ETHEREAL ROAD

     In a wide open space without physical references, the references are within the mind and soul. That’s what happens when one crosses the skies of the world. The sky is not much different everywhere but the air and light are. There are many places that I can recognize with eyes closed, just breathing or by the touch of the air in the skin. The density or lightness of the air, the temperature, the smell, a whole atmosphere that gives identity to the places. 

     Up there the great barrier is the plane itself, a kind of flying cage, not the coziest place for a bird. But once one forgets the plane and abstracts from all the risks that it implies, the eyes merge in the immense beauty and the soul flies freely. I’m out there and I can really touch the sky.

     The photos in the two albums Across the Sky (I & II) portrait 24 hours flying. The first one contains pictures from a short trip in Portugal (Lisbon-Porto / Porto-Lisbon) and the second one a longer journey to USA (Lisbon-Philadelphia-Orlando / Orlando-Philadelphia-Lisbon). The storms in Florida (Erika, Ignacio, Kilo, Jimena) didn’t allow to take clear pictures over Orlando, except above the clouds where the sun always shines. 

     In this moment only the first album is complete; the second one will be finished soon and some pictures will be added to this or a following post. The first album shows more the land than the sky, mainly Porto airport, a peaceful place with a beautiful light. Not the place that one may associate with the chaos and rushing of a big airport. Porto airport is a medium one and it is very well that way.

STREAMS

XXIX

Swift as a thought, from the mountain to the shore

The quiet bird flies across her wide home

What she leaves behind is what she meets ahead.

XXX

From now and then she lands here and there

A floating nest wherever there’s sky and warmth

A clear blue island in the heart of the travelling rainbow.

XXXI

She could go higher than the highest mountain

Lower than the deepest volcano crater or ocean abyss

Yet her dwelling and path is in between.

XXXII

She could grow older than the sands

Younger than the first rays of dawn

Yet she remains a traveler out of time.

XXXIII

She could be more alive than life

More fantastic than the ocean of dreams

Yet she’s just a tiny sparkle in the soul of imagination.

XXXIV

She could be all the birds

All the beings, all the things around and beyond

Yet her wings just embrace the soft breeze of freedom.

XXXV

Her home is wherever the heart is

Her path is drawn by light and love

She’s the bird of reality and wonder.

São Ludovino, 7/10/2015 – 3:09 a.m.

Porto airport - Generous light I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Generous light I, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Generous light II, photography by São Ludovino. 

Porto airport - The magic hour I, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - The magic hour II, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Coincidence, photography by São Ludovino. 

Porto airport - Close to departure, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - Places where waiting is living with light I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Places where waiting is living with light II, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Wings within I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Watching the planes I, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Watching the planes II, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - Watching the planes IV, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - The beauty of light III, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - Coming down II, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Quiet and easy, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Solved in transparency, photography by São Ludovino. 

Porto airport - Coexistence of levels, photography by São Ludovino. 

Porto airport - A corner in time I, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - A corner in time III, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Time mask, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - Time frontier I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Decoding space I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Decoding space II, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Dialogue with light, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Passengers I, photography by São Ludovino. 

Porto airport - Soliloquy with light, photography by São Ludovino. 

Porto airport - Geometry Lab I, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - Inside outside I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Inside outside IV, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Made of wings I, photography by São Ludovino. 

Porto airport - Made of wings III, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - Traveling still, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - To the gates, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Bridge to the sky I, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Porto airport - Cloudy sunset I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Porto airport - Cloudy sunset III, photography by São Ludovino.

Porto airport - Why hurry II, photography by São Ludovino. 

Departure from Porto, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Departure from Porto - The river and the bridges, photography by São Ludovino.

 Arrival in Lisbon II, photography by São Ludovino.

 Arrival in Lisbon III, photography by São Ludovino.

Between Lisbon and Porto I, photography by São Ludovino. 

Between Lisbon and Porto II, photography by São Ludovino.

COMMON PATHS

     We spent the most part of our lives away. Memories, we have millions; the real memories from childhood and a part of our teen years. And all the others, equally real, even more real, that came and come in an endless spiral from the past and the future. Each second is the meeting of all times.

