Paristmas! Paris Christmas & Happy New Year! - IMRAN™

Paristmas! Paris Christmas & Happy New Year! - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

Paris is one of my favorite places to visit. And, like my other favorite city, Manhattan, New York, which is amazing to visit at Christmas, France's capital city is a spectacular experience at holiday season time.

My first visit to the United States, New York, was in 1987 around Christmas time, the same year I had spent my birthday Summer 1987 in Paris, among other cities of Europe.

So, it was great to return there, nearly 20 years later, but merge my NY Christmas and Paris Summer experiences with a magnificent, MY PARISTMAS… MerrY Paris Christmas.

This photo, taken at the world famous Galeries Lafayette in Paris, is one of the most unusual I have taken.

I almost lay down at the base of the Christmas tree, to capture the full height of the massive tree, and the stunning ceiling of the building. The golden decorations, balls and balloons created a unique view.

I had to do that with my pocket Nikon S6, while trying not to be accidentally thought of as a foreign born Muslim troublemaker trying to topple the tree! :-) I look forward to returning to Paris in the near future, God Willing.

As Christmas season draws to a close, and as 2011 nears its inexorable end, I leave you with this wish and prayer….

No matter how down things look right now, never stop looking up, at the bright skies and gifts of God's blessings just waiting to be placed at your feet.

Remember me in your prayers too, my dear friends. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you, your families and loved ones.

© 2006-2012 IMRAN
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Ashes To Flashes, Dusk To Decks - IMRAN™

Ashes To Flashes, Dusk To Decks - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

This SOOC {Straight Out Of Camera) photo was posted on TwitPic and already got 300 views there. To post if for your pleasure I did straighten it out 0.8 degrees and framed it in Photoshop as is my style here.

I had been waiting for this sunset. The weather was just the right amount of layered cloudy, which, as I had hoped, kept its promise of offering magical layers of colors that are unique and magical once in eternity visuals to savor.

As this stunning sunset unfolded outside my home, I put my longest Nikon D300 zoom lens (450mm eq) to use and was able to capture sky colors as if painted onto a soft canvas. by God himself, with the stillest portions of water off my beach acting like a mirror reflecting the sky colors to the lower left of the image.

The plentiful flashes of light from the tower and lighthouse 20 miles away had not yet started up, nor could my camera flash have fought off the ashes of darkness that had descended on the landscape beneath me.

Day turned into night, as the golden Phragmites (reeds) turned black and the sky turned golden in preparation of itself turning black. I was reminded of the eternal circle of life, and light, and death, and dearth of light, as the delapidated deck, its dead wood decaying becoming its own coffin, dissolving slowly into the icy waters and ravages of years under the dusk…. The words of a burial phrase came to my mind, which seemed here to say….

Flashes To Ashes, Dusk To Decks….

May we be blessed to live our lives to the fullest, happiest, blessed maximum, before, like the dusk signaling the end of day, our end of days comes. And may the canvas of our lives leave a portrait of great deeds painted on a landscape of blessings God opened before us… a painting of our lives for others to see, and, if we are worthy, savor our memories as we do this dusk.

© 2011 IMRAN
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Fiery Red Blue Sky Turns Blue Water Liquid Gold - IMRAN™

There's nothing that makes my spirits soar than flying over ocean beaches and yachting havens, in, under and through blue skies… except yachting and sailing in New York even in mid-December, under fiery red skies turning the cold calm Great South Bay waters beneath me bubbling hot liquid Gold. Unedited iPhone 4S photo taken across from my blessed home at sunset, as the only other mariner out there also heads home.

Technorati Tags: Boating, iPhone, Life, New York, Photography, Sailing, Yachting

The Cold Man & The Sea - IMRAN™

The Cold Man & The Sea - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

In keeping with the series of photos you have loved, The Old Men And The Sea, The Odd Man And The Sea, The Young Woman And The Sea, and The Young Boy And The Sea, I am happy to share this photo for which I braved the frigid weather on the Fire Island, Long Island, NY, beach last evening…

The Cold Man And The Sea is the perfect title. It is reflective of the hands in the pockets, as well as the fact that one of the waves rolling on to the shore soaked my dress shoes & socks, drenched my feet, and chilled my bones until I got the car heater warm enough on the drive back home to start to thaw me out!

Absolutely no color editing, changes or color processing done to this photo from the Nikon D300 working optimally again.

I hope you will enjoy this cold and coldly beautiful moment with warm feelings (and in your warm homes or offices).

