In Motion

As a kid growing up in the country, I lived life outside: alpine skiing, skating, cycling, running, jumping, swiming and climbing up mountains. In my teens, that meant also playing tennis, competitive track and field as well as playing volleyball. But it was in high school, that I gravitated away from track and field and alpine skiing and I found my way into dance, a long standing wish since childhood. I spent several years attending jazz- and modern dance classes as well as pantomime.

The discipline I learned through sports pushed me to participate in new things. I always had an insatiable love for trying new things and discovered a passion for photography and filmmaking. At that time I consequentially learned to "dance" with my camera. At first with small movie cameras, later on with a photo camera I enjoyed experimenting with all kinds of movement whenever possible.

As Autumn Wanes 2008

Evanescence of life and beauty in mind I shot this portrait of a morello cherry tree by moving the camera with a long shutter speed at low light, so that the tree appears in disintegration.

When cutting a film I spend a lot of time looking closely to any single of the 24 or 25 photographic images of which one second of motion picture exists. And I get absolutely impressed with these usually unseen and often blurry jewels of film frames.

Noir 1987

Life consists of movement. If we see something wonderful or remarkable most of us like to capture it in a photo. It can be interesting to watch a picture of such a single moment where life gets "frozen", and we are able to study the details. I still remember my amazement about gazing at an ordinary bee approaching a flower.

Approach For A Landing 2008

However looking at a picture "in motion" the details of single moments become indistinct and get transformed to a bigger something. It´s somehow an illusion of visible reality and often provokes different kinds of emotion.

Momentum 2009

The picture above consists of two photographs. I took the first one during our perseverative trips between Austria and Hungary. This strip of land on the Hungarian side of the former Iron Curtain, also known as border zone, is covered with deep forests full of mystery which still remind me of all the anxiety when crossing the border to a Eastern European Country in the past. Times changed and due to the European Union we are now allowed to go to any member country without any passport control. I liked the blue and green colors of the wood passing by but also wanted to add some bright color. As you also can find yellow canola fields in this area which emanate warmth and cheerfulness, I combined these two images to create a whole new one.

The Vineyard 2009

Only some miles away, when crossing the border to Austria, you will find a totally different aspect of the same landscape. Few if any forests or trees between the huge fields, acres and vineyards. Every single square mile seems to be cultivated by human hand. Strict geometrical structures dominate and nature´s charming wilderness has already disappeared. Nonetheless I like this picture of a vineyard "in motion" very much as it corresponds to my preference for playing with geometrical structures very well.

Growing Our Own Food I - "The Grave"

First Harvest

I can´t remember how long ago I decided to prefer organic food. Being vegetarian since childhood my bill of fare for a long time was limited on mashed potatoes, rice, bread, polenta and various kinds of deep frozen vegetables. I am still horrified thinking about the times when searching the menu in a restaurant without finding anything eatable aside from cut-up and sugared pancake with raisins and apricot dumplings. Time passed by until dumplings with egg and baked mushrooms showed up on menus, on which I wasn´t keen anymore after stuffing myself with it for years. Finally I have learned that I just had to accept my fate growing up in a culture being obsessed with meat.

Lemon´s Excursion 2008

The situation turned out to become even worse when I noticed that apples didn´t taste like apples anymore, that apricots tasted like water with a whiff of bitter citron. Not really a surprise after being picked unriped and travelling hundreds and thousands of miles cooped in refrigerators. Even simple bread wasn´t made from flour, salt, leaven and water anymore. More and more bakeries converted to convenience blends.

Windfall 2008

For whatever reason it was obvious to grow our own food when we came to Hungary. And this is how we started:

"The Grave"

Whenever I am talking about animals my husband´s thoughts are focusing on how they would taste being roasted. He is confident of driving me crazy about that. Now, even though drenched in sweat, he is digging over the black and fertile but compacted soil bit by bit. It´s hard work and at the end a tiny acreage occurs, looking quite ridiculous (and also a bit like a small grave - to be honest : - ) amidst the former large acre. But it was just a modest beginning. At this time we predominantly were busy with renovating the houses. After removing a lot of junk from the compost heap the former owners had left, we cover the patch with compost soil.

Compost Heap left behind

My husband grew up on a farm and has learned much about farming in early life. But I am just a rookie and never wouldn´t have dreamed of gardening or farming. Now I hold some small bags of vegetable seeds in my hand, waiting to plant the first carrots.

To Our Great Surprise

I am passing the doorway carefully to make sure not to frighten the two kittens. As mentioned in an earlier post one week ago the cat got her eight week old babies from their hiding place to our house. Nobody is seen. I get out of the car and squat at some distance from the outbuilding where they newly reside. While I am waiting and getting afraid that they may have been disappeared, I suddenly get a glimpse of a small curious looking face appearing behind the hole of the door. I wonder why this one looks tabby while we got introduced to a white and a black young guy last week. Is this caused by the daylight? No, that´s impossible. I don´t know any light that turns deep black fur into tabby greybrown. I feel quite confused!

As we unload the car, the cat comes out of the hole of the "house of cats", accompanied by three! kittens. A black, a white and a greybrown tabby one. I am right so: I don´t know any kind of light that ...



A quarter of an hour later I look out of the window, getting even more confused. The kittens are playing in the backyard. Only there a two! white kittens now.



It makes me speechless, and I am hurrying away for my husband, who unsuspecting is examining the vegetable patch, to tell him that we have got four! kittens now. Once more I turn in disbelief. Now you may think that I am crazy, but I can assure you: in the meantime also the black kitten has duplicated!



