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Forest Awakening

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Eisnebel

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Nebel

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Halloween '24

Auspicious encounter, 1 Nov. ’24

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Aletsch Arena

Panorama composed of three images, Aletsch glacier, view from below Märjelensee, July 2024 In July we took the path from Bettmerhorn along the Aletsch glacier towards Eggishorn and the glacier’s gate, which is located a few hundred meteres below Märjelensee. As we headed back, I was able to take some photos of the arena sans people, except for two persons in the distance, which give a reference…

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Wintermorgen am Rhein

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Jupiter and Moon 1st Quarter

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Mandrake Phytographs 2023

‘Bael’‘Ribbon Dancer’‘Old Spirit’‘Mandrakon’ Mandrake phytographs created in 2023, ink on coffee stained paper, imbued with plant juice, soil and other organic matter

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Novemberness

November impressions – macro and close-up, rain drops, long exposure, motion blur and bokeh effect November is named so because it used to be the ninth month in the Roman calendar. It is also known as Windmond, Wintermonat and Nebelung. It is the darkest month, hostile and chaotic. It brings storms, disorder and weird dreams. The November full moon is also known as freezing moon or frost moon…

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Viridis Genii Symposium 2022

Viridis Genii Symposium 2022

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New Sigilla Magica

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ROOT Plant Exhibition Online

ROOT Plant Exhibition Online

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This book caught my attention a few weeks ago: it was on display in the window of an antiquarian bookshop in Dresden and I swore to myself, to return and I’d buy it. So I did.

The book is from 1926, published by Schwarzeck-Verlag Dresden. It contains information and references to herbals from the 15th century, which – thanks to the invention of letterpress printing – were for the first time available to a larger audience, especially since they were written not in Latin but in German language, so that common people could understand and use them. These herbals were richly illustrated with surprisingly accurate woodcuts depicting the plants. Both pharmacology and botany developed quickly during this time. Soon followed similar herbals in Belgium, Italy and England.

The first chapter gives an introduction to these early herbals of the “Middle Ages” and their authors, such as Conrad von Megenberg, Otto Brunfels, Leonhart Fuchs, Hieronymus Bock, Petrus Andreas Mathiolus, Konrad Gesner, Tabernaemontanus etc., as well as illustrators, who designed extraordinary woodcuts for these books and publishers. Guess what, it wasn’t easy to publish a book at a time when there were no laws yet on coyprights so that reprints occured still within the same year and neither the original publisher nor author could do anything about it. To this add competition and price dumping amongst publishers once a larger number of similar books was available… Wait, that all sounds familiar doesn’t it? Even today… The authors describe all of this quite vividly and so this short discurse on the first herbals ever printed is a pleasant read, spiced with examples and quotes from these very first books on plants and their alleged medicinal properties. Simultaneously we learn how the first volumes on botany and pharmacognosy came into being.

As I cannot go into detail on each chapter I will instead just list the titles for reference:

The Herbals of the Middle Ages

The Doctrine of Signatures

The art of distillation

The spice wars

The cultivation of drugs in Germany

The China-Bark

The Liquorice

The tropein-containing Nightshades

The Strophanthus

The noxious and innoxious types of Strychnos

The Elder

The Indian Hemp (Cannabis indica)

The Yohimbe bark

The Guajacum tree

The Sarsaparilla root

The Shepherd’s Purse

The Rhubarb

The Aconite

The Opium

The Cantharides

I have not read through all of the 272 pages but whenever I skim over the text I find something new and interesting, which I have not read elsewhere. This book contains plenty of interdisciplinary references and I am glad to have bought it.

  Antiquarian: Aus dem Reiche der Drogen, 1926 This book caught my attention a few weeks ago: it was on display in the window of an…

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Since the birth of our son I did not have time to post anything new. But back in March, I did take a few photos of the blooming cherry tree and doves in our yard.

Cherry Blossoms and Düsseldoves Since the birth of our son I did not have time to post anything new. But back in March, I did take a few photos of the blooming cherry tree and doves in our yard.

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Combination of 2 images from January’s partial lunar eclipse

Bloody Halo (Synthesis) Combination of 2 images from January's partial lunar eclipse

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Ein bisschen Mondfinsternis, von heute Abend. Das erste Bild ist vom Mond, der den Kernschatten der Erde tangiert, aufgenommen um 20.13 Uhr. Die übrigen Bilder zeigen den Mond im Halbschatten mit rötlichem Hof, aufgenommen kurz nach 19.00 Uhr.

A bit of lunar eclipse, from this evening. First photo shows the moon touching upon the earth’s umbra, at 20.13. The other photos show the full moon in the earth’s penumbra with a red halo, at around 7 pm.

Full Moon (and Partial Eclipse), January 10 2020 Ein bisschen Mondfinsternis, von heute Abend. Das erste Bild ist vom Mond, der den Kernschatten der Erde tangiert, aufgenommen um 20.13 Uhr.

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First, fluctuating impressions for 2020… later we went to see “Motherless Brooklyn” at one of the Filmkunstkinos here in Düsseldorf. I like films, where one can actually focus on the characters and remember the story afterwards. This was such a film. Edward Norton is a little genius.

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2020 First, fluctuating impressions for 2020... later we went to see "Motherless Brooklyn" at one of the Filmkunstkinos here in Düsseldorf.