© 2011 IMRAN
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The Young Boy And The Sea - IMRAN™

The Young Boy And The Sea - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

A starkly different scene, and set of colors, from two of my favorite photos previously posted… The ODD Man & The Sea (Nikon D300), and The Young Woman & The Sea (iPhone 4S), this photo was taken with my pocket Nikon Coolpix S6 during a wonderful trip to one of the most beautiful places I have been, The Baths at Virgin Gorda, in the British Virgin Islands.

I was trying to take some good shots before we had to leave to catch the ship, and I wanted to do so before the small boat with several men on it would pop into the middle of the frame.

But, this young boy, oblivious to the travails of travel schedules and science of scene setting was just running around.

I decided to capture the shot, and succeeded in catching him in mid-stride, confidently taking on the wild blue sea yonder but under his feet as the sands of time of the future awaited him.

And I wondered, if, by some weird chance of verbal fate, the little boy near the big rocks could possibly from some place called Little Rock.

I hope you will relive the first time you met the ocean when you enjoy this photo. What were your first memories of the sea?

© 2008-2011 IMRAN
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The Young Woman And The Sea - IMRAN™

The Young Woman And The Sea - IMRAN™, a photo by ImranAnwar on Flickr.

You Belong To The City by Glenn Frey is not just an inspired, amazing, timeless, poetic and rocking work of musical art, it is a song that, at one time or another, resonates with all of us as we pass through the stages in the play we call life. The song is even more special to me. It is one of the select songs I consider the soundtrack of my life.

It was thus ironic how quickly it came to mind when I met an old young beautiful intimate beloved friend, from recent years past, for an unexpected dinner and evening together. I had been planning to go to Smith Point beach to catch what was sure to be a beautiful sunset and dusk, when we connected on the phone after a very long time. So, we ended up going there together, a place we had last been several years ago, together, and with another love past and gone.

She, always patient, loving and caring, waited while I captured photos of the setting sun with my new Apple iPhone 4S. Not knowing I was watching her, she stood atop the forlorn log that had made the sands of Long Island its temporary home. And, I saw a moment that was as magical as it was timeless.

The Young Woman And The Sea, I said to myself as I clicked.

The wide angle view from an external lens I was testing on my new iPhone, the moment, the lighting, the log, the way the sun reflected on her golden tresses from the right, and the incredible way the tide had made the sand flow in the shape of angel wings around the log she stood on, I saw a timeless and absolutely unique moment in time…. a surreal almost masterpiece-like painting of life, accidentally brought to life, etched into memory, and now captured for the ages, by a mere cell phone camera.

I quickly snapped this photo and, later, at home, as I imported it into iPhoto, something struck a powerful chord....

We had been going through amazingly tumultuous and yet interesting and wonderful times in our respective lives when we last met and shared many wonderful experiences. And, as time, life, circumstances, people, events and fate dealt their hands, their blows, their stabs, it meant we continued our separate, still event-filled, surreal, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, journeys through life, until we got together again tonight. As these thoughts passed through my mind, in my ears Glenn's voice rang out truly, how "So much has happened, but nothing has changed".

As I pasted the lyrics to that wonderful song below for your pleasure, I could not resist but tweak some of the words (I hope the Text shows how I replaced some of the words {strike-through font} with ones even more suited to this moment {shown in bold}).

As you, gentle readers, dear friends, lovers old, new and future, read these words, just know, your most difficult, arduous, lonely journey is shared with me. It is shared by those you love, loved and will love. We may not be on the same part of the road, or hitting the same bumps at the same exact time, but, sooner or later, our paths will cross. I will take your hand, and be there for you. I promise.

One day, you will look back on the cold stormy nights and know that you did make it... because….

You Belong To The City

The sun goes down

The night rolls in

You can feel it starting all over again

The moon comes up

And the music ocean calls

You're getting tired of staring at the same four walls

You're out of your room

And down on the street beach

Moving through the crowds sand through the midnight heat winter freeze

The traffic ocean roars

And the sirens seagulls scream

You look at the faces waves, its just like a dream

Nobody know where you're going

Nobody cares where you've been

'Cause you belong to the city

You belong to the night

Living in a river of darkness, beneath the neon moon light

You were borne in on the city sea-tree

Concrete Sand under your feet

It's in your blood, its in your moves

You're a woman of the street beach

When you said goodbye

You were on the run

Tryin' to get away from the things you'd done

Now you're back again

And you're feeling strange

So much has happened, but nothing has changed

You still don't know where you're going

You're still just a face in the crowd

'Cause you belong to the city

You can feel it

You can taste it

You can see it

You can face it

You can hear it

You're getting near it

You want to make it

'Cause you can take it.

You belong to the city

You were borne in on the city sea-tree!

Original lyrics © Glenn Frey
Photo, prose, and this work © 2011 IMRAN
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