Instead of telling my husband that we have got four kittens now, I say: "And now, brace yourself ..." He just stares at me.

In the evening we are discussing farther reaching consequences of having six cats, eventually two or three of them ladies, each giving birth to five babies twice a year ... hope you are well trained in mathematics!? Right now actually we are trying to block it out and enjoy the enchanting theatrical performances.

Their shy father pays a short visit about three times a day.

Colors Are Finding Their Way

I am so excited. Our efforts to recultivate the old garden are rewarded by regrowing grass and flowers in multiple colors. Instead of removing the soil as proposed by "experienced gardeners", we covered the ground with grass clippings several times to convey soil organisms. This turned out to be the perfect treatment and saved a lot of money. Now one plant is paving the way for the next one. The following year the grass already is growing vigorously.





Nature definitely has a will of it´s own and a big sense of humour! It happened at the end of May that we discovered little sunflower plantlets all over the garden without having planted them. Why did this happen? Maybe for several reasons. First we were feeding birds with sunflower seeds in winter. Some of the seeds tumbling down the birdhouse found proper conditions to grow. Second some seeds ended up on the compost heap and have been disseminated again together with soil. Since June small and big ones are taking pleasure in life and are savouring the sun. Here are some of them:

Sunflower I

Sunflower III

I love the fun poses they often display:

Sunflower II

In front of the garden wall long-established coneflowers are flowering again:

Indian Summer I


Indian Summer II

Daylilies have been successful flowers in rural gardens for a long time. They flower for one day only. But new buds keep developing - producing a long run of simple, elegant trumpet shapes. I took some of them growing in front of the house and replanted these robust beauties inside the garden in a light woodland setting. I gambled but were quite sucessful in the end:

Day Lily

Poppies

When we first came to Hungary, the backyard of our house looked very poor. The former owners, overwhelmed with work, tried to eradicate the exuberantly sprouting flora. All the more we were extremely happy about any little flower which jumped the hurdle - mainly poppies in different colors. They grew in small red groups or standing alone, long stemmed with white and purple colored petals. I fell in love with these courageous beauties and invited them to some shootings.

Reach For The Sky 2008



White Coffee 2008

This lovely couple was nestling up against each other, and I witnessed their growth throughout the whole summer and autumn, sometimes experimenting at post-processing.

Strong Company 2008


Love 2008

After collecting seeds last year and sowing them in early spring this year, this one surprised me after a heavy rainshower. My newest creation:

Raindrops On My Head 2009

The Babies

After a busy week in Vienna we arrive in Hungary on friday evening. The cat is just crawling under the doorway, being scared as my husband gets off the car. Only now when he opens the door she recognizes him and runs after him like lightning. It´s the same play as ever. Instead of watching the changes in the garden, I am hurrying to prepare the meal for the cat first, though she doesn´t look famished. Meowing undeviatingly she has me in her grip.



Heavy rain alternating with hot and sunny days in the last couple of weeks transformed the backyard into boondocks. After nightfall we sit in the backyard repelling moscito attacks. The cat approaches slowly. This time she is not alone. When she comes nearer we remain in unbelieving amazement. She´s accompanied by her two 8 week old babies. Being scared when seeing us the kittens run away several times. It´s hard work for their mother to bring them back again and again, running back and forth along with a variety of vocalizations. They run across human beings for the first time in their life. Finally they rest, convinced by the existence of a feeding bowl.



The following day we take notice that the cat definitely brought her babies to the new home. The three of them have spent their first night resting on the doormat right on our doorstep. But they soon find the right place to stay in a storeroom. The whole day we have a lot of fun watching the shy guys exploring their new home. We are just wondering: who is the girl and who the boy?

Wild Lady

She approaches slowly and tentatively, looking into my puzzled eyes. Faint-hearted meow is raising. Day and night a lot of cats are banging around in our backyard. All of them extremely shy. This white and grey colored lady, apparently pregnant, doesn´t give a damn. Where does she come from? After pigging out she will stalk us forever. Her babies were born at the beginning of May and live hidden in an empty neighboring house. Last week she apparently invited us in, being frustrated as we were not able to follow her through the tiny hole.



We call her "the cat", and since her shy hubby is showing up of late (we call him "the black"), we have a lot of fun with that crazy couple, at least three days a week. Back in Vienna, I am thinking of her hoping she is doing well.

Mind The Gap

A Dream Come True

Only 2 weeks later, still residents of Vienna, we are now proud owners of an old farmhouse and a huge backyard in a lovely Hungarian village next to the Fertö-Hanság National Park. A fabulous place still a tough piece of work.





In the next couple of years I will learn that:

tree frogs indulge in sunbathing and throw wild parties

ants milk aphids, and aphids eat a whole peach tree for breakfast



I am totally addicted to fashion like that

and much more!

On The Road Again

It´s a very hot day in july 2007. Sun is burning down on the car which my husband drives valiantly along the bumpy roads. I sit next to him trying the best not to move too much, hoping for an early end of this journey through Hungarian villages. But I ought to have known better. While I am talking to a film distributor on the phone, a difficult person to deal with, the car suddenly stops. After the phone call I find myself alone in the car parked next to a ditch at the roadside. 300 feets away my husband is talking to the former servant and driver of Count Schwarzenberg, a busy man who cares for houses being up for sale. This would turn out to be the start of a big new adventure!