     Then, each one followed their own path in life and life has so many paths. Each path contains millions of others; the ones we trek and the ones we imagine and dream. Side by side we followed by so many of those million paths. The miles between us or the time away never counted much. Time doesn’t exist in the paths of the mind and soul. It’s just a stream that takes us naturally and imperceptibly along the journey. Where does the journey lead? That no one can know for sure. We can only know where the heart inhabits and the soul expands as an eternal landscape. The rest is common geography, routines and episodes in the endless story.

     What makes the world more than an agglomerate of matter, shapes and colours are our inner perceptions, the magical process of building, rebuilding, painting and sculpting the world with the landscapes, the visions, the thoughts and the feelings that we carry inside. The entire world is a huge canvas, a large mirror waiting for life, the fire of Prometheus that only our minds and souls can create, share, seed and spread.

     That was exactly what we did in our childhoods and we still do, I in my simple life and you among the stars. The simple things were magical because they were more than what they were; they were the work of our imagination and dreams. Nothing changed inside. Nothing changes inside, only expands, adding more and more life, reality and dreams to life itself.

     Two weeks ago I went to Porto again. The days were splendorous, mainly by the sea. You don’t live there anymore but I met you there just the same. My streets are your streets and vice versa. We keep walking along the same paths, in the old streets of our beloved city or in the light highways of the sky.

     Not much changed in the real old city either. I didn’t take many pictures this time. I spent the most part of the time just contemplating, feeling, breathing with the soul. And you were everywhere, at Foz, at the Crystal Palace Gardens, at Ribeira, crossing the bridge to Gaia, watching the reflections of the night lights in the river… and asking with the happiest smile in your face “Did you ever see most beautiful scenery in your life? Did you ever breathe with your soul more deeply than here?”… Well, my brother, you know the answer is “no” and “yes”… Just like people —no one can substitute no one — the places can’t be substituted. This is the most beautiful and amazing place in the world when we breathe each atom of reality and dreams within our souls… We’ll keep breathing with and within our souls. This place and all the others will never lose their unique magic… Blow me a whisper from the stars and tell me that you agree. I’m hearing your smiling whisper, I’m feeling you breathing in this inner place where we are together now and ever… And thus we follow this common path and the million paths within it…

     The pictures below are from the album Reflections & Shadows III. A few are the combination of drawing and photography. (Deep contemplation).

Inner perception I, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Inner perception II, photography by São Ludovino.

 The light within, photography by São Ludovino.

Togetherness, photography by São Ludovino. 

The link remains I, photography by São Ludovino. 

 The link remains II, photography by São Ludovino.

 Persistent windows I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Breathing with the soul I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Breathing with the soul II, photography by São Ludovino.

 The bath I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Tangible vision I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Tangible vision II, photography by São Ludovino.

 Eternal renewal I, photography by São Ludovino.

Eternal renewal II, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Invisible light I, photography by São Ludovino.

Invisible light II, photography by São Ludovino. 

Deep contemplation - Butterfly, photography and drawing by São Ludovino. 

 Deep contemplation - Tranquility, photography and drawing by São Ludovino.

 Deep contemplation - Spirit & matter, photography and drawing by São Ludovino.

 Drinking alone, photography by São Ludovino.

 Earthly galaxy II, photography by São Ludovino.

Multiple time I, photography by São Ludovino. 

Painted mirror I, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Painted mirror III, photography by São Ludovino.

 Piano staircase I, photography by São Ludovino.

Water caligraphy, photography by São Ludovino. 

Trail of the will-bow II, photography by São Ludovino.

 Will-bow sailing I, photography by São Ludovino.

 Will-bow sailing II, photography by São Ludovino.

 Will-bow sailing III, photography by São Ludovino.

Will-bow sailing IV, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Ocean without frontiers II, photography by São Ludovino.

 Mens agitat molem, photography by São Ludovino.

 Full Moon birthday, photography by São Ludovino.

 Keeps shining, photography by São Ludovino.

 Your streets are my streets I - Porto, Portugal, photography by São Ludovino.

Your streets are my streets II - Porto, Portugal, photography by São Ludovino. 

 Peaceful walls I, photography by São Ludovino.

I pass and I stay as the Universe, Fernando Pessoa, photography by São Ludovino.