news about Afghanistan, so I was asked many times why I wanted to go there. There were many reasons, including personal ones, and the more I read about Afghanistan, the more I saw photos of its beautiful natural scenery and people, especially women and children, the stronger was my eagerness. I also wanted to meet Afghan women and girls and hear from them their views on the current situation of women in Afghanistan.
I knew that as a woman it would be relatively easy for me to have access to Afghan women. Still, I felt lucky to travel to the north and northeast of the country and become friends with an Afghan girl. Through her I met several other Afghan women including farmers and a woman with a prominent position in a regional office of an international organization, who invited me to visit a girls' school.

The school was located in a valley in one of the most sublime landscapes I have ever seen and separated from the nearest town by a rugged path that the girls walk every morning to attend their classes. In a one-story building with big widows there were several classrooms with grey and pink dilapidated walls and worn out school tables covered with Dari handwriting. Even if the conditions of the school were not the best, these girls were grateful for being there.

Despite some recent progresses in Afghan women's rights, Afghanistan is still one of the hardest countries in the world to be born a woman. Over the last years women have been allowed to return back to work and girls to school. The government no longer forces them to wear the all-covering burqa and it is now acceptable to see a woman as a politician. However, even if private family affairs are traditionally considered to be a women's responsibility, many men still restrict their own mothers, wives, daughters and sisters from participation in public life. A big percentage of Afghan girls are still forced into marriages and deprived of formal education. Numerous schools for girls have been burned down and female students have even been attacked with acid for daring to go to school, especially in the southern and eastern provinces. Female teachers have been intimidated and kidnapped. Gunmen have broken into schools, gathered dog-eared schoolbooks and threw them into flames.
Regardless of the difficulties Afghan girls have faced when trying to pursue their education, many of them still believe it is their duty and right to be educated. Despite the threats and worries about their daughters' security, many families are happy that their girls go to school. In a mountainous northern province, I saw an old farmer telling my Afghan friend that education is essential for the country's development and that he wished that both Afghan girls and boys received a proper education.

One of the best feelings I had while travelling in Afghanistan was to realize that even considering the oppression Afghan women have endured, and probably due to the same oppression, the women I met in Afghanistan always looked strong and determined, not pitiful. According to them, discrimination against women and girls is finally becoming a topic of discussion in Afghanistan and it is possible now to hear and read about it. There is still a long way to go for Afghan women and girls to be valued throughout the country as individuals with inherent human rights, but, slowly, women in Afghanistan are becoming aware of their rights. When listening to these women, I felt hopeful that a day will come when all Afghan girls will be allowed to go to school with no more fear.

Kuchi children