October Waves // Wallpaper Giveaway

Recently, I read an inspiring note, rather a love letter all dedicated to Autumn and it’s wonderful vibes, the heaps of inspiration it brings and the time where magic happens. And I couldn’t believe the different perceptions that people might have at this very same time of the year whereas I myself am the antonym of that love letter, feeling nothing else but the tragic death of my wonderful soulmate Summer.

When October comes, almost exactly counting 12 o’clock at midnight, the season of darkness and frost kicks in to my subconsciousness and I feel like I should lock up the door that very minute and put the key away somewhere safely till April comes again. In this time of the year I would like to sit (and sleep) at the fireplace, cook stews and cakes and cookies, read books, light candles and listen to lots and lots of music, even better - play and sing along with a little circle of likeminded folks. Wet shoes, snow storms, howling wind - all behind the light string lit window. With one exception - taking a wonderful long walk on a sunny frosty Christmas Day, layers upon layers of snow included. But mostly I feel the urge to hibernate like an exemplary nordic bear in the wintertime. Also, relocate my house somewhere close to a forest and a mountain side, please. That’s my ideal off-season dream to which I absolutely could write blocks of love letters with sketches and drawings.

But meanwhile, my eyes have to get used to the big amounts of unnatural light, and there better be plenty of light. My body goes through a few rough days of temperature adaptation, my nose practically doesn’t stop running and my mood is left on a playground swing. All I want to say is, that given the circumstances of a life in a city - it is a tough month for me, it's a time for adaptation and acceptance, a mental and physical preparation for frequent light change / temperature change / diet change on daily basis, which leads to a few weeks of confused moods for a little while.

Luckily, my dear friend Sevda once again read my thoughts across thousands of kilometres away and asked me in a message ‘do you know hygge?’ as if that would be a friend of hers whom I should finally meet. In addition, she sent me this wonderful article summing up my needs, feelings and urges into one danish cozy lifestyle word - hygge. There’s also this word ‘koselig’ - in Norwegian, a German equivalent to ‘kuschelig’, meaning nothing less cute than cuddly. I highly recommend this article as a therapeutic strategy to embrace the upcoming wintertime.

And even though we are half way through the month, I took some time two create two desktop wallpaper versions for October. Feel free to enlarge and download them. Otherwise you can find them here. Enjoy the cold time of the year embracing its indoor perks, practicing hygge straight away.

The Girl who was a Fox

one good side about living on an island far far away is that friends want to eventually come and see it and see me. Helgoland seems to be an island where 'no one has ever been but was always curious to come and check it out'. as i am here right now, some adventurous friends dare it and take a weekend or more off for a short discovery trip. when i get visits here, they mostly are intense and very cozy, i show around the island, tell stories about baby seals, show the ocean horizon all around this tiny little island. we bond on this island much more, more intense than while i was still living on the mainland, where on weekends eventually you come together for a party or a dinner, but rarely experience a face to face time over a few days. then i bring them back to the boat and wave good bye. Maren came to visit me last weekend. she is a girl fox and she writes beautiful songs. i first met her outside of a café in Bochum where she was knitting a big fluffy Iceland style pullover, as she had spent lots of time living in Iceland. the second time i saw her in a sweater with a fox picture. i immediately had to show her my fox earrings i was wearing those days. on the last day of her Helgoland visit the sun was tickling my bedroom wall. we got inspired and played around for the sake of beauty.

for Maren's music you can check her page Girl and the Fox or visit her facebook site.

her left arm/shoulder tattoo was made by the Expanded Eye art duo, also to be found on facebook and instagram.

her right lower arm tattoo the leaf was designed by... me! <3 the ones who know me have seen it many times changing on my arm or had been given one, too, with my legendary permanent CD marker. since 2012 random examples one, two, three, four, five are to be found on my old blog. Maren eventually got it inked in Iceland.

ps:

“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world …”

Warming Up for the Wedding of Agne & Marius, Klaipeda, Lithuania

in the late summer weeks i left my daytime office job on the island for a short holiday. more than ever i was excited to visit my home country Lithuania - apart from family and a great lithuanian summer time there were two weddings waiting for me. the first one of Agne and Marius.

