Der von Osten
meinem Garten anvertraut,
Gibt geheimen Sinn zu kosten,
Wie’s den Wissenden erbaut.
Ist es ein lebendig Wesen,
Das sich in sich selbst getrennt?
Sind es zwei die sich erlesen,
Daß man sie als eines kennt?
Solche Frage zu erwidern,
Fand ich wohl den rechten Sinn;
Fühlst du nicht an meinen Liedern,
Daß ich eins und doppelt bin?
J. W. Goethe
“Der Heilige Geist und die Natur sind eins: Täglich ist die Natur ein Licht aus dem Heiligen Geist und lernt von ihm, also kommt es im Menschen während der Tiefe der Nacht. Das Wissen der kalten Vernunft hat verblendet das Licht der Weisheit und das Licht der Natur; so herrscht eine fremde Doktrin und hat beider Erkenntnis zwischen Stühle und Bänke gesetzt. Die dieser fremden Doktrin anhängen, versuchen die Wahrheit beider Lichter zu verdunkeln und wollen sogar das Licht des Ewigen und der Natur auslöschen.
Nun merkt, dass Christus und die Seinen dem Licht der Natur nichts genommen haben, aber die Scholare mit ihrem pharisäischen Sauerteig wollen der Natur ihre Macht brechen und nehmen, und zwar weil sie selbst weder Christus nachfolgen noch dem natürlichen Licht. Sie sind die Toten, die die Toten begraben. Kein Leben ist in ihrem Tun, denn sie lernen weder etwas vom Licht der Ewigkeit noch vom Licht der Natur und wollen’s doch beide sein.
In der Natur ist ein Licht, das heller scheint als das Licht der Sonne; in diesem Licht werden die unsichtbaren Dinge sichtbar”
PARACELSUS “Vom Licht der Natur und des Geistes”
I recently submitted an application for a photo book voucher from Saal Digital and received it promptly. 👍 The voucher code lasts for 14 days.
For compiling the book, I tested the free design software provided by Saal Digital. In the first step, I chose the book format and style: a simple matte look and 28 by 28 cm square format with 28 pages. Further pages can be added or pages deleted later (it became 34 pages). The software allows to switch between auto-layout and manual layout. The photos are added by simple drag and drop and the program arranges them in a smart way. In addition, one can chose between different layout templates, including text. The only glitch I encountered was, that the text formatting kept jumping back to default value when changing the images. 👎 Else I found the software handy and easy to employ. 👍 I was especially curious how images and text spread across two pages would turn out.
Altogether I spent a whole day, selecting, editing and arranging the photos. It was a fun work and I found myself browsing archives spanning over nearly a decade.
I submitted my order digitally on the 9th of May. The voucher code was to be entered at the end of the order process. I ended up with a total of 11,90 Euro instead of 51,90 Euro (with shipping included). The confirmation e-mail told me to expect my book to be delivered on the 15th of May, but I already received it on Monday, 13th of May. 👍
I am very pleased with the overall quality. The matte paper is thick and not translucent at all. 👍 The biggest benefit to me are no fingerprints, as well as a natural look and feel, 👍 even though the colorful images may also look nice on glossy paper. The photos look vivid and show great detail in print. 👍 Any deviations in color are owed to my mean Photoshop skills (they show and I will correct them next time). Thanks to the layflat binding, the large images flow across two pages seamlessly (without any offset). 👍 I am further pleased with the crispness of the lines on my black and white illustration. 👍 Finally, I allowed for a tiny QR code to be added at the backside. It is really unobtrusive, but can also be left out (for a 5 Euro extra fee).
I tested the basic photo book without any extras. Next time I may opt for a black background on the cover and a smaller font. It may also be interesting to try out options with leather or linen weave, though 20 Euro extra on top of the 40 Euro base price are a bit of an obstacle. 👎
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 8 thumbs up for the overall service, quality and free software
👎👎 2 thumbs down for the text formatting glitch in the software and the comparably high prices on professional photo books
Fall is here, death is here, but the flowers keep on flowering
The Perseids are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift–Tuttle. The meteors are called the Perseids because the point from which they appear to hail (called the radiant) lies in the constellation Perseus. The name is derived from the word Perseidai (Greek : Περσείδαι), the sons of Perseus in Greek mythology.
What we see as “shooting stars” is actually a cloud of debris – tiny pieces ejected by the comet Swift-Tuttle, as it travels along its 133 year orbit around the sun. These particles burn up in the earth’s atmosphere at around 80 km height. They are visible every year from July to August and reach maximum activity between August 9-14, depending on the location of the stream. During the peak, the rate of meteors reaches 60 or more per hour.
They can be seen all across the sky; however, because of the shower’s radiant in the constellation of Perseus, the Perseids are primarily visible in the Northern Hemisphere. [from Wikipedia]
Shown above are photos from my first attempt at capturing the “Perseids”. They occurred in pretty much all directions and I saw some brilliant trains high in the sky as well as fireballs just short above the horizon line. But it was difficult to photograph them.
I set up the camera towards the North East and the constellation Perseus, with the widest angle available (f 18 mm) and 30 seconds exposure time. And then I spent the following 2 hours pressing the shutter every 30 seconds…
The camera did capture a few Perseids as well as plenty of planes. The difference is that a plane shows a twofold and non-continuous light trace (because the plane lights blink periodically) whereas the train of a meteor shows as a thin, continuous bright line on the photo.
Later that night Auriga rose in the North and the Pleiades became visible in the North East. The camera caught a small train directly above the Pleiades.
Around 2 am the sky started to cloud and my photo session ended.
In the photos I marked some of the constellations and stars for orientation. I hope you enjoy this little excursion. I recommend to check this website for further reading: https://sternenhimmel-fotografieren.de/sternbild-perseus-perseiden-h-und-chi-herz-und-seele-herznebel-sternschnuppen-finden-beobachten-fotografieren/
New series about the secret life taking place in the garden at night. Because these are sleepless summer nights and I am nocturnal again for various reasons.
I am spending most of my summer working and enjoying time in our garden. Hence dedicating again the monthly theme to this topic. The new flower beds are finished at last and new plants are added on a weekly basis. The black flower theme is coming along nicely. For more visit my garden blog.
Impressions from my month of June, including my ritual for the summer solstice 2017.
View the entire Flower Devils series here.
A collection of photographs of wounds, scars and malformations on trees
Wiebke Rost 