there is a story about me and Agne - she is like my sister, undeniable relative always and forever. we grew up together and she was the first girl i saw on my first day of school, totally impressed by some kind of strength energy around her which you could sense from across the big school hall. ever since, our friendship - sisterhood - grew. with a two more gals we became 'the four' throughout the twelve school years. with big dreams, lots of dancing, teenage adventure, tears over boys, make-up experiments, birthday surprise parties on roof tops with candles, house parties, fights over nothing, cafe club plans and friendship pacts for life building our relationship as of stone bricks together. days past, years past, we are all in different cities even countries now, with different agenda. but every time we talk - there it is, a sense of an invisible cable connecting us, like a blood twine, whatever we talk about. we changed a lot, of course. but there is a deep love there within. i guess this is meant to happen when your friendship goes back to the days your teeth were still growing out.

with all this and more - to photograph a wedding becomes more fun, way more responsibility, much more feeling. here you see a girl you love in love with a new friend for life that she found, her husband to be. but before we come to the wedding story there is this evening before the wedding, a warming up with long time not seen friends from the same school and childhood playground, in our awesome home town of Klaipeda in it's most beautiful cozy colours than ever. in a dimmed sun light we talk, hug, eat, drink, till the sun finally leaves us in safety with many home harbour lights to pet the eye.

its a moon over the ocean.

thank you Agne and Marius for the awesome vibe of the evening. and thank you Meat Lovers Pub for hosting us and making this vibe more possible. next post - the Wedding! ,-)

all shots with Nikon D7000 + Sigma Art 35mm f/1,4 DG HSM

"Lord Arlen's Wife"

this one shot above is one of my very favourite shots i've done. it is so mysterious, so full of witchcraft and feminine magic, and yet so childlike, simple, dreamy. back in september after months of traveling i was finally in Bochum and spontaneously decided to use the still green trees and bright sun around. gladly my friend Tinki had some time and so we could play around.

yet it took me a bit of a time to finally set the right colours and give a kind of a name to this series. once i heard this beautiful folk song called "Matty Groves" sung by one of my favourite singers Alela Diane. when you listen to the words you can sense a kind of a dark passion of a woman who is slightly immature yet very aware of her power of attraction. after singing the lyrics and melody myself it was kind of set - meet Tinki incorporating Lord Arlen's Wife from the song.

thank you very much Tinki - you are so photogenic, so patient and so transformative in your body expression! i'd so go for another shooting if i wasn't that far away over seas right now "_"

A Book of Helgoland: In Tante Julies Haus by James Krüss

Good Afternoon!

it's raining and it's windy on Helgoland Island once again today. For this what can be a more perfect time to get a cup of tea, lit a candle and get a book into your hands than this stormy nordic wintertime? maybe while still in bed cozy and warm.

I love children and juvenile books. I love Dr.Seuss and I love some lithuanian kids authors. I think though children literature is inseparable from the illustrators contribution. A great story or a poem when accompanied by a  successful visual interpretation can strengthen the joy to read and lead the fantasy to even farther, even more intense dreamy places.

though I must admit i haven't done much reading recently, yet a few books found their way into my hands. and i am very glad about the coincidences that led me to get to know the work of James Krüss - a master of rhyme and one of greatest fathers of german children literature. And by all means a genuine treasure of Helgoland.

“In Tante Julies House” is the one perfect example how letters and drawings meet on each other in such a magnificent way!

James Krüss created this one beautiful house full of cozy things and authentic rooms, which belongs to Auntie Julie – a happy-go-lucky little folksy lady with a charming way to gather people around in her house and create beauty and poetry with them. (In some later years I could totally picture myself as Auntie Julie, just read and you’ll understand.)

But it gets even much more exciting to read when you have actually been on and had seen this tiny island. Krüss describes places and streets, long time rooted families and legends. Even though he actually writes about the old Helgoland he grew up in – a time between the two world wars, and unfortunately I must notice here that Helgoland was destroyed completely to it’s grounds at the WWII – you can feel a slightly bit of a familiar breeze in the air coming from one of the beaches when reading James Krüss if you are actually on the island at that moment of reading. I myself enjoy imagining how streets and architecture had actually looked like at that time. and while walking the coast and watching the cliffs one might even relive some of the described scenes in thus book.

Meanwhile the other important thing to notice is how great the illustrator Marei Schweitzer got the spirit of the described house and the told stories. Tiny little sketches go along with the pages, sometimes picturing the whole book character crew sitting in one of those theme rooms in Aunty Julies house at night, traveling somewhere deep in their own creative dreamworld.

For me I cherish the illustrators ability in this exact book - she puts little maritime pencil-like sketches all along, give a very atmospheric, very certain good mood which accompanies you all along the reading.

some iPhone macro lens captures.

ps: the book is in german, I don't know wether it’s possible to get it in english but at least for my german (speaking) friends and readers I absolutely recommend it!

pps: all iPhone photos edited with VSCO and some made with a Macro iPhone lens.